Marriage - Patron Saints.

When you feel you are in trouble, and some days are more difficult than some other days. And people don’t make it easy. 

But there is HOPE! And Hope always gives.

Look for these Saints, they will gladly help you and put you on the path to what once was difficult and may have looked impossible.

Don’t give up on who you once loved. As a person you may tire but LOVE never tires.

St. Joseph, Husband of Mary.

Ephesians 5:25- Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Joseph and Mary. Theirs was a Holy Marriage!

Mary was found to have conceived Jesus in her womb. On knowing this Joseph did not make a hasty decision. He was thinking of the safety of Mary and the Baby.

When St. Joseph was directed by The Angel of God in a dream for a course of action. St. Joseph obeyed. 

Chosen to be the earthly father of Jesus and the spouse of Our Lady, Patron saint of married couples.

St. Monica.

St. Monica was born to a wealthy Christian family. They married her to a pagan Roman official named Patricius.

St. Monica suffered greatly on behalf of the godless lifestyles of her husband as well as her son (whom we now know as St. Augustine!) but she wept, prayed, and fasted on their behalf, begging God for their conversion.

Her prayers were answered. Her husband was baptized a year before his death, and although it was much longer before Augustine converted, he would become one of the greatest saints in the Church.

Patron Saint of married Women (domestic problems) & mothers.

St. Rita of Cascia.

St Rita desired to become a nun, but her parents arranged for her to marry a man named Paolo Mancini, with whom she would have two sons.

Paolo had a fierce temper and was involved in violent conflicts and feuds. In spite of all this, she exercised the virtues of patience and humility towards him and was a loving wife and homemaker. Over time, her love, and prayers bore fruit, and Paolo’s heart began to undergo conversion.

Paolo did have enemies, who eventually ambushed him and killed him. His sons wanted to avenge his death, but Rita tried to dissuade them; finally, she begged God to take the lives of her sons rather than allow them to commit a mortal sin which would endanger their eternal salvation. Both sons did pass away from an illness and were prevented from acting in violence.

Rita subsequently entered an Augustinian order of nuns.

Patron Saint of Difficult Marriages and Impossible Causes.

St. Cecilia.

St. Cecilia had vowed her virginity to God. She was reportedly given in marriage by her parents to a pagan named Valerian.

When she was married against her will to the future St. Valerian, then a pagan, she told him that an angel of God wished her to remain a virgin. He promised to respect this wish if he were allowed to see the angel. She replied that he would if he were baptized. On his return from baptism, he found Cecilia talking to the angel. She then converted his brother Tiburtius, who also saw the angel. After their martyrdom she distributed her possessions to the poor, which enraged the prefect Almachius, who ordered her to be burned. She was shut in for a night and a day, and the fires were heaped up, but Cecilia did not even break out into perspiration through the heat. When Almachius heard this he sent an executioner to cut off her head. The man struck three times on the neck with a sword. She lived for three days.

Cecilias marriage to Valerian may have been brief, but they remained a powerful example of a couple who was fully dedicated to God.

Valerian's body would later be buried next to St. Cecilia.

Patron Saint of musicians, composers, instrument makers and poets.

(I have added St. Cecilia, she married a Pagan (known as St. Valerian), but look what love did, through her goodness, he became a Saint.)

St Louis and St. Zelie Martin

St. Louis and St. Zelie Martin are the first married couple to be canonized together. They lived humble, ordinary lives, in which both suffering and joy played important parts.

Together they bore nine children, but only five survived childhood. Each of these five daughters entered the religious life, including St. Therese of Lisieux, called “The Little Flower.”

The Martins cooperated with God’s grace and closely aligned themselves to the Lord and His loving will.

Louis and Zelie faithfully fulfilled their roles as spouses and parents and through their quiet lives of love, and self-sacrifice, God brought them home to Himself.

In Pope Francis words: “The holy spouses Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie Guérin practised Christian service in the family, creating day by day an environment of faith and love which nurtured the vocations of their daughters…”

They are beautiful examples of the vocation of marriage expressed in all its fullness, and we can certainly imitate their virtues and seek their intercession.

Patron Saints of illness, mental illness, marriage, parenting and widowers. 

PSALM 128 - The Happy Home of the Faithful

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!

You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;

you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; 

your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

Lo, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

The Lord bless you from Zion!

May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life!

May you see your children’s children!

Peace be upon Israel!

Please continue to read A Just God! Part 1