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St. Kuriakose was a Syro-Malabar Catholic priest, an Eastern Catholic church in communion with the Roman Catholic church that uses the East Syriac rite. He founded schools in his area for the poorest members of the community, and started an Indian Eastern Catholic order of Carmelites for men and for women. He was also a prolific writer, publishing numerous letters, prayers, theological texts, history, and administrative work on the printing press he established. Lifetime:  1805 to 1871 Region:  Kerala, India Patronages:  Media; Literature; Carmelites of Mary Immaculate order Iconograpy:  Carmelite habit; Scripture; Hand lifted in blessing Feast Day:  February 18

St. John Bosco is most well-known for his ministry with orphaned and abandoned young men, helping them find work, building their faith, and ensuring their employers were treating them fairly. He founded a Salesian  order and wrote numerous essays and biographies, one of which was instrumental in the canonization of his student, St. Dominic Savio. Lifetime:  1815 to 1888 Region:  Italy Patronages:  Juvenile delinquents; Editors; Magicians; Youth Iconograpy:  Cassock; Biretta; Group of youths; Often portrayed with St. Dominic Savio Feast Day:  January 31

Father Damien famously lived out his life willingly among a Hawaiian leper colony, despite it being untreatable and considered highly contagious in that time. The model he used with the people of Molokai inspired others in the US during the height of the HIV/AIDS outbreaks. Lifetime:  1840 to 1889 Region:  Belgium; Hawaii Patronages: People with leprosy; Hawaii Iconograpy:  Missionary's hat; Lei; Leprosy wounds Feast Day:  May 10 Father Damien (as he came to be known) was born Jozef, the youngest of seven children born to corn merchant parents in Belgium. He went to school when he was young, but dropped out at 13 to help his family on the farm. However, his education did resume later when his father sent him to college, but while Damien was there, he encountered a religious mission and decided to instead pursue a religious life himself. Because of his lack of education, Damien was almost prevented from becoming a priest, but he was allowed due to his fluency in La...

St. Katharine Drexel is the first natural-born US citizen to be canonized as a saint. She is famous for her philanthropic efforts, especially those regarding race relations in the United States. Among many other schools and parishes, Katharine founded Xavier University of Louisiana. Lifetime:  1858 to 1955 Region:  Pennsylvania, United States Patronages: Philanthropy; Racial justice Iconograpy:  Habit; Glasses; Black and/or Native American child(ren) Feast Day:  March 3 Katharine was born into a wealthy family, the daughter of an investment banker whose mother died giving birth to her. She had one older sister, and after her father remarried, one younger sister, and all three were educated at home by private tutors. As children the sisters traveled often throughout the US and Europe, as their father wanted them to learn geography firsthand. Three times a week, the family also distributed food, money, and clothing to the needy in their neighborhoods. Katharine ente...

Blessed Carlo Acutis was born in 1991, making him younger than me. It's an interesting experience, adoring a saint who was born later than yourself. I hope I get other opportunities to, for it's easy to imagine the lives of the saints as being in far away times and places, rather than wearing a Spider-Man costume for Halloween. It really drives home the point that, in any time and place, each of us are called to sainthood in our own way. Lifetime:  May 3, 1991 to October 12, 2006 Region:  Milan, Italy Patronages:  Youth; Programmers; Video gamers Iconograpy:  Rosary; Computer; Monstrance Feast Day: October 12 Carlo Acutis was born in London, but his Italian family moved back to Italy when he was young. Though he was baptized as an infant, his family wasn't particularly religious. In fact, before his birth, his mother says she had only been to church three times. Nonetheless, Carlo learned about the faith from a young age from his grandmother before she died, from hi...

I was blessed to be able to attend Father Solanus Casey's beatification in Detroit in 2017, though I had not yet joined the Church. It was lauded in the media as the "Catholic equivalent of the Super Bowl", and an estimated 60,000 pilgrims were in attendance. And no, that isn't a Tardis, I just happened to have blue Lego doors laying around. Though if they chose to base the next Doctor on a beatified Franciscan priest noted for his humility, I surely wouldn't complain. Lifetime:  1870 to 1957 Region:  Detroit, Michigan Patronages:  Porters; Failure and setbacks; Skin conditions; Detroit Iconograpy:  Door; Red glasses; Franciscan habit Feast Day: July 30 Solanus Casey was born Bernard "Barney" Francis Casey and was one of sixteen children. When he was seven, he contracted an illness that permanently damaged his voice and killed two of his siblings. Because his family moved several times when he was young, Barney never completed an education. He started wo...

Charles Lwanga, or Kaloli Lwanga in his native Luganda, was executed by the king he served for refusing to abandon the Christian faith which he converted to just a year earlier. He was only 26 when he was burned at the stake. Lifetime:  1860 to 1886 Region:  Buganda, Uganda Patronages:  Converts; Torture victims; African Catholic Youth Action Iconograpy:  Flame; White robe; Palm Feast Day: June 3 Little is known about Kaloli's early life. When he was first encountered by the White Fathers, African missionaries from a French colony in Algeria, Kaloli was already working in the home of his king, first as chief of the pages, and later as the majordomo of the king's house. The king was a cruel man who abused the boys and young men who served his house. Around Kaloli's own conversion, the king killed a group of missionaries. A steward of the house, who had been close friends with the king, and had recently converted to Christianity himself, scolded the king for his action...

Known in his life as Cristóbal Magallanes Jara, St. Christopher Magallanes was arrested on his way to celebrate Mass and killed shortly after without trial on May 25, 1927. He and the other Saints of the Cristero War were canonized for facing death after continuing their ministry during the Mexican government's suppression of religion via anticlerical laws such as outlawing wearing priest's garments in public or priests speaking out against the government. 25 martyrs of the Cristero war were canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000, all sharing the same feast day of May 21. Pope Benedict XVI declared several more Blessed in 2005, with the shared feast day of November 20, the anniversary of the start of the Mexican Revolution. Pope Francis canonized one more, José Sánchez del Río in 2016, a boy of 14 who was tortured and killed by his government for refusing to deny his faith. His feast day is February 10. Lifetime:  1869 to 1927 Region:  Jalisco, Mexico Patronages:  Ca...

So first of all, I need to say that our favorite Danish brick toy company has a severe shortage of women of color, especially those without glowing eyes or alien face paint. St. Bakhita's later forgiveness for -- nay, appreciation of  -- her captors truly demonstrates the power of God to forgive all things. Lifetime: 1868 to 1947 Region:  Sudan; Italy Patronages:  Sudan; Victims of human trafficking Iconograpy:  Simple habit and head wrap; Broken chain Feast Day: February 8 Bakhita forgot the name she was born with. That's because, when she was 7 or 8, she was enslaved by slavers and the trauma of her capture caused her to lose that memory. Her captors are the ones who gave her the name Bahkita, which means "lucky". They also made her convert to their religion. Before she was taken, Bakhita was part of a loving family, with three brothers and three sisters. Her uncle was the chief of her village. A year before Bakhita's enslavement, one of her older sisters was t...

 Maxmilian Kolbe is one of the most inspirational modern saints. He was referred to by Pope St. John Paul II as "the patron saint of our difficult century" in reference to the 1900s.  Often, many of us wonder what we would do if we faced a difficult situation, such as taking on risk for declaring our faith, or offering our own life for another's. Maxmilian Kolbe faced the Nazi threat in his occupied country of Poland and stood up for what is right, at the cost of his own life. Lifetime:  January 8, 1894 - August 14, 1941 Region:  Poland Patronages:  Prisoners; Journalists; Families Iconograpy:  Franciscan robes; Nazi concentration camp prisoner uniform; Blue  Knight of The Immaculate magazine Feast Day:  August 14 Born Rajmund Kolbe in the Kingdom of Poland, Maximilian received his better-known religious name upon joining the Minorite branch of the Franciscan order. In his monastery, Maximilian founded an evangelization movement which is now a gl...

Today's saint is my first modern-era saint, Saint Oscar Romero. If you're interested in the life of Oscar Romero, I highly recommend the film Romero , which was created several years before Oscar Romero was even beatified. Oscar Romero is a particularly special saint for me personally, because I learned about his life and sacrifice before I converted. With all the ancient saints' many miracles and unbelievable tales, it can sometimes be easy to forget that the saints were real people who lived in a time and a place. But Oscar Romero's martyrdom doesn't let us forget that. His death was the same decade in which I was born. His sacrifice for peace and equality paid off in 1992 when the Salvadoran Civil War ended by the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords. Lifetime: August 15, 1917 to March 24, 1980 Region: El Salvador Patronages: El Salvador; The Americas; Persecuted Christians Iconograpy: Black cassock; Amaranth zucchetto and fascia; Glasses Feast Da...