Saints for Girls

Saints for Girls

There are many ways to be a good person. We are not all made the same. And there are many paths to becoming a Saint, even though the intention is always the same: to please Our Lord as much as is within our power.

Here are four very different saints. S. Brigid of Ireland was a nun who organised one of the most important communities that helped build the Golden Age of Ireland. S. Joan of Arc was a warrior, who led the rightful King to his throne. S. Thérèse was the Saint of The Little Way. S. Maria Goretti was a Virgin Martyr at the age of only twelve.

S. Brigid

Saint Brighid is known as the Second Patron Saint of Ireland and “the Mary of the Gael”.

Brigid was born in the Fifth Century, the Century of the Barbarian Invasions and the Fall of the Roman Empire. it is said her mother was baptised by Saint Patrick himself. Her father was a chieftain, and her mother a Christian slave. Brigid was very beautiful (which embarrased her), intelligent and high-spirited, generous and devoted to God. She was sold in infancy as a slave to Dubthach (Duffy) the Druid, whom she enraged by giving his valuable possessions to the poor, and refusing to marry. He offered to sell her to the King of Leinster, but while he was with the KIng she gave his jewelled sword from his chariot to a passing leper. King Dunlang told Dubthach, "I cannot purchase her because she is more precious than silver or gold. She stands higher before God than we. Let her choose her way in life".

She founded the first convent in Ireland at Kildare — Cill Dara (the Church of the Oak) — and ruled there for many years. It was not merely a religious community: scholars from all over Europe were welcome to stay rent-free as long as they wished. Kildare was, in fact, one of the most important communities of scholars in all of Europe, preserving the light of civilisation after the Roman Empire had fallen. She was important in establishing the Golden Age of Ireland, just at the time when the rest of Europe, from the 5th to 7th centuries, was slipping into the Dark Ages. Saxon princes were sent over from England and many other countries to be educated there. It was in these days that Ireland was known as "The Land of Saints and Scholars".

Her hospitality – and her Home Brew – were famous throughout all of Ireland. Her one desire was to aid the poor and needy and relieve those in distress.

The Queen of Leinster presented her with a valuable golden chain, but Bríd gave it to the first beggar who came by.

One of her friends once brought her a basket of choice apples and saw her immediately hand them out to the crowd of sick people thronging about her.

Her feast day is February 1, First Day of Spring in Ireland. In traditional Irish the month of February is named "Mí na Féile Bríde" - 'The Month of the Feast of Brigid".

S. Joan of Arc

Joan lived in the Fifteenth Century, the Century of "The Waning of the Middle Ages".

The French King had agreed that on his death the Crown of France would go to the King of England. Had this happened, the French Nation and language would probably have disappeared from the world. The French King's own son, the Dauphin, was a rather weak man, and nobody expected him to fight for the Crown. The English had won every battle against the French for centuries. The district of Burgundy, in Northern France, was allied to the English Throne, not the French.

Joan was a poor farm girl. When only in her early teens she heard the voices of the Saints telling her that the Dauphin was to be crowned King, and that she herself would help bring this about. After many difficulties she was presented to the King and gave her message from Heaven. She told the King that she would save Orléans — which was under siege — and would compel the English to raise the siege, that she herself in a battle before Orléans would be wounded by a shaft but would not die of it, and that the King, in the course of the coming summer, would be crowned at Reims. She also gave the King other information which he kept secret. It is believed that it concerned secret doubts he had over whether he was the real heir to the throne, which Heaven confirmed.

Joan rode into battle with the soldiers and the French won victory after victory. She was only eighteen years old. Finally, on Sunday 17 July 1429, Charles VII was solemnly crowned, the Maid standing by with her standard, which carried the words Jesus, Maria, with a picture of God the Father, and kneeling angels presenting a fleur-de-lis, the emblem of France.

Joan explained, "as the standard had shared in the toil, it was just that it should share in the victory."

This true story, of such a major turning-point in history, has always had non-Christians completely baffled: how a mere teenaged farmer's girl could change the course of history between two of the most powerful kingdoms of Europe. Yet it happened.

Not long afterwards, Joan was wounded in another battle and captured by the Burgundians. She was given a disgracefully unfair trial and condemned to be burned as a witch.

On the Eve of the feast of Corpus Christi, Joan was burned at the stake in Rouen. A great crowd was present in the square. Six hundred soldiers guarded her.

When she arrived at the site, she asked for a cross. A soldier broke the stick of a lance, tied the two pieces together in the shape of a cross and gave it to her. Then, she called out loudly to St. Michael. As the flames enveloped her, Joan shouted out strongly: 'I was not mistaken, the voices came from Heaven!'

In a few minutes everything was finished. Strangely enough, her noble young heart did not burn, even though the rest of her was reduced to ashes. This sign was, however, ignored, and the heart was cast into the river by the heartless soldiers.

S. Therese of Lisieux

Many of the Saints were granted very special graces. Thérèse of Lisieux, who lived in the Nineteenth Century, is the special Saint of the Ordinary Person. She entered a convent in her teens and died of TB when she was only 24. She is counted as one of the greatest saints of modern times, yet after her death, when the Vatican sent to the convent to gather information for her proposed canonisation, the nuns couldn't remember anything special about her! She pleased God simply by doing her everyday duties as well as she possibly could. She called it "The Little Way". She volunteered for the Missions but her failing health made this impossible. But Heaven made her understand that her good intentions had gained her as much Eternal Merit as though she had actually gone to the Missions and spent a lifetime there. She is, in fact, the Patron Saint of Catholic Missions. Remember that Our Lord has promised that at the Judgment, he will say to those who loved Him, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; you have been faithful in little things, now I shall place you over greater".

S. Thérèse is often known as "The Little Flower". Some time before she died she said, “after my death, I shall let fall a shower of roses”. She has kept her word. There are endless stories of S. Thérèse "sending roses" to those whose prayers God has answered through her intercession.

In 2001 the relics of S. Thérèse came to Cork, Ireland. Huge crowds came to the North Cathedral and one mother touched a rose to the casket before taking it home and placing it high up in her 2-year-old's bedroom. Later that day the house caught fire. The family were frantic, because the toddler was trapped inside. A neighbour wrapped a wet towel round his head and dashed up the burning stairs. In the child's bedroom he saw an amazing sight. The room was full of smoke and flames, but the child was huddled in a corner, frightened but unharmed. Around her on the floor, in a neat semicircle, were the petals from the rose, which was still in its vase on the high shelf, and that corner of the room was completely fire-free. He grabbed the child, rushed outside, and delivered her safe to her mother. This was widely reported, including in the Secular Cork Evening Echo the following night.

S. Maria Goretti

Maria Goretti was a young farm girl who had a great love of God, one of six children. When Maria was a very small girl her father died of malaria, and the family was forced to move in with another family, the Serenellis, to survive.

In 1902 Maria was twelve, and very beautiful, looking older than she was. One morning Maria and 19-year-old farm-hand Alessandro Serenelli were alone in the house except for Maria's toddler sister Teresa, who was taking a nap. Alessandro attacked Maria when she was sewing, threatening her with a knife.

"No, Alessandro, we must not sin!" she cried. When he went to stab her she cried, "Do not kill me, Alessandro, you will go to hell!" Alessandro stabbed her 14 times before running away. Some time later the others found her on returning from the fields and took Maria, still alive, to hospital. The following day, Maria forgave her murderer and said that she hoped to see him in Heaven. Then she died of her injuries holding a crucifix and medal of Our Lady.

Alessandro Serenelli was sent to prison for his crime but remained unrepentant for three years. Then one night, he had a dream of Maria who offered him 14 lilies for the 14 times she was stabbed. Following this dream, he became deeply repentant. When he was released from prison, he went to Maria's mother and begged her forgiveness. She forgave him, and they attended Mass together the next day, receiving Holy Communion side by side.

Maria was canonised in 1950. Maria's mother was present at the ceremony; she was the first mother ever to attend the canonisation ceremony of her own child, and Alessandro also was present. He became a Capuchin laybrother, living and working in a convent, until he died peacefully in 1970. He always declared that it was Maria who had saved his soul.

M. Ó Fearghail