Happy All Hallows’ Eve readers! My family has been enjoying lots of fall festivities recently, and we are looking forward to trick or treating in our new neighborhood tonight. We hear there are TONS of kids out around here! We have a pretty great family costume, too: we are the gang from Scooby Doo!
October has five Sundays, so today is another “bonus week” for the blog. As tomorrow is All Saints’ Day, I thought this would be a great opportunity to review married Saints/ Blesseds etc. we have met here on the blog this year with a litany prayer.
Click on the Saints’ names if you’d like to revisit a longer post about them or learn more. If you are looking for a prayer intention, please pray for my readers’ marriages, and for my book and blog as I discern some potential next steps for this ministry. And if you are praying this litany with us, let us know in the comments!
A Litany of Married Saints
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Bls. Luigi and Maria Beltrame-Quattrocchi, first couple beatified together, parents who chose life in the hardest circumstances and raised holy children, devotees to the Sacred Heart, protectors of Jews and others escaping the Nazis, committed to giving time, talent and treasure to those in need… Pray for us!
Bl. Barbe Acarie, foundress of the French Carmelite order, devoted biological mother of six and spiritual mother to countless more, committed to reuniting your family and saving your husband from political exile and crippling debt… Pray for us!
Sts. Henry II and Cunegunda, Holy Roman Emperor and Empress, who chose lifelong marital commitment over having an heir to your throne and belongings, committed to reform and growth in the Church, humble and pure… Pray for us!
St. Gianna Molla, pediatrician and devoted mother, who loved your children’s lives more than your own and trusted God to the end… Pray for us!
St. Rita, patroness of women who have been abused and/ or left heartbroken, who helped your husband move from hatred and violence to peace, who trusted God completely with your sons’ souls, committed nun after being widowed, stigmatic who loved to suffer for Christ… Pray for us!
Servants of God Cyprien and Daphrose Rugamba, voices for peace and unity, model of marital reconciliation, committed to the Catholic Charismatic movement and caring for the street children of Kigali, who trusted God and loved your country to the end, martyred in the Rwandan genocide of 1994… Pray for us!
St. Thomas More,brilliant apologist, lawyer and advisor to the king, doting father and faithful husband, prayer warrior, martyr for the Truth of the Church and the indissolubility of marriage… Pray for us!
Sts. Anne and Joachim, parents of the Blessed Virgin and grandparents of our Lord, who readily committed your precious daughter to God’s care and raised her to be the pure vessel that bore Jesus into our world… Pray for us!
Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin,first couple canonized together, who clung to your faith through the losses of many children and loved ones, and finally Zelie’s own death at a young age, who raised five holy daughters who all became nuns, including the great St. Therese of Lisieux, who renounced attachments to sin and material goods… Pray for us!
St. Monica, model of unceasing prayer, who prayed your husband and son to conversion, who raised and encouraged the great Church father St. Augustine, who longed for heaven and closeness to the Lord… Pray for us!
Sts. Elizabeth and Zechariah, who trusted God through decades of infertility, who received the message of an angel and a miraculous pregnancy from the Lord, who welcomed the Virgin Mary into your home and raised St. John the Baptist to prepare the way for her Son, Jesus… Pray for us!
Bl. Karl I and Servant of God Zita, last emperor and empress of Austria-Hungary, who strove to rule as Christians first and foremost, who thirsted for peace and worked for social justice, who continued to lead humble and holy lives in desperate circumstances… Pray for us!
Sts. Mary and Joseph, pure and chaste, mother and foster father of our Lord, model of Christian marriage, protectors and nurturers of the child Jesus… Pray for us!
All you holy married men and women… Pray for us!
Amen.
Awesome, Thank you.