I regularly feel like you need the patience of a saint in order to raise small children. Luckily, there are plenty of saints who were excellent models of patience that we can look to for guidance. Here's my "greatest hits" list:
1. Saint Monica:
Saint Monica is known for her extraordinary patience in dealing with her son, Saint Augustine, who led a wayward life before his conversion. She prayed for him for many years and endured great hardship with faith and perseverance. Saint Augustine went on to become one of the most influential writers and philosophers in the history of Christianity.
2. Saint Therese of Lisieux (The Little Flower):
Saint Therese practiced patience through her “Little Way,” focusing on doing small things with great love and enduring suffering and trials with a serene and patient heart.
3. Saint Francis de Sales: Known for his gentle and patient demeanor, Saint Francis de Sales taught the importance of calmness and patience in spiritual growth and everyday interactions.
4. Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton: As a widow and mother, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton showed remarkable patience in facing numerous personal and financial challenges while founding the first free Catholic school in America.
5. Saint John Vianney (Curé of Ars): Saint John Vianney demonstrated great patience in his ministry, particularly in hearing confessions for long hours each day and dealing with opposition and misunderstanding from others.
6. Saint Zélie Martin (my personal favorite!):
Zélie and her husband Louis (also a saint!) was the mother of nine children while also working full-time as a very successful small business owner and professional lacemaker. Anyone under these circumstances would have had their hands full, but youngest daughter Marie Françoise-Thérèse was an especially difficult child "who gets into frightful tantrums when she can't have her own way." For those of us who work long hours or have difficult children, take heart--out of the five daughters who survived into adulthood, all five became nuns, including the youngest, who, despite her difficult temperament, became one of the most iconic saints, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, and a second daughter (also a bit of a troublemaker in her own right), Servant of God Léonie Martin, is also undergoing the diocesan process for sainthood.
Saints Monica, Therese of Lisieux, Francis de Sales, Elizabeth Ann Seton, John Vianney, and Zélie, pray for us! [1]
[1] A note to my Protestant friends: as a convert, I know the saints are sometimes a sticky subject with Protestants, so here's a two-second run down of why this post is for you also. First, even if you don't believe in/agree with the canonization process of the Catholic Church, we can all agree that these holy men and women are excellent examples of God's teaching and therefore worth emulating. Second, even though the saints are dead, we still ask for their intercession in the same way that you might say that your grandmother is looking after you from heaven, or that you might ask your own mother to pray for you. For a great resource on the subject, check out "Praying to the Saints" on the Catholic Answers blog.
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