Happy New Liturgical Year! As has been our custom, the Church Ladies have compiled a list of patron saints for 2015, based on the Holy Father's Year of Consecrated Life. You'll see some well known saints, but also saints from around the world and across history. To use with your family or church group, simply print the image above and cut into slips for selection. We wish you the best for the upcoming year, and regret that due to other obligations on our time, we can no longer draw saints for individuals.
On
the first of January a new calendar year begins. On the first Sunday of Advent
the new year of the Church begins. Therefore, the Saturday preceding the first
Advent Sunday has something of the character of a New Year's Eve. One of the
old customs is to choose a patron saint for the new year of the Church... We always choose them according to a special theme.
One year, for instance, we had all the different Church Fathers; another year
we chose only martyrs; then again, only saints of the new world....During the
war we chose one saint of every country at war.
After our first gathering
around the Advent light, and the singing of the first Advent hymn, an air of
expectancy spreads over the family group; now comes the moment when the mother
goes around with a bowl in which are the little cards with the names of the new
saints. Everybody draws a card... This saint will be
invoked every morning after morning prayer. Everyone is supposed to look up and
study the life story of his new friend, and some time during the coming year he
will tell the family all about it...But the custom
has become very dear to us, and every year it seems as if the family circle
were enlarged by all those new brothers and sisters entering in and becoming
known and loved by all.
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