Patron Saint – Page 6

– turn off the music at the bottom of the page before playing –

At age 14, the poverty-stricken, asthmatic Bernadette Soubirous saw a vision of a beautiful Lady in a grotto on the banks of the Gave River near Lourdes, France. Though Bernadette was despised, disbelieved, and harrassed by local French authorities, crowds began to gather when news spread and when she wouldn’t recant the story of her vision.

On 25 February, Bernadette was told to dig in the earth, which she did to much mockery, but there, the healing waters of the now-famous Lourdes shrine were discovered where the Lady had appeared, and on 25 March, the Lady of the vision announced that she was the Immaculate Conception and that a church should be built at the site. Bernadette became a nun at Nevers, France and, suffering much from physical ailments, died young. Her body remains incorrupt at her convent to this day. ~ Fish Eaters

Sparkles was our first child that was consecrated to Our Blessed Mother while in the womb. Needless to say, she has an enduring devotion to Our Blessed Mother. I believe it is that devotion that led Sparkles to St. Bernadette.

April 16 is the feast day (in the new calendar) of Sparkles’ self proclaimed patron saint, St. Bernadette.* When she was three or four (I can’t remember much at this time with my placenta brain) she started a prayer, “novena” (we didn’t know it was that at the time) of 3 Hail Mary’s. She was persistent that they be said every night in addition to our family and nightly prayers. She would often be found praying them on her own throughout the day. Our spiritual director informed us that this in fact this was a pious devotion but we never knew where it originated from. Nonetheless, we continued at the request of Sparkles.

About a year later she began to evoke the intercession of St. Bernadette; “ St. Bernadette, Ora Pro Nobis.”

She has continued over the years to grow in her devotion to St. Bernadette.

*We usually try to celebrate the feast days in the old Calendar if the Saint is recognized by both. This year we didn’t get a chance to celebrate St. Bernadette Soubirous feast day, February 18 in the Old Calendar because we were immersed in the Lenten Season.

Novena to St. Bernadette

This novena prayer, although short is sufficient. It would be better of course to add, if time permits, three Hail Marys or say five times the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be to the Father, or to use some of the many well-loved novena prayers from other sources. Remember that prayers must be said with the lips in order to gain the indulgences. This novena begins on April 6 and ends on April 16.

O dear little St. Bernadette, humble little shepherdess, who wonderingly beheld the Lovely Lady of the Grotto, pray for us to our Lady of Lourdes that she may heal us of our ills. St. Bernadette, pray for the sick and the afflicted.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

300 days. S. Pen., Nov. 15, 1927.
Prayer Source: All Day With God by Blanche Jennings Thompson

Three Hail Marys

“The devotion of the Three Hail Marys is bound up with the value and the cult of the Hail Mary itself. It traces back to St. Matilda, who received it from Our Lady. The Saint had been worrying about her eternal salvation and had requested the most holy Virgin to assist her in her hour of death. Our Lady reassured her, and said, “I will grant your request. But I want you, on your part, to pray to me three Hail Marys every day. With the first of them call to mind the strength I received from the Eternal Father; with the second, the wisdom I received from the Son; with the third, the love with which the Holy Spirit filled me.”

~Father Stefano Manelli, Devotion to Our Lady, (Academy of the Immaculate: 2000), 148.

Novena of the Three Hail Marys
The Three Hail Marys

Additional Links:
Coloring page of St. Bernadette at Lourdes
St. Bernadette of Lourdes
My Name is Bernadette – EWTN Bio
The Stupid One – A Biography of St. Bernadette
“The Many Faces of Mary, a Love Story”
In the Footsteps of St. Bernadette
Placing your Petition at the Grotto of Lourdes
TV Lourdes
Apparitions of St. Bernadette
Our Lady of Lourdes Post

This post is a tad late but I had to share. On Sunday, Aug 2 our parish celebrated the Finding of the Relics of St. Stephen the First Martyr – for the Parish’s patron. We celebrated with an annual pig roast and square dance. Yee haa!

St. Stephen the First Martyr – Pray for Us!

Litany of St. Stephen, Protomartyr
St. Stephen, the first Deacon and the Church’s first martyr for Christ, whom St. Luke calls “a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,” was stoned to death by order of the Jewish Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, and among those taking part was Saul of Tarsus, the future St. Paul. As first of the witnesses of Christ, it is only right that St. Stephen should appear first in the procession of Saints who surround the cradle of the Saviour: his Feast is December 26. The finding of his relics at Kafr Gamala c. 415 is commemorated August 3 throughout the Western Church. His name is in the Canon of the Roman Mass. The above litany is in Sadlier’s Golden Manual of 1851; the Antiphon (from Acts 7: 54-60) and Versicle and Response (from same, sung after the Gradual in the Mass of Dec. 26) have been added and also the Collect for his Feast has been substituted in place of a prayer formerly attached to the litany.

Antiphon: And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling on his knees he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord.

V. I see the heavens opened,

R. And Jesus standing on the right hand of the power of God.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Saint Stephen, First Martyr, Pray for us. St. Stephen, who suffered for preaching the Name of Jesus Christ, Pray for us. St. Stephen, who so closely imitated Jesus in that great virtue of charity for thine enemies, Pray for us. St. Stephen, who when stoned by thine enemies, didst cast forth sparks, Pray for us. not of anger, but of love, to set on fire their hearts, harder than the stones which they threw, Pray for us. St. Stephen, having recommended thy soul to God, cried for mercy on the souls of thine enemies, Pray for us. St. Stephen, most zealous for the glory of God, b St. Stephen, most patient and constant, Pray for us. St. Stephen, pattern of chastity and purity, Pray for us. St. Stephen, whose heavenly fortitude caused admiration in all, St. Stephen, by whom so many miracles were wrought, Pray for us. St. Stephen, who, in the love of God, was not inferior to the Apostles themselves, Pray for us. St. Stephen, who didst convert many to the faith of Christ, Pray for us. St. Stephen, by whom the Church has received and continues to receive such singular benefits, Pray for us. St. Stephen, of whom it is said, that the Holy Ghost, Who inhabited thy soul, shone and darted forth His rays into thy body, Pray for us. St. Stephen, whose face shone like that of an angel, Pray for us. St. Stephen, filled with the faith and the Holy Ghost, Pray for us. St. Stephen, dear to the Heart of Jesus, Pray for us.

V. Obtain for us, O blessed Stephen, the virtue of holy charity:

R. For which thou wast so eminent and we are so needy

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.

Let us pray. Grant to us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, so to imitate what we revere that we may learn to love even our enemies: for we celebrate him who could even plead on behalf of his persecutors with Thy Son Our Lord Jesus Christ. Who with Thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest God, world without end.

R. Amen.

Prayer Source: Kyrie Eleison — Two Hundred Litanies by Benjamin Francis Musser O.F.M., The Magnificat Press, 1944

Happy Feast Day!

Finding of the Relics of St. Stephen the First Martyr

Subscribe to our Newsletter