St. Isidore the farmer Pastorate

October Saints

  The month of October is filled with wonderful things: trees turning color, apple cider, bonfires and football. I have come to realize over the past few years that October is a powerhouse month of inspiring saints! I will detail some of the October saints and encourage you to delve more deeply into the lives of the saints. Recently, I was at Sacred Heart School making my rounds of classroom visits. A couple of the younger classes kept asking me questions about saints. How did they become a saint? What miracles were associated with a particular saint. How old was the saint? And many, many more questions! We should all have the faith of a child to know more about the saints and our Catholic faith. 

• October 1: St. Therese of Lisieux - wrote her autobiography, Story of a Soul. She defined her path to God and holiness as The Little Way. Therese died at the age of 24 from tuberculosis. She had many miracles attributed to her. Pope John Paul II declared Therese a Doctor of the Church in 1997. St. Therese’s parents, Louis and Zelle Martin are also saints!

• October 2: Guardian Angels - angels who intercede for us and remain at our side from birth until death. Bishop Fulton Sheen would say, we should always pray to our guardian angels and their intercession as they are with us wherever we go.

• October 4: St. Francis of Assisi - son of a rich textile merchant in Italy. Experienced a conversion experience and began to take his faith seriously. Clare of Assisi (founder of the Poor Clares - a Poor Clare monastery is located in Kokomo) was a student of Francis. Francis also received the stigmata, the wounds of Christ. St. Francis is the patron of animals, the environment, peace, and Italy - to name a few.

• October 5: Blessed Bartolo Longo - known for his devotion to the rosary and his reversion to Catholicism. St. John Paul II called Bartolo the Apostle of the Rosary.

• October 7: Our Lady of the Rosary - attributed to the Christian victory over the Turks as the Christian prayed the rosary before battle.

• October 12: Blessed Carlo Acutis - died at the age of 15 from leukemia in 2006. Known for creating websites devoted to the Eucharistic miracles. Quote, “Jesus is my great friend, and the Eucharist is my highway to heaven.”

• October 22: St. John Paul II - first non-Italian pope in over   400 years. Loved the outdoors, particularly hiking and skiing.  Canonized in 2014 with Pope St. John XXIII. 

• October 29: Blessed Chiara Badano - as a teenager, attended many retreats and faith formation events. She enjoyed playing tennis, hiking, and swimming and wanted to deepen her relationship with Jesus in everything she did. Chiara was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and died in 1990 at the age of 18. 

The lives of the saints are amazing and inspiring! There are many more saints in the month of October - this is a snapshot of a few!


St. Isidore the Farmer Pray for us!

Peace,

 Fr. Sean