Category: Saint of the Month

St. Faustina

Apostle of Mercy

As you know by now, before i prepare to paint a Saint, I pray with them and ask, “how would you like to be portrayed?” The only thing that Faustina wanted was to be on her knees under His merciful Rays. She wanted to have a look of peace on her face, submitting herself to these rays, this shower of mercy.

I painted St. Faustina rather quickly but she was quite particular about the depths and importance of the Rays, because of this, the Rays took me over 2 1/2 weeks to finish. They are layer upon layer of color and medium. Finally, Faustina was pleased and the icon was completed. (side note… watching the movie Love and Mercy, i was shocked to see how Faustina instructed artist Eugene Kazimierowski, in the same manner she hounded, i mean inspired me! i cried like a baby in the theater at the confirmation of her guidance. ) In my frustration I complained, “why have you been so hard?!” Her reply was “do you think mercy is easy?” I knew interiorly that she was asking me to be merciful with myself. And I thought of the crucifix.

Jesus died for me in His mercy. Being merciful with myself is really embracing His merciful love in humility.

It takes humility to be forgiving, a lot of humility. When we can forgive ourselves, we are acknowledging that we are a sinner and nothing more, and that we need God.

Someone asked me once the difference between mercy and grace…the crucifix, that is mercy! I finished this icon of St. Faustina on Our Lady of Mercy feast day, Sept. 24… I just can’t make this stuff up! It’s just too good!

He who knows how to forgive prepares for himself many graces from God. As often as I look upon the cross, so often will I forgive with all my heart – St. Faustina

This picture was sent to me by a sweet young lady who took my Saint Faustina icon to The National Shrine of Divine Mercy to be blessed! Wow, oh wow! Felt like i was with her in spirit, and was so happy she shared this with me. xo

St Joseph, his time is now

Patron of Families and the Universal Church.

In March of this year, I began a work with my 29^th icon, St Joseph. I’m very blessed to pray with the Saints through art. The Holy Spirit and St Joseph took such a hold of me during the process of this painting that I actually had to step away from the prayer due to the weight and responsibility I was feeling in his message.

Here are some of the things that St Joseph spoke to my heart…

First, he talked about this immense joy he had. That when God called him, he felt so unworthy and sinful. He talked to me a lot about clay and making vessels and that Our Lord chose him, nothing but a broken vessel, to protect the treasure of salvation. Almost constant St Joseph showed me his hands in clay. When he began to walk in his mission with Our Lady and Jesus, the Lord poured out so much joy into their days together. Then he showed me how his time was coming in the Church, like never seen in the history of the Redemption. St Joseph would be coming to reclaim the family and the Church. He spoke to my heart about the coming days and the power of grace being poured out right now.

When I recently returned to this prayer with Saint Joseph in October, he spoke to me with a father’s heart… one of concern and protection. St Joseph said, “they ignore my son and hurt my dear Mary, now is my time.”

In the icon you will see dear Joseph cradling sweet Baby Jesus with his left hand and Jesus resting, relieved to be in His earthly father’s arms again. Jesus holds St Joseph’s lily… the biblical passage, “The just man shall blossom like the lily” is applied to St. Joseph in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. Yet it is Our Redeemer who holds this Lily now, and the stem of the Lily pierces though the Eucharist, which is setting like a sun over the Vatican, as a symbol of purification. In Joseph’s right hand, he hold out the Vatican, representative of the One True Church, marred, yet alive, and St Joseph is calling us to return to our Faith.

Notice the 3 circles in the Eucharist, Jesus halo and St Joseph’s halo, aligned perfectly with their faces. Three is the number of the Trinity, resurrection, divine wholeness, completeness and perfection. Isaiah 40:22 “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”

Jesus is wrapped in a red blanket, which represents His Most Precious Blood, and is pouring out through the Church, into the baptismal waves of His grace. The Family, are they going into the Church or going out? This is for the viewer to discern, as this should change as we go into the sacramental graces, we carry them out in our mission as priest, profit and king.

Saint Joseph…pray for us!

Mary Magdalene Convert and Sinner

Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene… the beloved sinner who experienced a profound conversion at the feet of Jesus. She is the patron saint of penitents and converts. She is a friend of women, she has been a friend to me.

When i painted Mary back in 2017, i was surprised by the love and care that the Holy Spirit took in my prayer with her. I felt a sense that the Lord protected Mary, and i was to protect her too by creating a work that would show the Spirit of who she was. The Lord kept insisting, “I want her to have a loving look of awe.” When i stated i didn’t know how to paint that, He simply repeated the request and i continued to fumbled around the canvas for many days and hours. I had not been painting icons very long, she was my 11th, and God was still working overtime on my trust issues. Mary was going to help me understand conversion in a new way! Yet i was more concerned with getting this “loving look of awe” thing down then worrying about my own conversion. Finally, The Voice inside my heart seemed satisfied w my efforts when It silenced. I must have painted her mouth 10 times over trying to quiet the Holy Spirit and i knew that His insistence came from a protective Father who was working on my obedience and perseverance. Who was working on my trust.

I have to be honest in saying i wanted to walk away a few times due to my inability to paint this icon. I could feel such a love that it left me astounded and feelings of unworthiness crept in often. After all, who was i to paint such a precious soul? and then my friend Mary spoke…” who was i to wash his feet? Who was i to be delivered? who was i to be the first at the tomb? ”

When i felt her words penetrate me, i knew her. and she knows me.

I think it’s in our unworthiness that we come to the truest mirror. and when we stare at that brokenness, that wound, that sin, we have a choice. Will we look up in with that loving look of awe at Our Redeemer, or will we sit in the defeat of our self worth? Do we stay in the pit, or rise in the Victory? No one is beyond the saving grace of God!

Many scholars believe that the 7 demons cast out of Mary represented the 7 deadly sins. This women knew sin. And where sin abounds, Grace abounds even more. So is it even a wonder to us why this sinner would be the first witness of the Resurrection? Of course she was! Because she rose in the Victory of Jesus long before He walked out of that tomb.

Saint Mary Magdalene, pray for us!

February’s Saint of the Month

Saint Bakhita!

St. Josephine Bakhita was born in Sudan, Africa, in 1869 and lived a humble and happy life with her family until at age 7 when she was kidnapped and sold as a slave. Poor Bakhita suffered very harsh treatment as a slave and for the next 12 years she would be bought, sold and given away over a dozen times. She spent so much time in captivity that she forgot her original name. The name “Bakhita,” which means “fortunate,” was given to her in sarcasm by the people who kidnapped her.

As a slave, her experiences varied from fair treatment to cruel. One of her masters left 114 scars on her body and another master beat her so badly for breaking a vase, she almost died. Finally in 1883, Bakhita was sold to Callisto Legnani, Italian consul in Khartoum, Sudan and was treated with more kindness. Although she was not free, she was still a slave. Two years later, Callisto took Josephine to Italy and gave her to his friend and was made a babysitter to Mimmina Michieli, whom she accompanied to Venice’s Institute of the Catechumens, run by the Canossian Sisters. While Mimmina was being instructed, Josephine felt drawn to the Catholic Church. As a little girl, she would look up at the moon and stars and knew that someone had created them and that she wanted to know this master. She was baptized and confirmed in 1890, taking the name Josephine. Josephine was finally happy to address God as “Master” and carry out everything that she believed to be God’s will for her. When the Michieli’s returned from Africa and wanted to take Mimmina and Josephine back with them, the future saint refused to go. The Michieli’s didn’t want to give up Bakhita so they took her to court to try and force her back to being their slave . During the court case, the Canossian Sisters and the Church intervened on Josephine’s behalf and the judge concluded that since slavery was illegal in Italy, she had actually been free since 1885. For the first time in her life, Josephine was free and could choose what to do with her life. She chose to remain with the Canossian Sisters.

At the age of forty-one, Josephine felt God calling her to become one of the sisters. The Canossian Sisters accepted her into their community. For twenty-five years, Sister Josephine carried out humble services in the convent. She cooked, sewed, took care of the chapel and answered the door. Her health had suffered because of all the tortures she had endured as a slave, so she was given the role as porteress ( just like St Martin de Porres and Blessed Solanus Casey!). She had a lot to do with all the local children who named her “la nostra madre moretta” which means “Our little brown mother.” During World War I, Sister Josephine helped to care for the wounded. She became known for her kindness and goodness. She was a source of comfort and encouragement to everyone who came to her in need. A young student once asked Bakhita: “What would you do, if you were to meet your captors?” Without hesitation she responded: “If I were to meet those who kidnapped me, and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands. For, if these things had not happened, I would not have been a Christian and a religious today”

In her later years, she began to suffer physical pain and was forced to use a wheelchair. But she always remained cheerful. If anyone asked her how she was, she would reply, “As the master desires.” On the evening of February 8, 1947, Josephine spoke her last words, “Our Lady, Our Lady!” She then died. Her body lay on display for three days afterwards. She was canonized on October 1, 2000, by Pope John Paul II and St. Bakhita’s body lays incorrupt today. Bakhita’s story is fascinating particularly because of the story of her slavery and how God was with her every step of the way, writing something beautiful from the sad chapters of her early years as a child. Unfortunately, there is still childhood slavery in the world today. St Bakhita is venerated as a modern day African Saint and is the Patron Saint of Human Trafficking and the country of Sudan.

Beautiful Saint Bakhita…pray for us!

December’s Saint of the Month

Our Lady of Guadalupe!

On Dec. 12, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, marking the day when, in 1531, the Blessed Mother appeared in Mexico to a 57-year old peasant named Juan Diego. According to the earliest reliable account of the story, Juan Diego was walking near Tepayac Hill (called Mexico City today) when he encountered a beautiful woman surrounded by a ball of light as bright as the sun. Speaking in his native tongue, the beautiful lady identified herself: “My dear little son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother’s Heart in this place. Here I will see their tears; I will console them and they will be at peace. So run now to Tenochtitlan and tell the Bishop all that you have seen and heard.”

In trying to convince the archbishop of what he had seen, Juan Diego eventually was asked for a sign to prove what he had seen. Upon returning to Mary and sharing this with her, Mary said “My little son, am I not your Mother? Do not fear. The Bishop shall have his sign. Come back to this place tomorrow. Only peace, my little son.” Unfortunately, Juan was not able to return to the hill the next day. His uncle had become mortally ill and Juan stayed with him to care for him. After two days, with his uncle near death, Juan left his side to find a priest. Juan had to pass Tepayac Hill to get to the priest. As he was passing, he found Mary waiting for him. She spoke: “Do not be distressed, my littlest son. Am I not here with you who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Your uncle will not die at this time. There is no reason for you to engage a priest, for his health is restored at this moment. He is quite well. Go to the top of the hill and cut the flowers that are growing there. Bring them then to me.” While it was freezing on the hillside, Juan obeyed Mary’s instructions and went to the top of the hill where he found a full bloom of Castilian roses which were neither in season nor native to the region. Removing his tilma, a poncho-like cape made of cactus fiber, he cut the roses and carried them back to Mary. She rearranged the roses and told him: “My little son, this is the sign I am sending to the Bishop. Tell him that with this sign I request his greatest efforts to complete the church I desire in this place. Show these flowers to no one else but the Bishop. You are my trusted ambassador. This time the Bishop will believe all you tell him.” At the palace, Juan once again came before the bishop and several of his advisors. He told the bishop his story and opened the tilma letting the flowers fall out. But it wasn’t the beautiful roses that caused the bishop and his advisors to fall to their knees; for there, on the tilma, was a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary precisely as Juan had described her. The next day, after showing the Tilma at the Cathedral, Juan took the bishop to the spot where he first met Mary. He then returned to his village where he met his uncle who was completely cured. His uncle told him he had met a young woman, surrounded by a soft light, who told him that she had just sent his nephew to Tenochtitlan with a picture of herself. She told his uncle:”Call me and call my image Santa Maria de Guadalupe”.

Within six years of this apparition, six million Aztecs had converted to Catholicism! The tilma shows Mary as the God-bearer – she is pregnant with her Divine Son. Since the time the tilma was first impressed with a picture of the Mother of God, it has been subject to a variety of environmental hazards including smoke from fires and candles, water from floods and torrential downpours and, in 1921, a bomb which was planted by anti-clerical forces on an altar under it. There was also a cast-iron cross next to the tilma and when the bomb exploded, the cross was twisted out of shape, the marble altar rail was heavily damaged and the tilma was…untouched!

In 1977, the tilma was examined using infrared photography and digital enhancement techniques. Unlike any painting, the tilma shows no sketching or any sign of outline drawn to permit an artist to produce a painting. Further, the very method used to create the image is still unknown. The image is inexplicable in its longevity and method of production. It can be seen today in a large cathedral built to house up to ten thousand worshipers. It is, by far, the most popular religious pilgrimage site in the Western Hemisphere.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, St Juan Diego…pray for us!

September’s Saint of the Month

Padre Pio!

St. Padre Pio was born Francesco Forgione on May 25, 1887 in the small farming town of Pietrelcina, Italy. His family was devoutly Catholic, attending daily mass and praying the rosary together. Padre Pio had 4 living siblings and 3 who had passed away. Pio was a very good child and at the age of five he dedicated his life to God. He loved to pray and as a young boy he could see and talk with Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and his guardian angel. But even as a boy, St. Pio had to battle the devil and this continued throughout his life. Padre Pio was also ill most of his life, but his love of prayer and the Blessed Mother carried him though.

Padre Pio’s parents first learned of his desire to become a priest in 1897. A young Capuchin friar was canvassing the countryside seeking donations. Padre Pio was drawn to this spiritual man and told his parents, “I want to be a friar… with a beard.” At 15 years old, St. Pio entered into the Capuchin Order, where he studied to become a priest. On August 10, 1910, the twenty-three year old Fra Pio was ordained a priest and a day later celebrated his first Mass. When Padre Pio said mass, sometimes it would last for hours because he would experience a very deep love and union with God. What seemed like 5 minutes of prayer to him, would actually be hours! One day, about a month after being ordained, he was praying and Jesus and Mary appeared to him and gave him the wounds of Christ in his hands and feet, the stigmata. At first this was hard on St. Pio, because he didn’t want people to see the wounds or be afraid but soon after he accepted this special gift from God. Years later he received all 5 wounds of Christ, and claimed that the most painful was his right shoulder, where Jesus carried His Cross. Many people accused St Pio of faking this stigmata and this caused him unwanted attention and frustration, yet something more he could offer up to Jesus.

By the time Padre Pio was 33 yrs old, his piety and love of Jesus was very well known. People would travel from all over to attend mass or go to confession with St. Pio. It was reported that he could read souls in the confessional. St Pio had many extraordinary gifts and charisms including the gift of healing, bilocation, prophesy, miracles, discernment of spirits, the supernatural ability to go without food and sleep, the gift of tongues (the ability to speak and understand languages he had never studied), the ability to read souls, the gift to see angelic forms, and the sweet fragrance which came from his stigmata.

Padre Pio became a spiritual director and had many spiritual daughters and sons. He had five rules for spiritual growth: weekly confession, daily Communion, spiritual reading, meditation and examination of conscience. In explaining his spiritual growth rules, Padre Pio compared dusting a room, used or unused on a weekly basis, to weekly confession. He suggested two times of daily meditation and self-examination: in the morning to “prepare for battle” and in the evening to “purify your soul.” Padre Pio’s motto, “Pray, Hope, and Don’t Worry” is his motto into daily life. A Christian should recognize God in everything, offering everything to Him saying, “Thy will be done”. In addition, all should aspire to heaven and put their trust in Him and not worry about what he is doing, as long as it is done with a desire to please God.

St. Pio life was filled with piety, service, and dedication. All his actions were for the Glory of God! He even founded the Home to Relieve Suffering. Pio calls it “a place that the patient might be led to recognize those working for his cure as God’s helpers, engaged in preparing the way for the intervention of grace.” On Sept. 23rd, 1968 at the age of 81, St. Padre Pio died, repeating his final words, JESUS, MARY, until his final breath. Pio was canonized by Saint John Paul the Great on June 16, 2002. Today, his grave in Italy is visited by 8 million pilgrims per year, second only to Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine. St. Pio…pray for us!

Learn more about St Pio and check out this video!

August’s Saint of the Month

St. Philomena’s was a young consecrated virgin whose story remained unknown until her remains were discovered in 1802 in the catacombs of St. Priscilla in Rome. Three tiles enclosing her tomb bore an inscription, Pax Tecum Filumena (i.e. “Peace be unto you, Philomena”). Along with this inscription were the symbols of a lily, two anchors, and three arrows, indications of both virginity and martyrdom.

In 1805, her relics were transferred from Rome to a chapel in the village of Mugnano de Cardinale, Italy and soon after various “favors, graces and even miracles” started occurring, including “cures of cancer and healing of wounds”. Venerable Pauline-Marie Jaricot, foundress of the Association of the Living Rosary, was miraculously cured of a severe heart ailment in 1835 at St. Philomena’s shrine in Mungano. Soon afterwards, in 1837 Pope Gregory XVI, authorized public veneration of St. Philomena and canonized her. She became the only person the Church recognized as a saint solely on the basis of her intercessory miracles and she is often times called the Wonder Worker.

Pauline Jaricot was so impressed with her cure that she brought a relic of St. Philomena to her friend the famous Cure of Ars, St. John Vianney. He enshrined it in an altar in his church, which led to numerous miracles, conversions, and cures for those invoking St. Philomena’s assistance. He himself was blessed with mystical gifts, most famously, with the ability to read souls, much like another famous confessor, St. Padre Pio. Jean-Marie Vianney nonetheless gave the credit for many miracles attributed to him to St. Philomena and handed out many Cords of St Philomena to help others become devoted to her. Other Saints who were devoted to her included St. Peter Julian Eymard, St. Damien de Vesteur, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini and St. John Nepomucene Neumann.

In 1833, a Neapolitan nun reported that Philomena had appeared in a vision to her, and the Saint had revealed that she was a Greek princess, martyred at 13 years of age by Diocletian, who was Roman Emperor from 284 to 305. According to Sister Maria Luisa di Gesù, Saint Philomena told her she was the daughter of a king in Greece who, with his wife, had converted to Christianity. At the age of about 13, she took a vow of consecrated virginity. When the Emperor Diocletian threatened to make war on her father, her father went with his family to Rome to ask for peace. The Emperor “fell in love” with the young St. Philomena and, when she refused to be his wife, subjected her to a series of torments: scourging, from whose effects two angels cured her; drowning with an anchor attached to her (two angels cut the rope and raised her to the river bank); being shot with arrows, (on the first occasion her wounds were healed; on the second, the arrows turned aside; and on the third, they returned and killed six of the archers, after which, several of the others became Christians). Finally the Emperor had her decapitated. The story goes that the decapitation occurred on a Friday at three in the afternoon, as with the death of Jesus. Two other people, unknown to each other and living far apart, had what was apparently the same revelation made to them about Philomena’s life.

In the Neapolitan nun’s account, Saint Philomena also revealed that her birthday was January 10, that her martyrdom occurred on August 10 (the date also of the arrival of her relics in Mugnano del Cardinale), but the church celebrates her feast on Aug 11. The name “Filumena” means “daughter of light” and it is usually taken to be derived from a Greek word meaning “beloved”.

Learn more about this young Saint by watching this short video

The Cord of St. Philomena

As I was creating and curating this box, a beautiful devotion revealed itself…the Cord of St. Philomena. I was immediately intrigued because I know the power of this young Saint and this devotion promises some pretty might graces. So I began researching this devotion and here’s what I discovered…

The Cord of St. Philomena is a very old devotion, created by St. Philomena’s devotees, and was approved by the Congregation of Rites on September 15, 1883. Later, on April 4, 1884, Leo XIII enriched it with precious indulgences. The cord must be made of wool, linen or cotton, and is colored white and red to indicate the virginity and martyrdom of Saint Philomena. This devotion has the following motives: A) To obtain the intercession of St. Philomena in preserving the virtue of chastity according to one’s state of life. B) To fight the growing disbelief and penetrate the spirit of faith. C) To demonstrate a love of St. Philomena and thereby deserve her special protection from diseases of soul and body. This devotion is very widely practiced, especially outside Italy, to obtain spiritual and corporal graces. A priest has the faculty to bless the Cord of Saint Philomena using the Roman Ritual formula.

Wearers of the Cord ought to have the intention of honoring St. Philomena to the best of their ability in order to merit protection against evils of soul and body, and to obtain through her prayers perfect chastity and the spirit of faith. It is also recommended that the following prayer be said daily:

Saint Philomena, Virgin and Martyr, pray for us that through thy powerful intercession we may obtain that purity of mind and heart which leads to the perfect love of God. Amen.

This extraordinary privilege of a cord is shared with other saints, such as, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Joseph.
The devotion of the Cord of St. Philomena was adopted on account of the innumerable graces obtained through the intercession of the Hidden Saint of the Catacombs. The Cord was first distributed by the saintly Cure of Ars. It was the illustrious Leo XIII who blessed and approved the Cord and attached many privileges and indulgences to its wearing.

Many records tell of the favor granted to those who wear the Cord. We read of striking cures; for instance, when wound about diseased limbs, the Cord has driven out the pain and healed them. There is also the story of the child who fell into a pool of water, but was preserved because of the Cord of St. Philomena around his waist. The Cord itself remained perfectly dry.

Plenary Indulgences of The Cord of Saint Philomena

1. On the day on which the cord is worn for the first time.
2. On the 25th of May, the anniversary of the opening of St. Philomena’s tomb in the Catacombs of Saint Priscilla.
3. On August 11, her proper Feast.
4. On December 15, the anniversary of the approbation of the cord by the Holy See.
5. At the moment of death, under the ordinary conditions.

With the exception of the last, it is necessary for gaining the above indulgences to go to confession, receive Holy Communion, make a visit to some church and there pray for the intentions of the Sovereign Pontiff.

So, included in August’s 2018 Saint of the Month Club is the Cord of St. Philomena. This cord may be blessed by a priest and tied around one’s waist. I also read that it can be placed under a pillow, kept in a pocket, or tied around one’s wrist. But keeping with the tradition of the devotion, waist is recommended. Along with the Cord, I included a bracelet with an anchor attached as a reminder of this devotion and St. Philomena.

Here are some resources which explain further about the Saint Philomena Cord and I sited on this post.

http://catholictradition.org/Saints/philomena3.htm

http://philomena.us/devotions/

July’s Saint of the Month

Mary lived in the town of Magdala. This small town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee was a place where Jesus spent much of his time preaching. This is probably where Mary first came to know Jesus. Some people believe and St. Gregory the Great claimed, that she was the woman who entered Simon the Pharisee’s house. She’s the woman that wept and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears. She wiped His feet with her hair and then poured perfume on His feet. The Gospels tell us that Jesus released seven demons from Mary. We are not sure what the evils were, but over the centuries people have guessed that she was an immoral woman. The Vatican has said this is not so, and many scholars believe that the reference means she was cured of illness by Jesus. Some people were surprised that Jesus let such a sinner touch him. Our Lord who could see into Mary’s heart said, “Many sins are forgiven her, because she has loved much.” Then to Mary He said kindly, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” St. Mary Magdalene was a sinner, yet Jesus forgave her. He could see that she loved much. From then on, with the other holy women, Mary humbly served Jesus and His apostles.

Mary stayed with the Blessed Mother, some other women, and St. John at the foot of the Cross until Jesus died. She would not leave her Friend in the terrible last moments of His earthly life. After Jesus’ body had been placed in the tomb, Mary went to anoint it with spices early Easter Sunday morning, because there had been no time when He was buried. She was shocked when she saw that the tomb was empty. Not finding the Sacred Body, she stood outside the tomb and began to weep. Suddenly she saw someone she thought was the gardener. She asked him if he knew where the body of her beloved Master had been taken. Touched by her deep sorrow, the man spoke in a voice filled with love that she knew so well: “Mary!” It was Jesus, standing right there in front of her. He was risen from the dead. And He had chosen to reveal himself first to her. The Gospels tell us that Mary was sent by Jesus himself to announce the Good News of the resurrection to Peter and the apostles.

We do not know where Mary went after Jesus ascended into heaven. Some say that she went with St. John to Ephesus. Others say she went to southern France where she lived alone in a cave and prayed. No matter where she ended up, Mary is still a model for us today as one of Jesus’ first and most loyal disciples. St Mary is called the “apostle to the apostles”.

This is a great overview of Mary’s life and gives you more details about the end of her life.

SOM Club July Member Spotlight

Meet Evagrace!

As a mom myself, and owner of the Saint of the Month Club, notes and messages like the one below make me feel so grateful to do what I do. Relationships are important to me and interacting with you Club members is such a blessing to me!

Here’s the note from Evagrace’s mom…

“This is Evagrace. She is 7 years old and she loves the Saint of the Month Club because she says “it’s fun learning about the Saints, doing the fun projects, and coloring the beautiful coloring pages of the Saints!” She especially enjoyed planting the garden from St. Catherine of Siena’s SOM box. She prayed that the Holy Spirit would grow her seedling of faith into something beautiful like the heavenly blue plant! 😍
Thank you for making learning about the saints so interactive and special!”

What a sweet girl! And I love her relationship with the Holy Spirit…that is so inspiring!

Please join me in praying for Evagrace and her entire family. I love having them be apart of the Saint of the Month Club!