The Hearts' Haven Family Patron Saints of 2011

Inspired by I-do-not-know-where, we choose patron saints for each year, for each member of our family.

We did not always do this……I suppose we have been doing it for the last ten years, maybe more, perhaps less……..it just feels like a long tradition for our family.


We learn about that saint and share the knowledge with the rest of the family. This is casual, and sometimes does not happen. We will try to be better this year. :)

Thus far, our method has been to pull out all four Butler’s Lives of the Saints and, one at a time, have each person choose a book, and then a page. The saint listed on the page becomes that family member’s patron saint for the year.

With evening prayers, we usually do a “litany” of the family saints, with each stating their own. This helps us to keep our saint in mind. When one of our members is not home, we beg their saint's intercession in their place.

It is funny, but some saints seem to come up frequently……which is interesting considering there are over 1,000 saints listed.

St. Augustine, St. Louis & St. John Chrysostrom have been up twice each....PRIOR to 2011's "Litany of Saints"

We try to do it on or as close to New Year’s Day as possible. I write the names and pages in one of my journals so there will be a permanent place for the list. Most years, that is all that is in my journal. :)


Our family Patron Saints for 2011:


Marty------------St. Thomas of Villanova


Chari------------St. Louis




Anne-------------St. Cyprian




Matthew--------St. Eanswide




Sarah------------St. Wereburge




Maddelyn-------St. Peter




Garrett-----------St. Oswald




Malachy---------St. Andrew Corsini


A friend was visiting at the time, and he picked a saint, too:  St. Augustine!


This is the third year in a row.....that St. Augustine has come up. It is the third time for St. Louis and the second for St Oswald.....and, I believe, it might be the second for St. Peter as well.  That makes all of them old family friends!  :)


My friend Willa recently posted a link to this Saint generator. Perhaps some of you might find it helpful.  We may start to utilize it in the future, to have an opportunity to receive patrons who are newer to the Calendar of Saints.  Some of my friends, especially those with younger children, pick saints from "saint cards" or from smaller saint books with the more familiar saints.


Blessings to you & yours, from me and mine.....and our saints....... in this new year!


May all of the saints & angels in heaven, pray for us!


With love,


Chari

PS  I would love to know who else does this.....leave your name in the comments!  Who is YOUR saint for this year?  What is YOUR tradition?