When I attended Franciscan University of Steubenville the household I joined was one of only two on campus that allowed each member to choose their own household patron (as opposed to other households that had an overall household patron). During formation, I was tasked with much prayer and discernment to ask for insight on which saint to choose. During that time I remembered something my mama used to tell me: you don’t choose saints to have devotion to, they choose you.
I’ve always had a special love for St. Rose of Lima, St. Francis Assisi, and Padre Pio so naturally I thought I should choose one of them for my patron. As I was studying St. Rose’s story, she happened to lead me to a dear friend of hers, St. Martin de Porres. For many weeks of my formation he kept popping up while I was researching the other saints I’ve already mentioned because he had similar stories of bilocation (like Padre Pio), communicating with and saving animals (like Francis) and was close friends with St. Rose, living just across town from her.
I tried to ignore him because I was stubbornly set on choosing St. Rose, but she gently kept guiding me back to him until it was undeniable that he was choosing me. I began to study him more and more and fell completely in love with his story. He was an outcast because he was biracial, the son of a spanish soldier and latina woman, and neither culture would claim him. This caused many hardships as he was trying to follow God’s call to be a Dominican. Eventually he was accepted into the monastery but only as a servant, a role which he was overjoyed to accept.
My favorite story happened before he entered the monastery. He was a barber and the town pharmacist, and a mother brought him her young son who had cut nearly all his fingers off while collecting sugar cane for his family. When Martin asked why they had faith that he could be healed, the boy said he was going to be a priest but he wouldn’t be able to hold the Lord’s Body without working hands. Martin prayed over the boy and said if it was really God’s will that he be a priest, he would be capable. Years passed and Martin was on a picnic with his fellow Dominicans when one of the seminarians looked at him and said, “You don’t remember me, do you?” Martin didn’t remember him and asked where they had met. The seminarian held up his perfectly formed hands and Martin recalled the boy he’d prayed for so many years prior, who would soon be ordained a priest.
There are so many beautiful and touching stories about St. Martin, I encourage you to research him yourself and perhaps come to love “the saint of the broom” as much as I do.
St. Martin De Porres, pray for us!
Daily Reading
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Malachi 3:19-20a Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will…
Saint of the Day
St. Joseph Moscati
St. Joseph Moscati
Feast date: Nov 16
On November 16, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Joseph Moscati, the first modern medical doctor to be canonized. Born on July 25, 1880 in Benevento, Italy, he lived out the Gospel through his position as a teacher and physician. There are a number of stories of Dr. Moscati paying close attention to the state of his patient’s soul as well as the body, sometimes even bringing the patient back to the sacraments. The Catholic understanding of body and soul clearly informed his understanding of illness and medicine. He saw Confession and Communion as the “first medicine.”He is quoted as once having said, “Remember that you have to deal not only with the bodies but also with the moaning souls coming to you.”Dr. Moscati’s holiness and devotion wasn’t just limited to his practice. To help the poor, he often donated his medical services or paid for his patients’ prescriptions. St. Joseph Moscati also felt it was important to support priests and those in religious life with his prayers because, as he said: “They are easily forgotten by the living, since Christians often think that they do not need prayers.”He carried a Rosary in his pocket as a reminder throughout his day and as a way to draw him to Our Lady — and through her, to Jesus — when he needed to make important decisions.St. Joseph Moscati died on April 12, 1927 of natural causes in his office between patient appointments. He was beatified on November 16, 1975 by Pope Paul VI and canonized on October 25, 1987 by Pope John Paul II. His body rests in Naples, Italy, in the Church of Gesu Nuovo.