The Saints abound

     The Saints abound! So many teachers of the Faith that we proclaim to be part of, our Catholic Faith. Saint Aloysius Gonzaga along with St Paulinus of Nola, St John Fisher and St Thomas More, are just a few of the millions of Saints that reign in Heaven. St Aloysius was born March 9th, 1568 in Italy. He died on June 21st, 1591 as a result of caring for victims in a serious epidemic. He was a member of the Society of Jesus and is the patron Saint of Catholic youth. He washed wounds. Fed the sick and eventually contracted the deadly disease of the severe Roman epidemic. In art, he is shown as a young man wearing a black cassock and surplice. Saint Paulinas of Nola was a Roman poet, writer, and senator and Bishop. St John Fisher was an English Catholic who served as Bishop of Rochester and was executed by order of Henry the 8th during the English Reformation for refusing to accept him as supreme head of the Church of England. St Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, theologian and Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry the 8th as Lord Chancellor.  He wrote the book "Utopia", which was published in 1516, which describes the political system of an imaginary Island state. He refused the annulment of King Henry the 8th marriage to Catherine of Aragon. At his execution, he was reported to have said, "I die the king's good servant and God's first". Therefore demonstrating the value of a moral conscience. The Saints abound! Thomas More was to have said, "Give me, Lord, a humble, quiet, peaceable, patient, tender, and charitable mind, and in all my thoughts, words, and deeds a taste of the Holy Spirit. Give me, Lord a lively Faith, a firm Hope, a fervent Charity, a love of You. Take from me all lukewarmness in meditation, dullness in prayer. The things that I pray for, good Lord, give me Grace to labor for". Each and every Saint that has ever been or ever will be, teaches us great lessons for us to follow. Each one with their own special formula to be taken heed to and followed. Today we celebrate the Saints abounding all around us. In Heaven and on Earth. So many, awaiting "our" relocation to Heaven. Let us pray today and always ask to be blessed to be in the presence of such greatness. That of all the Saints in Heaven, may they look down upon us, and in there Mercy intercede for us always. Our beloved friends and trusted teachers of Holiness and Faithfulness to the One True God.