portraitsofsaints

[portraitsofsaints]

Saint Brendan the Navigator

484 - 577

Feast Day: May 16

Patronage: boatmen, sailors, travelers, whales

St. Brendan the Navigator, an Irish saint, lived from 484 to 577. He was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He is most known for his legendary travels, especially to the “Isle of the Blessed”, also known as Saint Brendan’s Island. He is said to have encountered a sea monster and to have celebrated Easter Mass on the back of a giant whale!

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#catholicsaints #StBrendantheNavigator #catholic art #catholic faith #artist on tumblr

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Saint Isidore the Farmer

1070-1130

Feast day: May 15 (New), March 22 (Trad)

Patronage: Farmers, laborers, national rural conference in the U.S. and rural communities

Saint Isidore the Farmer, also known as St. Isidore the Laborer, was born in Madrid, Spain to a farming family. He married Maria de la Cabeza who was also declared a saint. Deeply religious, St. Isidore attended Mass daily, though never neglecting his labor. Many times his guardian angel would take up the plow while he lingered in prayer. He loved the poor and animals, miraculously multiplying food for both.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#SaintIsidoretheFarmer #catholicartist #catholicart #catholicsm

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Saint Dymphna

Died: 7th C.

Feast Day: May 15

Patronage: mental disorders, neurological disorders, runaways, victims of incest

Dymphna, the only daughter to a pagan king, took after her mother in faith and beauty, taking a vow of chastity at a young age. After the death of his wife, Dymphna’s father sought to marry his daughter, causing her to flee. After finding her and her continued refusals, Dymphna’s father cut off her head making her a martyr at the age of fifteen.  

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#SaintDymphna #Saintoftheday #mental health #catholic art #mental illness

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Saint Matthias

Died: 80 

Feast Day: May 14 (New) February 25 (Trad.)

Patronage: alcoholism, carpenters, smallpox, tailors, Gary, Indiana

St. Matthias had been one of the disciples during the whole of our Lord's public life and, like the others was a witness of His resurrection. It was he who took the place of Judas among the Twelve, following Judas' betrayal of Jesus and suicide. The Church venerates St. Matthias on an equal footing with the other Apostles, whose voices resound throughout the world, from generation to generation, giving testimony to what they saw and heard in their life with our Lord. 

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#SaintMatthias #Saintoftheday #Saintquotes #RomanCatholic #Portraitsofsaints

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Our Lady of Fatima

Feast day: May 13

May 13th, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to 3 Portuguese children in the small town of Fatima. She appeared six times and identified Herself as “Our Lady of the Rosary”, asking that they pray the rosary daily for the conversion of sinners. Mary also spoke of observing first Saturdays, devotion to her Immaculate Heart and the conversion of Russia. During the final apparition, the dance of the sun took place in front of 70,000 people. 

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#OurLadyofFatima #Fatima #Catholicfaith #Portraitsofsaints #Saintoftheday

[portraitsofsaints]

Saint Julian of Norwich

1342-1430

Feast day: May 13

Patronage: Cats

Saint Julian of Norwich, a Benedictine English mystic, lived as a recluse in her cell, with a cat most likely being her only companion.  As one of the most influential writers of England, she wrote 16 Revelations of Divine Love, the 1st English language book by a woman.  She meditated on these revelations from Jesus about Divine Love, the incarnation, redemption, sin, penance and other aspects of spiritual life for 20 years, when Our Lord told her their meaning, “It was necessary that there should be sin; but all shall be well,  all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.” 

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#SaintJulianofNorwich #Catholicfaith #Portraitsofsaints #Saintoftheday #catholic art

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Blessed Imelda Lambertini

1322 - 1333

Feast Day: May 12

Patronage: First Communicants

Blessed Imelda Lambertini had a burning desire to receive the Holy Eucharist from a very young age. She joined a Dominican convent at age 9 and would sometimes say “Tell me, can anyone receive Jesus into their heart and not die?” One day after Mass she was seen with the Sacred Host miraculously hovering above her. The priest was called and gave her First Holy Communion. She died in ecstasy immediately after and is believed to be incorrupt. She was only 11.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#BlessedImelda #Catholicfaith #Portraitsofsaints #Saintoftheday #Saintquotes #catholic art

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Saint Pancras of Rome

289-303

Feast Day: May 12

Patronage: San Pancrazio Salentino, Italy; children, for employment, and health; invoked against cramp, false witness, headache, and perjury

Saint Pancras was born in Turkey, orphaned at an early age, and sent to live with his uncle in Rome. They both converted to Christianity with enthusiasm. Under Diocletian, Pancras was ordered to sacrifice to pagan gods, which he refused and was beheaded at the age of 14. His body was brought to the Catacombs and was interned there. St. Augustine of Canterbury was given some of his relics which he brought to England. The oldest church in England is home to and named after St Pancras.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#SaintPancrasofRome #Catholicfaith #Portraitsofsaints #Saintoftheday #catholic art

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Saint Leopold Mandic

1866-1942

Feast Day: May 12

The Apostle of Unity and the Confessional

Saint Leopold Mandic was born with many physical and health problems, into a large family, in Croatia. In 1884, he joined the Capuchin Franciscans and was appointed to a parish in Padua from 1906 until his death. He was so committed to mercy and compassion, that he spent 13-16 hours a day in the confessional. People from all walks of life sought him out for this sacrament of reconciliation, including Albino Luciani who would become John Paul I. He also prayed and worked for the unity of the Roman and Orthodox Christians. He died of esophagus cancer after he collapsed as he was preparing for Mass.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#SaintLeopoldMandic #Catholicfaith #Portraitsofsaints #Saintoftheday #catholic art

[portraitsofsaints]

Little Nellie of Holy God (Nellie Organ) 

1903-1908

Little Nellie of Holy God was an Irish child mystic that gave St. Pope Pius X cause to change the age requirement for First Holy Communion. After her mother died, Nellie was raised by the Good Shepherd Sisters who noticed her close relationship to God. She would have conversations with, visions and even played with the child Jesus. She longed to receive Holy God, as she called Him, in Holy Communion and did so at only 4 years of age, just months before she died of tuberculosis. Nellie’s body was found to be incorrupt one year after she died.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website

#LittleNellieofHolyGod #littlenellie #Catholicmystic #FirstCommunion #catholic art

[portraitsofsaints]

St. Damien of Molokai

1840 - 1889

Feast day: May 10

Patronage: people with leprosy

Father Damien or St. Damien of Molokai was a priest from Belgium and a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a missionary religious institute. He won recognition for his ministry in the Kingdom of Hawaii, to people with leprosy, who had been placed under a government-sanctioned medical quarantine on the island of Molokai. After 16 years caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those in the leper colony, he eventually contracted and died of the disease. 

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#SaintDamien #Hawaii #Catholicfaith #Portraitsofsaints #artist on tumblr

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Saint John of Avila

Doctor of the Church 

1500-1569

Feast Day: May 10

Patronage: Andalusia, Spain, Spanish secular clergy

Saint John of Avila, a Spanish priest, was an engaging preacher, wise confessor and spiritual director to saints like St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis Borgia, St. John of the Cross, St. Ignatius of Loyola, to name a few. His missionary efforts were in Muslim dominated Southern Spain where he wasn’t afraid to denounce evil.  Saint John’s writings have become classics and he was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#SaintJohnofAvila #Catholicfaith #Portraitsofsaints #Saintoftheday #Saintquotes

[portraitsofsaints]

Blessed Ivan Merz

1896-1928

Feast Day: May 10

Patronage: youth and youth ministers, military personnel, dentists, pulmonologists, philosophers, philologists, students, educators, liturgists, theologians, devotees of the Holy Eucharist, and lay faithful engaged in Christian apostolate.

Blessed Ivan Merz was born in Croatia, fought in WWI, and became a philosophy professor. During this time, he made a vow of chastity, wanting to remain a layperson, devoting himself to the Church, and evangelizing the youth. He promoted liturgical renewal, Catholic Action in Croatia (Croatian Union of Eagles), and Eucharist devotion and crusades. He died of inflammation of his facial cavities and brain.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#BLIvan Merz #Saintoftheday #Saintquotes #catholic art #catholic faith

[portraitsofsaints]

Blessed Catherine of St. Augustine

May 3, 1632 - May 8, 1668

Feast Day: May 8

Augustinian Hospitaller Sister of the Mercy of Jesus

Blessed Catherine of St. Augustine was born in France and given a good education. Since her youth she had a devotion to Our Lady and cared for the sick. Following the advice of St. John Eudes, she entered the Augustinian Hospitaller Sisters of Mercy of Jesus in 1644. (A nursing order) Catherine volunteered to go to the Quebec mission despite the objections of her family. On the voyage to Canada, she contracted the plague. During her life, she struggled with spiritual dryness and debilitating illnesses. She was a prodigy of sacrificial love, kind and gracious to all, and a great mystic. Blessed Catherine is considered a co-founder of the Catholic Church in Canada. Pope St. John Paul II beatified her in 1989.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#BlCatherineofStAugustine #CanadianCatholic #CanadianCatholicChurch #catholic women

[portraitsofsaints]

Saint Achatius 

Died c. 303 or 311

Feast Day:May 8

Patronage: soldiers, invoked against headache

Saint Achatius (also known as Acacias or Agathius) was a Cappadocian Greek centurion. He was arrested for his faith in Thrace and was taken to be tortured multiple times, though some of his afflictions were miraculously healed. Eventually, they beheaded him because he would not give up the Christian Faith. St. Achatius is one of the 14 Holy Helpers.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#SaintAchatius #14holyhelpers #holyhelper #catholicartist #catholic art

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Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich

March 26, 1901 - May 8, 1927

Feast Day: May 8

Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich was born in New Jersey to Byzantine Catholic immigrants. She led a virtuous life and wanted to be a Carmelite nun but needed to care for her mother who died shortly after her high school graduation. She attended the College of St. Elizabeth, graduated with high honors and taught English at St. Aloysius High School. After her father died, she entered the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth and received the habit in May 1925. Her spiritual director asked her to write conferences to share with other novices. They were published after her death called “Greater Perfection.”  In May 1927 she became ill and died from myocarditis and acute appendicitis at the age of 26, receiving her final religious vow on her deathbed. A miracle healing of a 9-year-old boy in 1963, from bilateral macular degeneration, happened through her intercession.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#BlessedMiriamTeresaDemjanovich #catholic art #catholic women #catholic saint #artist on tumblr

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Saint Rose Venerini

1656-1728

Feast Day: May 7

Canonized in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI

Saint Rose Venerini was born in Viterbo, Italy. She discerned the contemplative religious life after her fiancé died. Yet her true vocation was teaching, which she realized under the guidance of her spiritual director. She believed that to educate would improve the lives of the poor and in spite of severe opposition, she opened a preschool for girls and founded a religious institute of women called the Venerini Sisters. By the time of her death, she oversaw the training of teachers and administration of over 40 schools throughout Italy.    

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#SaintRoseVenerini #Catholicfaith #Portraitsofsaints #VeneriniSisters #catholicartist