I thought it would be nice to find out everyone's ONE favorite saint (one only please) so who's yours?
Now, please allow me to challege you a little...
Can you tell one to three best words about him or her?
How does this saint influence you in your vocation journey? Please include words on the above question .
Do you know any good Roman catholic website about your saint on the internet/cyberspace?
Thanking you all in advance for your participation--many blessings

Let me begin by telling you mine
My ONE 'favorite' saint is St. Paul the Apostle.
My only word for him is 'love'.
His love for Jesus that made him willingly to be anyone to everyone in this world has great impact on my vocation journey. Love doesn't have boundatries...Just love, love, and love; the world can have all it wants--just give us JESUS!
No, I don't know any good Roman catholic website for St Paul. I'm searching for one...

I'm waiting to hear your ONE favorite saint.
In Jesus' love

What if ours isn't technically a saint yet?

I dont know if this counts, but the Archangels. They are signs of God's love, hope for us, and bring joy from heaven. They have influenced my discernment through there intercession, which I am constantly calling upon. I know EWTN has some stuff on them, most of my stuff comes from books though.

I have a few VERY favorite saints (St. John Vianney, St. Therese, St. Joan of Arc), but I have decided that aside from Our Lady St. Joseph is my one favorite.

"Ite Ad Ioseph" are my favorite words about him. It means, "go to Joseph". St. Teresa of Avila often encouraged her sisters to do this.

He has greatly influenced my vocational journey. I was always fond of him before I entered religious life, but I really started to cultivate a devotion to him while I was in the monastery. When I came out, I discerned with some Dominican nuns who really had a great devotion to him also. A month or two after I left the monastery I entrusted my whole vocation to him. He is the patron and procurator of all. I love him!

Saint Louis IX

gallant warrior

He has influenced my journey since one day I will become the king of the U.S. (just kidding )
Actually I am writing a book about the Great Monarch of prophesy and Saint Louis is sort of an archetype of him. Plus I wrote a prayer to Saint Louis.

Here is a link to an interesting biography written by one of his subjects the Lord of Joinville:

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/WedLord.html


Long live the King!

It was difficult for me to choose, and my answer has surprised even me.

St Peter.



"I love you." The most important thing that Peter said to Jesus after he encountered Him on the shore of Galilee shortly after the Resurrection.



Peter was hot-headed and impetuous, quick to judge and slow to think his actions through, as we see when he rashly removes the ear of Malchus. He was also far too attuned to others' opinions of him and very attached to his own life, which accounts for his denial of Jesus in the courtyard of the high priest's house. But for all his fears and impulsive moves, Peter was sincere in his searching: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." This 'rock' nearly sank on Galilee because he didn't have enough trust in His Lord - all he knew was that he wanted to go to Him. And that knowledge is all that I have as I try to live out God's will for me. Often I lack trust and hope. However, like Peter, I'm still prepared to get out of the boat - even if I promptly become convinced that I'm about to sink beneath the waves.



No.

It's okay as long as he/she has greatly influenced you in vocational journey.
Can't wait to see who'll it be

Right now I'd have to say St. Margaret of Scotland. She was someone who wanted to be a nun, but ended up marrying a man who needed civilizing. That seems to be the vocational path I have also taken. She inspired everyone with her piousness and charity while also being a wife and mother. One of her children is also a saint, so she must have passed on her faith in a way we all hope we can with our children.

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

Simplicity

Words can't describe. She's just too simple, too holy.

She always wished her brothers could've lived longer. And since I've never had a sister, I just feel as though we have this bond between us, like those shared between siblings.

It is no wonder, that after picking out "Communion of Saints" as my devotion for this year, that she was the first to reach out to me.

So many to choose from...

Jean-Paul the Great.
Saint Augustine
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Saint Peter the Apostle
and my mother

I'm a St Therese fan too (hence my name )

Words to describe her: LOVES JESUS

I want to be holy like her. She inspires me to live a life of holiness in doing everything for the love of Jesus. I want to love our Lord in the same childlike way that she does so that I can abandon myself to Him and live my life entirely for Him.

Okay then... mine is

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, hopefully future St Teresa of Calcutta.

A few words: love, selflessness, hope

She influences my vocation because she was someone I admired even before I became a Catholic. She is just so giving and loving and even in her times of doubt she always had hope. I hope I can make even a FRACTION of the difference that she did on this world.

A good website: http://www.motherteresa.org/

St. Margaret Mary, Paray-le-Monial Visitation of Holy Mary Monastery

Her sincere humility, gentleness and obedience to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in all things no matter the cost!

How does this saint influence you in your vocation journey?
She gave me the courage to continue ito try to find a way to serve Him and Our Lady as a religious in the face of constant rejection and some ridicule.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
St. Vincent de Paul
St. Louise de Marillac
St. Therese de Lisieux

(oops! more than one)

How do they influence my vocation journey?

Elizabeth Ann Seton is the first native born American saint - her simple life of charity - "to do what is before you" like Vincent and Louise.


The little Flower is my patron saint - I simply love the little way.

you will appreciate this then
Mother Teresa-Wisdom of Faith
pax

which one?

I

or

II

St. Maria Goretti. My patron...I didn't know her story when I chose her, ironically.

Champion of purity!

She's been such a role model for me since my return to the Church. Purity has always been a struggle for me as a teen, and knowing that she gave her life to protect Allessandro's and her own always blows me away. I look to her in my relationship with my boyfriend; it helps to not let my feelings get the best of me.

www.mariagoretti.org

St Francisco Xavier, Patron of the missions, is the Navarra, the same kingdom of Spain that I live.

Apostles Santiago, St Paul and St. John.

St. Teresa of Avila, I love your books.

<--------- Hint

St. Martin de Porres


charity, humility, faith

St. Martin, a Dominican, is a model for me in every aspect of my life. Whatever I do, be it my 9-5 that pays the bills, my church volunteer work, hanging out with my friends, etc., I try to do with the charity, humility and faith required of all Catholics. I identify with St. Martin a little more closely because of the racism that he faced both in and outside of the church.

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/S...ult.asp?id=1188
http://www.wf-f.org/StMartindePorres.html
http://www.opsouth.org/martin.htm

St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer





"Divine Filiation"; (Alternatively, "Lay Secular Vocation")


I'm trying to live a Christian life while being a student at an engineering college.



IdeasRapidas.org

The Opus Dei US Website

The Complete Works of St. Escriva online.

St. Josemaria Institute.

I enjoy knowing all of your "ONE" favorite saints and getting to know your vocational journeys through your saint (s). There were a couple of them that I'm not familiar and I had to 'google'. As a result, I have more saint-friends than I first started this. Thanks so much!

I'm looking forward to heard some more...

Blessings

St. Thomas Aquinas

Mmm... humility, study, Eucharistic devotion

How has he helped me in my vocation journey? He took an edge off my pride by NOT giving me any stunning flashes of insight when I visited his tomb. I don't know, even before I knew much about him I was sort of inordinately fond of him (I think it was partly thanks to Mr. Chesterton's book, "The Dumb Ox") which gave me a hint about the Dominicans.

I haven't been around in awhile, but this "favorite saint" post inspired me to reply.

I feel like every other month I have a new favorite, and a few of you have already mentioned my abiding favorites: Sts. Therese and Teresa, the amazing Carmelites. And I am not including in my response the Queen of All Saints, Our Most Blessed Mother! I think that She goes without saying. If I had to pick just one, she'd be The One. God picked Her. So do I.

But I really do love St. Isidore the Farmer. He's one of the more obscure saints but in the town my family's from, one of the parishes bears his name. He was a simple farmer (actually, farm worker or laborer) from Madrid who was married, had one child who died very young. (His wife is also a saint, and her head is incorrupt, if I remember correctly. We know less about her, though.) He was poor, not a religious, not a learned man, but loved God and was very holy. It is said that while he went to attend mass, the angels would plow and work in his stead. He inspires me, as many of the other notably "practical" saints do, that it is possible to live normal lives in the world and still grow in holiness. If we love God above all things and try our best in all endeavors with what God gives us, we may become the humblest and greatest of saints.

Now, let me try to find a link with at least a bio:
http://www.savior.org/saints/isidore.htm
(God bless those Pink Sisters for the link! I almost entered there...)

And they reminded me of the wonderful St. Margaret Clitherow. And who could forget St. Thomas More? What about Mother Cabrini? Dominic Savio? St. Germaine? St. Martin of Torres? Venerable Pauline Jaricot http://www.catholictradition.org/Saints/jaricot.htm ? There are so many, how can we possibly pick????? Thank God the Church doesn't make us pick just one, and we can call on as many as we want for their prayers at the Throne of Our Lord!!!!

Ker-BUMP!

I love St. Francis of Assisi. He is my patron saint, and what a great man he was! He gave up everything, even the clothes on his back, for Christ. He rebuilt a church with his own hands. And he loved animals!

I also like St. Frances De Sales. He went to convert the calvinists back to Catholics. That means a lot to me, because I struggled a lot while in calvinism, and I believe his prayers lead me to the church :-)

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence

I feel an affinity to her because she too is a convert and entered clositered religious life at a relative late age.

favorite saint: St Paul.

three words: oops, follow, instruct

personal: i couldn't make it without the instructions he left us for how to lead a Christian life.

Aside from Our Lady, the Queen of all saints, who is my patron saint--
Favorite Saint: St. Ephrem, Deacon and Doctor of the Church
He is called the Harp of the Holy Spirit and rightly so. His hymns on virginity, the Nativity, and the Mother of God are beyond amazing. I love the hymns he wrote for the Chaldean Liturgy as well, and I'm very much inspired by his humility and his life of poverty. He is the only Doctor of the Church who wasn't ordained a priest and he's also an eastern saint!

St. Teresa of Avila. Foundress of the Carmelite Reform. Doctor of the Church. She taught me how to pray.

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

educated, profound love for our Lord.

I love his book "The true spouse of Jesus Christ" it's like a handbook for Nuns!

St. Margaret of Scotland. She married a crusty guy, and civilized him. She also cared deeply for the poor. She's also one of my ancestors, so I find that fascinating.

St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart, OCD

"God is Love"

I love her spirituality, From the Sacred Heart to the Trinity, which is the title of a short book on her, and love her devotion to the two saints she was named after in religion, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Her virtuous life is extremely inspiring to read about. Also, she was very devoted to St. Francis of Assisi.

http://www.stteresamargaret.org

Besides St. Therese, my patron saint, my other favorite saint is St. Clare of Assisi. For me the PCCs and Carmel are neck and neck and discerning between them is hard! I have read so much on the Franciscans and especially St. Clare and her order and St. Colette, I love all she was, is, has done, her order and her Franciscan joy that oozes from her daughters, the PCCs I visited in Cleveland.

I have a 2.5 foot statue of her in my bedroom:

St. Catherine of Siena

Humble, Holy, Handmaid

St. Catherine's parents opposed her vocation,... they wanted her to get married, even though she was the youngest of 23. She had the fortitude to do God's will, and the patience to wait until they approved. She has been a guide in my journey because my parents also oppose my vocation, and she is an example to me of how hearts can be changed by God, if one just remains patient and humble. It isn't easy, and she labored as a servent for a year before winning her parents over--the perfect example of a Handmaid. She is also a Doctor of the Church, one of the two women saints to be named such. Her ability to allow God to use her as He will helps me to try to do the same.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03447a.htm
http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/CATSIENA.HTM
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/catherine/dialog.html

St John of the Cross

nada, nada, nada

Without his Dark Night of the Soul, I would never have survived. Without his Living Flame of Love, I wouldn't have wanted to! This saint wrote about my soul and taught me the joy of the Cross.

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, of course!

Actually, she's a relatively new "find" of mind. Her biography and a book of her writings were both given to me by my s/d for summer reading. I've already devoured both books and am looking for more to read on/by her! I relate to her sooooo much. Both of us are converts. Both have struggled with our mother's with our conversions. She's an amazing philosopher and I'm majoring in Philosophy. She took ancient/medieval philosophy and attempted to bring it together with phenomenology-- something I absolutely love (both fields are fields I love, actually). She had to wait before she could enter religious life, as will I (at the moment, at least three years). She taught! Yay. Aaaaand, yeah. I love her.

Too bad she wasn't Dominican.

I tend to shift favorite saints every once and a while. A list of other saints that have been my number one favorite (and are still in the top arena): St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Therese of Liseaux, and St. Dominic Savio.

I don't have a single favourite saint, and if I had one, it would probably be St. Augustine or St. Thomas Aquinas. But everyone knows them already, and I really can't pick So instead I'll plug... drumroll...

St. Bavo
Convert, missionary, hermit (in other words, he had a rather interesting life!)

Without St. Bavo there wouldn't have been a vocational journey for me! (If only because he wouldn't have saved my home town from the vile people of Amsterdam way back in ancient history.) He's the patron of the cathedral I grew up in. I wasn't very religious when I first came there at age 9, but through the long, long hours I spent as a choir girl and organ assistant he managed to get to me So in that aspect, I've got the 'convert' down... I'm working on 'missionary', but I'm rather unsure about 'hermit', so don't get your hopes up

St. Therese of Lisieux is my one favorite saint.
Being "young" as far as age goes in a society that pays no attention to your soul but merely your body, I can actually relate to the Little Flower and her deep, intense desire to give herself totally to God and espouse Christ. The best word I can use to describe Therese - I don't mean to copy you - is LOVE. I just finished Story of a Soul, and when I came across the famous, "My vocation is LOVE," I had a spiritual awakening: "WHOA! She's RIGHT!" In four words, one simple sentence, Therese unlocked the mystery that I had been trying to clarify for the past several months. I realized that every human has the same general vocation - to love and to be holy, to be a saint. While we all have individual vocations, being able to solidly agree with one of the greatest modern saints on what my vocation as a human person was.. it was very humbling to realize that I had reached the point in my discernment that St. Therese was once at! I would also use the word "perseverance" to describe St. Therese. She found that her vocation was Love and persevered until she achieved what God wanted her to achieve. She let neither opinions of others nor her physical age get in the way of her spiritual maturity and strong inner pull toward religious life.
Quite honestly, no. I could try to find one right now for you, but I don't want to just find any site and post it on here as if I had been devout in visiting it and truly felt it to be a superb site on St. Therese. However, the site for the movie Therese is one that I've marvelled at a lot. It's just such a beautiful site and I can't WAIT to see the movie!
http://www.theresemovie.com/
I feel that I owe so much of my vocational journey thus far to St. Therese, and being that discernment is a life-long process, I can't even begin to imagine the ways in which she will guide me in the future.

One of my favourites is Saint Faustina.

http://www.faustina.ch/index_en.htm

I forgot i changed my avatar. My favorite saint is St.Therese, the Little Flower.
Why she is myfavorite: Trust, Mercy, Love
Also, (I know this is more than a few words) but she has been very influential in my own life.. I even recieved a rose once, when i desperately needed it, as a sign of God's love.

All my "saints" aren't canonized saints! Thomas Merton, Hildegard Von Bingen and Brother Lawrence. They aren't "blessed", but they are my homies!

I love her. I am currently reading her autobiography. I love it. She was such a sweet, beautiful lady

I have also fallen in love with St. Bernadette, but I think everyone has figured that out by now

St. Therese the Little Flower

St. Teresa of Avila

It's REALLY hard to name my ONE favorite saint, but I guess it's St. Monica.

St. Vincent de Paul. (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Catherine Laboure are close seconds and thirds...is my Vincentian bias too apparent? )

St. Catherine Laboure

Marian. Hidden. Devoted to duty for years on end.

Model for our own life of prayer and service, and parish-friend for as long as I can remember.

St Jude

Because he stands firm for all us hopeless cases

St. Therese the little flower, she is a great model for religious life and those who are discerning.