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Who is your patron Saint?

Dear Gideon,

Mine is St Alexios Romanos, the Man of God, whose feast, Old Calendar, is March 30th, the day after my birthday.

He lived under the stairs of his father's great home in poverty and the stairs are still extant at his basilica in Rome.

When he died, the Pope and the Emperor came to his father's house where they found out that this was their long-lost son . . .

On this day in Ukraine, the beekeepers place icons of him, of St John the Baptist and Sts. Savvaty and Zossimas in little shrines among their bee-yards and bless the new honey season.

My father named me "Alex" because he was a beekeeper and I'm such a honey . . .

This is also why I didn't become a celibate - I was told that if I did there would "be no honey" for me.

And I'm addicted to the stuff . . .

Alex

Alex, I'm not quite sure you understood your father. He more than likely thought you were a "honey-pot." :-)

OrthodoxEast

Dear OrthodoxEast,

And one that's cracked too?

That's quite the stinging indictment, Big Guy!

Alex

My patron is St. Timothy the Apostle, celebrated on January 22 according to the church calendar. Which is February 3 according to the civil calendar, if I calculated correctly. I have an ikon of him in my ikon corner.

However, I do have much devotion to many saints (especially St. Seraphim of Sarov and St. John (Maximovitch) the Wonderworker, and have many ikons either in my ikon corner, or on my computer as .jpg files.

In Christ,

Timothy, servant of God

Ever since my visit as a child to Up-State New York my Patron Saints have always been the Jesuit Martyrs of North America: SS. Isaac Jogues, John De Lalande, Rene Goupil, John De Brebeuf, Gabriel Lalemant, Charles Garnier, Noel Chabanel, and Anthony Daniel. Their heroic lives and intense holiness have always been a source of inspiration for me. I am so pleased that our brother Alex is also devoted to the Martyrs. I also have a great devotion to Saint Joseph, the Virgin-Father of Jesus Christ.
Blessings+
Silouan, old monk

My patron will be the Saint whose name I take at Chrismation: Our Father among the Saints, Seraphim of Sarov

May he pray unto God for us!

Bless me a sinner, Father Silouan!

I was born on the day on which St Jean de Brebeuf was martyred - and my middle name is that. I also grew up in the area where St Jean first preached among the Hurons and developed a French-Huron dictionary.

My parents could not have children, but my mother conceived after many prayers at the Martyrs' Shrine.

My wife, oddly enough, was born on the day that St Noel Chabanel was martyred and grew up (and we still go there to the cottage) where St Noel was martyred and thrown into the Nottawasaga River.

I return to see the old farm almost every year and shed a tear or two in the process!

Once I was reading the diaries of St Jean de Brebeuf where he said that "we visited the place where we first came to live in the land of the Hurons and where our old cabins once stood . . ."

And here I was doing the same thing, near the same spot so many years later . . .

Once as I was standing near the old farm, a boy on a bicycle came riding up. He told me he was ten years old and had grown up on the same farm that I had . . .

I told him to appreciate it because one day he would come back, as I was doing, to remember the "good old days."

As he turned to leave, I asked him his name.

"It's Alex," he said.

It was a good day that day.

Alex

Dear Alex:
May the sweet Virgin Mary and her Holy Child bless you+

It is wonderful to hear about your love for the Martyrs, John De Brebeuf and Companions. In your post you wrote: "I was born on the day on which St Jean de Brebeuf was martyred." That would make you a very venerable personage indeed!
One of the greatest treasures that I carry with me always is a small medal with the images of all eight Martyr-saints which was blessed on the skull of St. Jean de Brebeuf. Do you ever get back to the Midland Shrine?
Silouan, old monk

My heavenly patron is St John the Theologian, the Evangelist, the Divine, the Virgin, the Guardian of the Theotokos.

I enrolled as a client of St John for six reasons:

1. I desire to be near the Sacred Heart of Jesus (as John laid His head on the breast of Jesus)

2. I desire to stay in the presence of the crucified Christ (as John did at Golgatha, the only Apostle to do so).

3. I desire to take Mary as my mother (as John did at Golgotha and for her entire life).

4. My favorite Gospel is St John's.

5. St John is the Apostle of Love.

6. St John is the most mystical Apostle (witness his vision of the Apocalypse).

I have also devised a rosary for St John. It's just like a Rosary with 5 decades of:

"Saint John the Virgin, Apostle of Love, pray for us."

instead of Hail Mary's.

Each decade begins with the Our Father, the Jesus Prayer, and "Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love." Each decade ends with the Glory be.

Please feel free to venerate St John in this way, especially on his feasts:

May 6 - St John "before the Latin Gate" (when John survived being boiled in oil "before the Latin gate")
May 8 - St John the Theologian, Eastern date
September 26 - the Dormtion of St John
December 27 - St John the Evangelist, Western date

St John the Virgin, Apostle of Love, pray for us!
Marshall

I have several patrons: St. Donald my given name (all I've been able to find out about him was he was a Scottish bishop in the early Celtic Church with 9 daughters. He founded a convent and they all became nuns...talk about encouraging vocations!). St. Dominic the one I was given when I was invested with the Third Order Franciscan habit many years ago. St. Francis of course as a member of his Third Order. St. Anthony of Padua (Tony) who became a friend many many years ago and who never lets me down. And last but not least, since my becoming an adopted Ukie, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Don

The Holy Apostle Andrew, the First-Called.

It was the name of my Great Grandfather, who died but a few years before I was born.

It is a fitting name since I have also been first-called many times and many things that I may not print in a family-oriented forum.

In Christ,
Andrew.

Bless me a sinner, Father Silouan,

Yes, I visit the Shrine throughout the summer and have lunch with the Shrine Director often!

We had dim sum just the other day!

If you ever want another devotional blessed by the Relics at the Shrine, let me know!

Alex

Dear Marshall,

Certainly the East venerates highly St John the Theologian!

Liturgical propers for his feast makes mention of his placing his head on the Chest of Christ etc.

In our liturgical tradition, such as the Akathist to him, he is said to have never have died, but was placed in his tomb alive and then was taken to heaven at his Dormition.

He is also believed to have been conceived in holiness, and a Virgin all his life, but this was never dogmatically defined and there is no feast of his Conception, as there is of the Theotokos and John the Baptist.

It is by him that the Theotokos became a Mother to us all at the Cross . . .

Each year at Ephesus on the feast of his Dormition, it is said that miraculous particles are blown by a gentle breeze that is stirred up near his empty tomb . . .

Another title that the Syriac Church gives him is "St John, the Son of Mary."

Alex

Since I was born in the 1960's at the height of the Latinization period of the Greek Catholic Church in America, I was given a "middle name" (contrary to the Eastern Church tradition). My middle name is Edward. I think there is a St. Edward somewhere in the the Roman Catholic Church, he is either from the pre-Henry schism English Church, maybe even from the early Celtic Church. I've never heard of an Eastern St. Edward, but not 100% sure. Anybody out there now of one??

Ung-Certez