“Be often reading the lives of the saints for inspiration and instruction.”
– Saint Philip Neri
St. Anthony of Padua
Feast Day: June 13
Patronages: Poor, Sailors and Fisherman, Priests, Mail Delivery, and Travelers
“Anthony was a simple and humble friar who preached the good news lovingly and with fearless courage. The youth whom his fellow friars thought was uneducated became one of the great preachers and theologians of his day. He was a man of great penance and apostolic zeal. But he was primarily a saint of the people. His effectiveness in calling people back to the faith through his preaching was just as important as his peacemaking and calls for justice.
To this day, St. Anthony of Padua is one of the Catholic Church’s most revered and popular saints. One of the reasons for this is likely that his life was what every Christian’s life is meant to be — a steady courage to face the ups and downs of life, the call to love and forgive, to be concerned for the needs of others, to deal with crisis, both great and small, and to have our feet solidly on the ground of total trusting love and dependence upon God.”
Sts. Thomas More & John Fisher
Feast Day: June 22
Patronages: Indigenous People
“It is good to love one’s country, but ultimate loyalty is due only to Christ and his kingdom. Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher show us what faithful citizenship looks like. They loved and served their country. In the moments just before his execution, More is said to have stated, “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.” They never rose up to incite rebellion or foment revolution. They were no traitors. But when the law of the king came into conflict with the law of Christ, they submitted to Christ. These men gave their lives for the freedom of the Church and for freedom of conscience. They bear witness to the truth that no government can make a claim on a person’s soul.”
St. Josemaría Escrivá
Feast Day: June 26
Patronages: Those who have Diabetes
Founder of Opus Dei, St. Josemaría Escrivá “untiringly preached the universal call to holiness and apostolate. Christ calls everyone to become holy in the realities of everyday life. Hence work too is a means of personal holiness and apostolate, when it is done in union with Jesus Christ.” – Pope Saint John Paul II
Learn how to become a Saint in your daily life by following St. Josemaría’s advice.
Sts. Peter & Paul
Feast Day: June 29
Patronages: Rome
Peter and Paul are called the patron saints of Rome because, in the words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, “the Christian community of [Rome] considered them a kind of counterbalance to the mythical Romulus and Remus, the two brothers held to be the founders of Rome.” Saints Peter and Paul were central to the foundation and advancement of the early Church, thus it is fitting that they would be the patron saints of Rome.
Two Rivers Catholic Community 