What are saints and why pray to saints?
Saints are persons who have died and have gone to heaven. They lived a life of heroic virtue because of their love for Jesus Christ. The saints are the good and faithful servants of the Lord (cf. Matthew 25:21), they are the blessed ones who have inherited the kingdom (cf. Matthew 25:34).
Christians need to be reminded of the saints because although saints are human persons like us, they inspire us to live a life of heroic virtue out of love for Jesus Christ. We ask the saints to pray for us so that we too can live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. We can always pray directly to God, but God has given us the saints to be our helpers. In this life, God always sends people to help us. In the same way, God also sends angels and saints to help us, even if we don’t see them with our eyes.
Saint Matthew (martyred 74 AD) Feast Day: September 21 Jesus saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him (from a homily by Saint Bede the Venerable) Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: Follow me. Jesus saw Matthew, not ...
St. Cyprian (200-258 AD) Feast Day: September 16 After the gift of bread we ask pardon for our sins As the Lord’s Prayer continues, we ask: Give us this day our daily bread. We can understand this petition in a spiritual and in a literal sense. For in the divine ...
Saint John Chrysostom (349-407 AD) Feast Day: September 13 The power of Christ’s blood If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. Sacrifice a lamb without blemish, commanded Moses, and sprinkle its blood on your ...
Saint Jerome (347-420 AD) Feast Day: September 30 Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: Search the Scriptures, and Seek and you shall find. Christ will not say to me what he said to the Jews: You erred, not knowing ...
Saint Gregory the Great (540-604 AD) Feast Day: September 3 Christ the Good Shepherd I am the good shepherd. I know my own— by which I mean, I love them — and my own know me. In plain words: those who love me are willing to follow me, for anyone ...
Saint Lorenzo Ruiz (1594-1637 AD) Feast Day: September 28 Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, whose Chinese name is Li Lelun, was the first martyr of the Philippines and the first Saint from the Philippines to be canonized. Lorenzo Ruiz was born in Binondo, Manila, on 28 November 1594, to a Chinese father ...
Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660 AD) Feast Day: September 27 Serving the poor is to be our first preference Even though the poor are often rough and unrefined, we must not judge them from external appearances nor from the mental gifts they seem to have received. On the contrary, if ...
Saint Padre Pio (1887-1968 AD) Feast Day: September 23 Padre Pio, also known as Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (25 May 1887 – 23 September 1968), was an Italian friar, priest, stigmatist and mystic, now venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. Padre Pio was born Francesco Forgione in Pietrelcina, ...
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