From Your Parish Librarian

There are warrior saints, healing saints, saints who minister in mission fields,  saints who build cathedrals and monasteries; and then there are these saints: 

—St Jane Frances, patron saint of those who have problems with their in-laws. 
Jane had a happy marriage until her husband died in a hunting accident. She  moved in with her husband’s difficult father and his harsh servant, enduring the  difficult living arrangement with patience and kindness, and was a saint for it. 

—St Martin of Tours, patron saint of geese.  
In the beginning years of the Church, the office of Bishop was a political or sometimes an inherited position. One most often reads how a person we consider a prominent Church Father today actually did not want to be elected or appointed Bishop. Martin of Tours hid inside a shed full of geese to avoid the delegation of Church leaders who had come to appoint him Bishop. Martin might have been wise in theological ways, but he was not as wise in the ways of farmyard husbandry. Geese are territorial, and these geese did not want to share their space with a future Bishop. The commotion they made attracted the Church leaders and the town leaders who apprehended Martin and made him Bishop of Tours in France, which was then called Gaul. 

—St Lydia Purpuraria (or of Thyatira, if you like) is the patron saint of textile workers and those dealing with purple cloth. 
Lydia was a merchant of the most expensive cloth in the ancient world: purple cloth. The manufacture of expensive cloth required expensive purple dye that Lydia made from thousands of sea snails for just a small amount of dye. People would pay Lydia great sums for the precious dye or purple cloth, which allowed her to finance St Paul’s missionary journeys. Hmm. “From Snails to Salvation” could be the title of someone’s homily. 

—St Goar of Aquitaine, patron saint of innkeepers and champagne bottlers. 
This monk was known for his hospitality, sharing food and wine with travelers who passed through the Rhine region. Legend says his wine never ran out or could fill empty containers instantly. 

—St Brigid of Kildare, patron saint of cows and dairy workers.
There are as many stories about St Brigid as there are shamrocks in Ireland,  including one about milk: As a young girl, St Brigid was a dairymaid of her family’s herd of milk cows. She often gave away milk to those who needed it;  however, one time she gave away so much milk that there wasn’t enough for her family or enough for them to sell. St Brigid prayed and, according to tradition, the empty pails were refilled for her family’s use. 
Source: TikTok   
 

—Bonnie Bonham—Parish Librarian—