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Alisons Saints of Lent 2023, Haverhill, MA (2026)

04/16/2024

an overload of errands prevented searching for saints, but all was not lost. The safari continued when I ran into this sculpture at a thrift shop. .

This guy had to change his name to get respect despite authoring a book in the New Testament.) One of the OG 12 apostles, his name was Judas, but he was not the betrayer of Christ. Judas was the John of the era - a very popular name This led to some confusion that resulted in undue negativity surrounding him. In addition, his story was woven into Jesus' with a much finer thread. He was not often visible in a profound way.

Authorities started calling him St Jude instead of Judas and assigned to him the title Saint of Lost Causes. (Ha! Spell check switched that to lost 'caucasions', that was weird)

Patron of hope and difficult causes, St. Jude/Judas Thaddeus, really gained popular momentum with Danny Thomas' fulfillment of his promise to do something big in his name after achieving financial stability through prayers for his intercession. He created a free hospital for children in need called St Judes Hospital. Way to keep a promise Danny, and most especially St Jude.
Photo (c) Alison Colby-Campbell

04/16/2024

was engaged to her first husband at 2 years and married at about 15. He didnt live long.

He was poisoned by his successor who tried to force Adelaide to marry his son. She refused, and he locked her in prison. She escaped.

She married Otto the Great and became Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. She was big into helping the poor and being an instrument of conversion.

When her grandson ascended to the throne. She retired to a convent where she stayed in prayer until her death in 999.
She is the patron saint of.
Abuse victims; brides; empresses; exiles; in-law problems; parenthood; parents of large families; princesses; prisoners; second marriages; step-parents according to Wikipedia

Her statue at the entrance to St Adelaide church in Peabody Ma is very beautiful.

Photo (c) Alison Colby-Campbell

04/15/2024

yet another teen girl who found and kept her faith through the most horrible conditions.

Grimy old Roman emperor decides he must have 13/14 year old Philomena. She rejects him and saves herself for God. Sadly because some male egos are more bruisable, he decides he'll torture her til she acquiesces and decides she loves him. Bad plan. She doesnt. And he can't seem to kill her either. He tried having her shot with arrows, drowned twice, etc. etc. Finally has her beheaded. The thing is every time she survived and every time she rejected him, she brought more people to Christianity.

Philomena does not have a feast day any more. It was taken off the Roman Catholic calendar in 1961 because specific data cannot support the historical claims of her existence, nor of her canonization though she had many papal fans. Her tomb was found accidentally and contained symbols of Christian martyrdom. However tombs were often reused so there was no way to prove hers were the bones in the grave. That being said many who have prayed for her intercession have received it. She is depicted with a chain and anchor was the patron saint of infants, babies, and youth.[2]

Photo (c) Alison Colby-Campbell

04/14/2024

2022
St Roch pronounced 'Rock seemed destined for a life of piety, he was born with a red cross shaped birthmark on his chest after his mother had fervently prayed to be delivered from barrenness.

At 20, he'd lost both his parents and proceeded to give away his inheritance and live as a religious pilgrim helping communities devastated by the black plague. Until he finally contracted the disease and went into the woods so as not to require care. While there, a dog appeared and tended to him bringing him bread and licking his wounds. The dog's owner eventually followed the dog and brought the pilgrim back to finish healing.

He returned hom me unrecognized and was thrown into prison as a spy though his uncle was the governor because he refused to reveal himself. He died and his grandmother identified him by the cross. It is his healing power during the plague that was the root of many of his miracles.

He is the patron saint of dogs, dog owners, knee problems, surgeons, invalids, bachelors, diseased cattle, and against cholera, plague, skin rashes and diseases, contagious diseases, pestilence, and epidemics. And probably was called upon often during Covid.

Photo (c) Alison Colby-Campbell

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04/14/2024

Saint Rita suffered so much loss and heartache, her murdered husband, her two sons, being rejected 3x by the Augustinian nuns she wanted to join for reasons beyond her control. Yet her faith saw her through. She was ultimately able to create a truce between warring factions including those who killed her husband and received entry among the sisters.

While in intense prayer, she experienced the stigmata of a single thorn from a crown of thorns piercing her head. That mark remained for over a decade. Eventually she became an invalid and relied on the care of her fellow nuns for bv the remainder of her life. Patroness for impossible causes, whereas in many Catholic countries,

Rita came to be known to be the Patroness of heartbroken women, specifically for sterility, abuse victims, loneliness, marriage difficulties, parenthood, widows, and bodily ills.
Photo (c) Alison Colby-Campbell

04/13/2024

Very successful today visiting All Saints Parish and . This is St Gemma, the Gem of Lucca. She is the patron saint of so many things but most especially Students, Pharmacists, Paratroopers and Parachutists, loss of parents, those suffering back injury or back pain, those suffering with headaches/migraines, those struggling with temptations to impurity and those seeking purity of heart. She died young and had a troubled painful life as many female saints did. She was a Mystic and is considered a Passionista and experience stigmata. St Gemmas Holy Day is April 11, the day she passed.
Hers is one of very few statues that identifies the saint it represents. I am unclear what she is holding. Her attributes are typically a crucifix and flowers and a heavenward gaze.

Photo (c) Alison Colby-Campbell

04/10/2024

motherlode. I was fortunate to visit St Adelaide's Church in Peabody as it offers an beautiful exterior corridor of statues that surrounds the church and extends into the yard.

This is St Francis of Assisi; he is the patron saint of animals and the environment. His feast day is October 4 and many churches celebrate it with services to bless animals and pets, and some request that children donate food, pet toys and supplies to animal shelters. St A seemed to have well understood human nature as evidenced by his signing his name with the TAO symbol, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It represents a journey never completed this side of heaven. The Tau reminds us of St. Francis’ saying, “Let us begin again.”
Photo (c) Alison Colby-Campbell

04/10/2024

This is St. John
/Jean Vianney. He is the patron saint of pariah priests and priests in general. He is noted for developing a strong community around his pariah, by usingbsimole speech to connect with his parishioners. He reportedly said two thing in.particulary that resonated with me according to https://www.sainttherse.com/25-quotes-from-st-john-vianney/

Do not try to please everybody. Try to please God, the angels, and the saints – they are your public.

And from.Catholic Digest
God commands you to pray, but he forbids you to worry.

#

04/10/2024

This Saint stands in front of the church where I took catechism classes and receive my first Holy Communion, church in Lynnfield.

I remember being dismayed when I learned of Maria Goretti's path to sainthood. A stalwart believer, St Maria Goretti at 11 years old, rebuked the attempted r**e of a 20 year old man saying that his actions were not what God would want. That it was a mortal sin. The man stabbed her even as she tried to run away, ultimately puncturing her flesh 14x, one stab for each time she said no. She died the next day, but before passing forgave the man.

He served 27 years in prison and ultimately repented and upon his release became a Capuchin Lay brother. He credited Maria's forgiveness with his changed life.

Photo (c) Alison Colby-Campbell
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04/09/2024

My 40 day Saint Safari is at an end but after a sunrise service, I decided to say Goodbye and Thank you to a few of the cemeteries that brought me peace, knowledge and understanding. I encounter a bluebird pair who stayed with me for quite a while at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Haverhill.
At St. James Cemetery in Haverhill, the metal ironwork entrance sign had remnants of frost that blinked like Christmas lights.

That felt like a lovely parting gift.
Photo (c) Alison Colby-Campbell

04/09/2024

He is arisen indeed! Happy Easter. Sunrise Easter service atop Winnekenni hill perfectly synched with the rising sun. Beautiful celebration . Photo (c) Alison Colby-Campbell Taken overlooking Lake Saltonstall Haverhill MA

04/08/2024

Sixth Saint of Lent

6. St Rita of Cascia

Born Margherita Lotti in 1381 Italy. By 12 years old Rita knew she wanted to join a convent but her parents as was customary in the time promised her to a guy of questionable impulse control. She believed that obedience to her parents was part of obedience to God and endeavored to make the marriage work.

Her husband was killed and at 24 she was widowed raising twin children. Then both her children died of illness. Her thoughts returned to her childhood dream of the convent but initially she was denied entry. Finally at 32 she was accepted. Over the next 40 years the sisters and citizens were impressed by her austerity, devotion to prayer and charity, her efforts to preserve peace and harmony among the warring citizens of Cascia, as well as for efforts to alleviate the pain, anxieties and sorrow of those in need.

When she was sixty, she was in deep meditation before an image of Christ and a wound appeared on her forehead as if a thorn from His crown of thorns had pierced her flesh. The stigmata lasted for the rest of her life.

When she was dying in the middle of barren, frigid winter in the mountainous region of Italy, she asked a relative to walk to her childhood home and bring her back a rose. They made the trek knowing it might result in nothing, but to their surprise, a brilliant rose was found precisely where Rita had instructed them to look, amid a tangle of thorns and weeds in a harsh environment. That is why she became the Patron Saint of Impossible causes.

Rita found beauty among hardship. She who had been the Saint of The Thorn became the Saint of the Rose. In the photo you can see the thorn in her forehead and the roses at her feet.

Her final words to the surrounding sisters were reported by St Rita College in Clayfield, Queensland Australia as
“Remain in the holy love of Jesus. Remain in obedience to the holy Roman Church. Remain in peace and fraternal charity.”

Patron Saint Of: Patroness for impossible causes, whereas in many Catholic countries, Rita came to be known to be the Patroness of heartbroken women, specifically for sterility, abuse victims, loneliness, marriage difficulties, parenthood, widows, and bodily ills.

Photo (c) Alison Colby-Campbell Taken at All Saints Church in Haverhill.

Alisons Saints of Lent 2023

04/16/2024

04/16/2024

04/15/2024

04/14/2024

04/14/2024

04/13/2024

04/10/2024

04/10/2024

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04/09/2024

04/09/2024

04/08/2024

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