Name Your Favorite Saint or Saints!

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24 Jul 2007, 5:35 pm

One of my favorite saints is John Bosco, a 19th century Italian priest who escaped a visit to his village's mental asylum. The story goes as follows and is legendary in Italy.

One day, the village heard that the very popular Don Bosco{"Don" was a title given to Italian priests} was going mad. He would taken away for a few weeks' rest at the mental asylum. Two of his fellow monks drove their horse-drawn carriage to his house. One of them said, "Join us for a ride, Don Bosco." Don Bosco said, "Willingly. But first I have a plan I would like to discuss with you." He went on to talk about his plan of starting an order {Much like the order monks lived at the time} for Italian boys. "Let's talk about it while we ride about the village. Get in the carrige then" said the other priest craftily. Bosco replied, "You first please. You're more important than I am." No sooner than the two priests were seated in the coach than Bosco slammed the door shut and shouted to the driver, also a priest, "To the asylum at once! These gentlemen are expected there!"

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cosmiccat
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24 Jul 2007, 6:45 pm

That was a wonderful story, Anonymous. I'm glad you started this thread. I have so many favorite saints, but I'm a little tired right now, have had a long day, and need to rest. But I will certainly be back to contribute and to read the posts here.

Took a rest. St. Joseph is an amazing Saint and one of my favorites. He was the earthly father of Jesus and is patron to many causes and professions, among them, wouldn't you know, families and carpenters. I always like the story of the Miraculous Staircase.

In 1873 in Santa Fe New Mexico, construction of a Church called
'Our Lady of Light' began. When it was almost completed, a grievous
error was discovered. They had forgotten to include an access to the
very high loft. The only tools he had were a hammer, saw, and t-square.
Several months later, the man completed it and he promptly vanished.
The circular staircase makes two 360 degree turns and has no center
supporting pole. No nails were used and the wood did not come from
the local area. Engineers cannot account for the seemingly miraculous staircase
which having no center support should collapse. But, stand it does.

Last edited by cosmiccat on 25 Jul 2007, 6:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Postperson
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24 Jul 2007, 7:41 pm

I like the hermits, generally. Pillar saints like Simon Stylites - the oddballs, the holy fools.

...and I'm not even catholic!

Flagg
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24 Jul 2007, 9:12 pm

saint Atilla - lord of the Holy Hand Grenade

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skafather84
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24 Jul 2007, 10:29 pm

drew brees and marques colston.

cosmiccat
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25 Jul 2007, 2:21 pm

Paul Newman from Cool Hand Luke: Plastic Jesus

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYqwYrbwHeM[/youtube]

jimservo
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26 Jul 2007, 4:39 pm

St. Maximilian Kolbe

Quote:

Raymond Kolbe (who took the name Maximilian when he became a friar) is known chiefly for the manner of his death, but his life was also noteworthy. He was born in 1894 near Lodz (51:49 N 19:28 E) in a part of Poland then under Russian rule, of parents who worked at home as weavers. In 1910 he became a Franciscan, taking the name Maximilian. His parents then undertook the monastic life, his mother as a Benedictine and his father as a Franciscan. His father left the order (I assume before taking life vows) to run a religious bookstore, and then enlisted with Pilsudski's army to fight the Russians. He was captured and hanged as a traitor in 1914.

Maximilian studied at Rome and was ordained in 1919. He returned to Poland and taught Church history in a seminary. He left the seminary (1) to found an association named for the Virgin Mary and dedicated to spreading the Roman Catholic faith and assisting those who held it to learn more about it; and (2) to establish a printing press and publish a periodical for the members of his association, consisting largely of Christian apologetics. He built a friary just west of Warsaw (52:15 N 21:00 E), which eventually housed 762 Franciscans and printed eleven periodicals (one with a circulation of over a million), including a daily newspaper. In 1930 he went to Asia, where he founded friaries in Nagasaki (34:25 N 129:52 E) and in India. In 1936 he was recalled to supervise the original friary near Warsaw. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, he knew that the friary would be seized, and sent most of the friars home. He was imprisoned briefly and then released, and returned to the friary, where he and the other friars sheltered 3000 Poles and 1500 Jews, and continued to publish a newspaper encouraging its readers.

In May 1941 the friary was closed down and Maximilian and four companions were taken to Auschwitz, where they worked with the other prisoners, chiefly at carrying logs. Maximilian carried on his priestly work surreptitiously, hearing confessions in unlikely places and celebrating the Lord's Supper with bread and wine smuggled in for that purpose.

In order to discourage escapes, the camp had a rule that if a man escaped, ten men would be killed in retaliation. In July 1941 a man from Kolbe's bunker escaped. The remaining men of the bunker were led out and ten were selected, including a Sergeant Francis Gajowniczek. When he uttered a cry of dismay, Maximilian stepped forward and said, "I am a Catholic priest. Let me take his place. I am old. He has a wife and children." The officer had more use for a young worker than for an old one, and was happy to make the exchange. The ten men were placed in a large cell and left there to starve. Maximilian encouraged the others with prayers, psalms, and meditations on the Passion of Christ. After two weeks, only four were alive, and only Maximilian was fully conscious. The four were killed with injections of carbolic acid on 14 August 1941.

(other sources)

parts
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26 Jul 2007, 7:16 pm

I loved his show when I was growing up

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JonnyBGoode
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26 Jul 2007, 7:30 pm

Me sainted mother

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cruimh_shionnachain
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28 Jul 2007, 8:36 pm

AnonymousAnonymous wrote:

One of my favorite saints is John Bosco

Your favorite saint is also a brand of chocolate syrup. :lol:

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29 Jul 2007, 7:36 am

skafather84 wrote:

drew brees and marques colston.

I only like Colston

pluto
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29 Jul 2007, 9:57 am

There's my local football team St Mirren,who are named after a real medieval
saint.Then there's St Jude,the patron saint of lost causes. (If my team are
going through a bad patch I can always pray to St Jude ! )

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BazzaMcKenzie
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