The Hearts' Haven Family Patron Saints of 2012

     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. :)

    Until last evening, 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.

     This year, our family agreed to go with the Saint Generator.   We decided to utilize it for 2012 in order to have an opportunity to receive patrons who are newer to the Calendar of Saints.   It was a lot of fun.......because we could see what the saint was patron of and then click "learn more about your saint" right away and learn even more.  We had another Catholic family with us during this past week so they picked saints, too.

     Some of my friends, especially those with younger children, pick saints from "saint cards" or from smaller saint books with the more familiar saints.


     With our 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. John Chrysostrom and St. Oswald have each been chosen twice.  St. Augustine and St. Louis have each been picked three times!  That makes all of them old family friends!  :)  This was one of the motivators for using the Saint Generator.......everyone is suspicious that saint names are being repeated so much when we use Butler's Lives of the 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 2012:


Marty------------Blessed Margaret of Castello, April 13th


Chari------------St. John Bosco, January 31st


Anne-------------St. John of Capistrano, October 23rd & Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa, October 13th


Matthew--------St. George, April 23rd


Sarah------------is in Austria......we are awaiting the announcement of her chosen saint


Maddelyn-------St. Dorothy of Montau, October 30th


Garrett-----------St. Barabtus of Benevento, February 19th


Malachy---------St. Matthew the Apostle, September 21st



     A young adult friend was visiting at the time, and she picked a saint, too: St. Wolfgang of Ratisbon!

      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

P.S.  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?