Saint Quote: Saint Bede the Venerable (On Saint Matthew)

“Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: Follow me.” Jesus saw Matthew, not merely in the usual sense, but more significantly with his merciful understanding of men.” He saw the tax collector and, because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him, he said to him: “Follow me.” This following meant imitating the pattern of his life – not just walking after him. Saint John tells us: “Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” “And he rose and followed him.” There is no reason for surprise that the tax collector abandoned earthly wealth as soon as the Lord commanded him. Nor should one be amazed that neglecting his wealth, he joined a band of men whose leader had, on Matthew’s assessment, no riches at all. Our Lord summoned Matthew by speaking to him in words. By an invisible, interior impulse flooding his mind with the light of grace, he instructed him to walk in his footsteps. In this way Matthew could understand that Christ, who was summoning him away from earthly possessions, had incorruptible treasures of heaven in his gift.

-- Saint Bede the Venerable from a homily

A Way To Read the Saints Free!

Post by Steve Smith.

Saint Quote: Saint Andrew Kim Taegon

This is my last hour of life, listen to me attentively: if I have held communication with foreigners, it has been for my religion and for my God. It is for Him that I die. My immortal life is on the point of beginning. Become Christians if you wish to be happy after death, because God has eternal chastisements in store for those who have refused to know Him.

-- Saint Andrew Kim Taegon the first native Korean priest, and the first priest to die for the faith in Korea.

Saint Quote: Saint Euphemia of Chalcedon

We are people endowed with reason, for whom it would be the greatest disgrace to abandon the one true God, the Maker of heaven and earth, in order to worship dumb, senseless idols. We are not afraid of torments you threaten us with. They will be easy for us to bear and will show the power of our God. 

                           
-- Saint Euphemia of Chalcedon

Saint Quote: Saint Vitalis of Gaza

Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart. 

-- Saint Vitalis of Gaza

Saint Quote: Saint Robert Bellarmine

And what is this yoke of yours that does not weary, but gives rest? It is, of course, that first and greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.” What is easier, sweeter, more pleasant, than to love goodness, beauty, and love, the fullness of which you are, O Lord, my God?

-- Saint Robert Bellarmine

Saint Quote: Saint Cyprian of Carthage

You cannot have God for your Father if you do not have the Church for your mother…. God is one and Christ is one, and his Church is one; one is the faith, and one is the people cemented together by harmony into the strong unity of a body…. If we are the heirs of Christ, let us abide in the peace of Christ; if we are the sons of God, let us be lovers of peace. 

-- Saint Cyprian of Carthage, from "The Unity of the Catholic Church"

Saint Quote: Saint Catherine of Genoa

If it were given to a man to see virtue's reward in the next world, he would occupy his intellect, memory and will in nothing but good works, careless of danger or fatigue. 

-- Saint Catherine of Genoa

Saint Quote: Saint Ignatius of Loyola

If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He has great designs for you, and that He certainly intends to make you a saint. And if you wish to become a great saint, entreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ used for His own great sacrifice of boundless charity. 

-- Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Saint Quote: Saint John Chrysostom

You have tasted the Blood of the Lord, yet you do not recognize your brother,. . . . You dishonor this table when you do not judge worthy of sharing your food someone judged worthy to take part in this meal. . . . God freed you from all your sins and invited you here, but you have not become more merciful. 

-- Saint John Chrysostom

Saint Quote: Saint Justin Martyr

As by the Word of God, Jesus our Savior was made Flesh and had both Flesh and Blood for our salvation, so also the food which has been blessed by the word of prayer instituted by Him is both the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Incarnate. 

--Saint Justin Martyr

Saint Quote: Saint John Gabriel Perboyre

O my Divine Saviour,

Transform me into Yourself.

May my hands be the hands of Jesus.

Grant that every faculty of my body

May serve only to glorify You.

Above all,

Transform my soul and all its powers

So that my memory, will and affection

May be the memory, will and affections

Of Jesus.

I pray You

To destroy in me

All that is not of You.

-- Saint John Gabriel Perboyre from a prayer by him

Saint Quote: Saint Nicholas of Tolentino

The heavens are not pure in the sight of Him Whom I serve; how then shall I, a sinful man, stand before Him? 

-- Saint Nicholas of Tolentino

Saint Quote: Saint Peter Claver

Man's salvation and perfection consists of doing the will of God which he must have in view in all things, and at every moment of his life.

-- Saint Peter Claver

Saint Quote: Saint Teresa of Avila

Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. 

-- Saint Teresa of Avila 

Saint Quote: Saint John of Avila

Dear brothers and sisters, I pray God may open your eyes and let you see what hidden treasures he bestows on us in the trials from which the world thinks only to flee. Shame turns into honor when we seek God’s glory. Present affliction become the source of heavenly glory. To those who suffer wounds in fighting his battles God opens his arms in loving, tender friendship. That is why he (Christ) tells us that if we want to join him, we shall travel the way he took. It is surely not right that the Son of God should go his way on the path of shame while the sons of men walk the way of worldly honor: “The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant greater than his master.” 

-- Saint John of Avila from a letter

Saint Quote: Saint Poemen

When your brother attacks you, whatever the insults are, if you get angry at him, you are getting angry without cause. Even if he were to pull out your right eye, and to cut off your right hand, if you get angry at him, you are getting angry without cause. Yet if he were to try to take you away from God, then get angry! 

-- Saint Poemen

Saint Quote: Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.

-- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Saint Quote: Saint Rosalia

I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Roses, and Quisquina, have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my Lord, Jesus Christ.

-- Saint Rosalia

Saint Quote: Pope Saint Gregory the Great

Perhaps it is not after all so difficult for a man to part with his possessions, but it is certainly most difficult for him to part with himself. To renounce what one has is a minor thing; but to renounce what one is, that is asking a lot. 

-- Pope Saint Gregory the Great

Saint Quote: Blessed Brother Solomon Le Clerq

As for us, we hold to what we believed ten and twenty years ago; to what our forefathers believed one hundred years ago, and one thousand years ago, and to that which the whole Catholic world has always believed. 

-- Blessed Brother Solomon Le Clerq

Saint Quote: Saint Vincent Ferrer

Do you wish to study to your advantage? Let devotion accompany all your studies. Consult God more than your books. Ask Him to make you understand what you read. Never begin or end your study except by prayer. Science is a gift of God. Do not consider it merely the work of your own mind and effort.

-- Saint Vincent Ferrer

Saint Quote: Saint Therese of Lisieux

Kneeling before the tabernacle, I can think of only one thing to say to our Lord: "My God, you know that I love You." And I feel that my prayer does not weary Jesus; knowing my weakness, He is satisfied with my good will. 

-- Saint Therese of Lisieux

Saint Quote: Saint Francis de Sales

Some torment themselves in seeking means to discover the art of loving God, and do not know - poor creatures - that there is no art or means of loving Him but to love those who love Him - that is, to begin to practice those thing which are pleasing to Him. 

-- Saint Francis de Sales

Saint Quote: Saint Bede the Venerable On Saint John the Baptist

There is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for him. His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should keep silent about the truth. Nevertheless, he died for Christ. Does Christ not say: “I am the truth”? Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he surely died for Christ. Through his birth, preaching and baptizing, he bore witness to the coming birth, preaching and baptism of Christ, and by his own suffering he showed that Christ also would suffer. Such was the quality and strength of the man who accepted the end of this present life by shedding his blood after the long imprisonment. 

-- Saint Bede the Venerable on the death of John the Baptist

Saint Quote: Saint Augustine of Hippo

If physical things please you, then praise God for them, but turn back your love to Him who created them, lest in the things that please you, you displease Him. If souls please you, love them in God; for in themselves they are changeable, but in Him they are firmly established. Without Him they pass away and perish. In Him, then, let them be loved, and carry along with you to Him as many souls as you can, and say to them, “Let us love Him, let us love Him; He made the world and is not far from it. He did not make all things and then leave them, but they are of Him and in Him. See, there He is wherever truth is loved. He is within the very heart, yet the heart has strayed from Him. Return to your heart, O you transgressors, and hold fast to Him who made you. Stand with Him and you will stand fast. Rest in Him and you shall be at rest.” 

-- Saint Augustine of Hippo from The Confessions

Saint Quote: Saint Monica

Bury my body wherever you will; let not care of it cause you any concern. One thing only I ask you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be.

-- Saint Monica to her son Saint Augustine from her deathbed

Saint Quote: Saint Thomas Aquinas

Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.

-- Saint Thomas Aquinas

Saint Quote: Saint Augustine of Hippo

Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky. . . question all these realities. All respond: "See, we are beautiful." Their beauty is a profession. These beauties are subject to change. Who made them if not the Beautiful One who is not subject to change?

-- Saint Augustine of Hippo

Saint Quote: Saint Bartholomew the Apostle

Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel.

-- Saint Bartholomew the Apostle from the Gospel of John 1:41

Saint Quote: Saint Rose of Lima

If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace, how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides within itself, how many joys and delights! No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come to know the scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to men.

-- Saint Rose of Lima

Saint Quote: Saint Aloysius Gonzaga

O Holy Mary! My Mother; into thy blessed trust and special custody, and into the bosom of thy mercy, I this day, and every day, and in the hour of my death, commend my soul and body. To thee I commit all my anxieties and sorrows, my life and the end of my life, that by thy most holy intercession, and by thy merits, all my actions may be directed and governed by thy will and that of thy Son. 

-- Saint Aloysius Gonzaga

Saint Quote: Pope Saint Pius X

Let us be leaders; but not of the worldly type, who accomplish by forcing, urging and driving to get things done; rather leaders who lead as Christ did: "Come, follow me!"

-- Pope Saint Pius X

Saint Quote: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

Love is sufficient of itself; it gives pleasure by itself and because of itself. It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks for no cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in the practice. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return. The sole purpose of his love is to be loved, int he knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.

-- Saint Bernard of Clairvaux from a sermon

Saint Quote: Saint John Eudes

The Christian life is a continuation and completion of the life of Christ in us. We should be so many Christs here on earth, continuing His life and His works, laboring and suffering in a holy and divine manner in the spirit of Jesus. 

-- Saint John Eudes

Saint Quote: Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him and if they were to allow His grace to mold them accordingly.

-- Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Saint Quote: Pope Saint Clement I

Since all things lie open to His eyes and ears, let us hold Him in awe and rid ourselves of impure desires to do works of evil, so that we may be protected by His mercy from the judgement that is to come. Which of us can escape His mighty hand?

-- Pope Saint Clement I

Saint Quote: Blessed John Cardinal Henry Newman

Liberalism in religion is the doctrine that there is no positive truth in religion, but that one creed is as good as another. . . . [it holds that] Revealed religion is not a truth, but a sentiment and a taste; not an objective fact, not miraculous; and it is the right of each individual to make it say just what strikes his fancy.

-- Blessed John Cardinal Henry Newman

Saint Quote: Saint Cyril of Alexandria

That anyone could doubt the right of the holy Virgin to be called the Mother of God fills with astonishment. Surely she must be the Mother of God if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, and she gave birth to him! Our Lord's disciples may not have used those exact words, but they delivered to us the belief those words enshrine, and this has also been taught us by the holy fathers. 

The divinely inspired Scriptures affirm that the Word of God was made flesh, that is to say, he was united to a human body endowed with a rational soul. He undertook to help the descendants of Abraham, fashioning a body for himself from a woman and sharing our flesh and blood, to enable us to see in him not only God, but also, by reason of this union, a man like ourselves. 

It is held, therefore, that there is in Emmanuel two entities, divinity and humanity. Yet our Lord Jesus Christ is nonetheless one, the one true Son, both God and man; not a defied man on the same footing as those who share the divine nature by grace, but true God who for our sake appeared in human form. We are assured of this by Saint Paul's declaration: "When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law and to enable us to be adopted as sons." 

-- Saint Cyril of Alexandria

Saint Quote: Saint Maximilian Kolbe

No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?

-- Saint Maximilian Kolbe

Saint Quote: Saint Cyril of Jerusalem

This synthesis of faith was not made to accord with human opinions, but rather what was of the greatest importance was gathered from all the Scriptures, to present the one teaching of the faith in its entirety. And just as the mustard seed contains a great number of branches in a tiny grain, so too this summary of faith encompassed in a few words the whole knowledge of the true religion contained in the Old and the New Testaments.

-- Saint Cyril of Jerusalem

Saint Quote: Saint Gerard Majella

Here the will of God is done, as God wills, and as long as God wills.

-- Saint Gerard Majella

Saint Quote of the Day: Saint Clare of Assisi

Go forth without fear, for he who created you has made you holy, has always protected you, and loves you as a mother. 

-- Saint Clare of Assisi 

Saint Quote: Saint Augustine of Hippo (From Sermon On Saint Lawrence the Deacon)

The Roman Church commends to us today the anniversary of the triumph of Saint Lawrence. For on this day he trod the furious pagan world underfoot and flung aside its allurements, and so gained victory over Satan’s attack on his faith.

As you have often heard, Lawrence was a deacon of the Church at Rome. There he ministered the sacred blood of Christ; there for the sake of Christ’s name he poured out his own blood. Saint John the apostle was evidently teaching us about the mystery of the Lord’s supper when he wrote: “Just as Christ laid down his life for us, so we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” My brethren, Lawrence understood this and, understanding, he acted on it. In his life he loved Christ; in his death he followed in his footsteps.

Brethren, we too must imitate Christ if we truly love him. We shall not be able to render better return on that love than by modeling our lives on his. “Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in his steps.” The holy martyrs followed Christ even to shedding their life’s blood, even to reproducing the very likeness of his passion. They followed him, but not they alone. It is not true that the bridge was broken after the martyrs crossed; nor is it true that after they had drunk from it, the fountain of eternal life dried up.

On no account may any class of people despair, thinking that God has not called them. Christ suffered for all. What the Scriptures say of him is true: “He desires all men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.”

I tell you again and again, my brethren, that on no account may any class of people despair, thinking that God has not called them. Christ suffered for all. What the Scriptures say of him is true: “He desires all men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.”

-- Saint Augustine of Hippo from a sermon

Saint Quote: Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

One cannot desire freedom from the Cross when one is especially chosen for the Cross.

-- Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

Saint Quote: Saint Dominic de Guzman

A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil.

-- Saint Dominic de Guzman

Saint Quote: Saint Albert of Trapani

O my God, you have created the human race by your wonderful power. It is an act of your clemency that has called us to share your glory and eternal life. When the first sin condemned us to suffer death, out of your goodness you wished to redeem us through the blood of your Son, to unite us to you through our faith and your great mercy. You have brought us back from the shame of our sin; you have veiled our dishonour in the brightness of your glory. Look now and see that what you have created, giving it subtle limbs and joints and made beautiful through its immortal soul, is now subject to the attack of Satan. Be pleased Lord to reconstitute your work and heal it. May your power be glorified and may the malice of the enemy be stunned. Amen

-- Saint Albert of Trapani from a prayer for healing attributed to him

Saint Quote: Pope Saint Leo the Great (On The Transfiguration)

The Lord reveals his glory in the presence of chosen witnesses. His body is like that of the rest of mankind, but he makes it shine with such splendor that his face becomes like the sun in glory, and his garments as white as snow.

The great reason for this transfiguration was to remove the scandal of the cross from the hearts of his disciples, and to prevent the humiliation of his voluntary suffering from disturbing the faith of those who had witnessed the surpassing glory that lay concealed.

With no less forethought he was also providing a firm foundation for the hope of holy Church. The whole body of Christ was to understand the kind of transformation that it would receive as his gift. the members of that body were to look forward to a share in that glory which first blazed out in Christ their head.

-- Pope Saint Leo the Great from a homily

Saint Quote: Saint Vincent de Paul

Read some chapter of a devout book....It is very easy and most necessary, for just as you speak to God when at prayer, God speaks to you when you read.

-- Saint Vincent de Paul

Saint Quote: Saint Ansgar

If I were worthy of such a favor from my God, I would ask that he grant me this one miracle: that by His grace He would make of me a good man.

-- Saint Ansgar