Monday, December 3, 2012

My New Patron Saint

Since we've just entered Advent and it's the beginning of a new Liturgical Year, I decided to pick a new patron saint through Jennifer's Saint Name Generator.  I prayed asking God to find a patron saint that He knew I needed, then I clicked the button.  My new patron saint is:

St. Jane de Chantal

St. Jane Frances de Chantal
Source
I am unfamiliar with this saint and still a bit unclear as to the meanings of her patronage:

Against in law problems
Against death of parents
Forgotten people
Parents Separated from children
Widows

Jane Frances was born in Dijon, France on 28 January 1572. The mother of six children (three died shortly after they were born), she was widowed at the age of 28. She met Saint Francis de Sales when he preached at the Sainte Chapelle in Dijon. They became intimate friends. She was inspired to start a religious order for women, the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary with his support, an order for women who were rejected by other orders because of poor health or age. When people criticized her, she famously said, "What do you want me to do? I like sick people myself; I'm on their side."

She died on 13 December 1641 at the age of 69, and her Feast Day is August 12th.

Here is a prayer I found online, to ask for her intercession:

 Saint Jane, you forgave the man who killed your husband. 
Help me learn to forgive a particular person in my life who has caused me harm. 
You know how difficult it is to forgive. 
Help me to take the steps you took to welcome this person back into my life.
Amen.

I know why God chose this saint for me. 
 It's been revealed to me through this prayer. 
 And to be honest, I had to resist the urge to pick another saint.  
This is going to be tough.
I know who this particular person is... who God is calling me to forgive.

It's been a burden that I've been wrestling with over these last 3 months, knowing I should forgive.  
Trying to forgive but not really.  
Still hanging on to hurt feelings.

St. Jane, pray for me.  Pray that I can let go of my hurt feelings, truly forgive and feel peace.

Advent Blessings,
Noreen

9 comments:

  1. Your new patron is a very DEAR patron of my own, for many years. She is not as well known as a lot of saints, so I am delighted to see her here. May she pray for us!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had never heard of her before myself. I'm glad that she was chosen for me because I do need to work on forgiving a particular person.

      Delete
  2. Thanks for the reminder about the patron saint generator! I'm heading over soon. : )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No problem Stephanie. Thank you for your visit!

      Delete
  3. Noreen,

    What a difficult time Jane de Chantal had, losing three children and a husband so young. Francis de Sales is one of my favourite saints. I shall have to find out more about Jane. There are a number of saints who had saints for friends. It just shows how we can influence each other. Need to keep good company!

    I pray your patron saint will help you this year. I have had my own battles with forgiveness. There seems to be a number of layers to forgiveness. It doesn't just happen overnight, at least not in my case.

    I wonder how St Margaret Clitherow influenced your life last year.

    Adopting a patron saint for the year is a good idea.

    God bless!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sue, Jennifer had made a silhouette book on St. Jane a year or so ago. Her link is below.

      You have a good memory on who my patron saint was for last year ~ St. Margaret Clitherow. I think prayers were answered by God through her intercession.

      Delete
  4. Hi Noreen, I have to tell you that I love St. Jane!! And I felt I need to share my post on her with you.
    http://www.catholicinspired.com/2011/08/st-jane-frances-de-chantal-printable.html
    God Bless! Hope you and the family are having a blessed Advent!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just came back from your link Jennifer. What a great resource for teaching children about love of neighbor and forgiveness. Even when it's difficult to do.

      Delete
  5. what a wonderful new saint for you, Noreen ! We'll be studying her sometime this year in our Little Flowers group. I did not know these things about her. thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete