Carmelite Sisters Welcome the remains of St. Therese in Birmingham, England (catholicrelics.co.uk) Flickr/Catholic Church (England and Wales), cc by-nc-sa 2.0
Growing up as a Catholic in the deep South, I don't have a lot of memories of celebrating All Saints Day. Or maybe those memories were just clouded by my post-Halloween sugar-overload hangovers. 
My Twitter feed reminded me of it today as Vatican News tweeted a short interview with the Archbishop of Bombay, Cardinal Oswald Garcia, who shared some of his favorite saints that he prays to on this day:
"For us in India it is a day when lots of people come to church, and I would say when you ask me the question of whom do I pray to, I regularly pray to non-canonized. That's John Paul II, I pray to Mother Theresa very very often...both of these, because I knew them personally so well. Of course St. Anthony is a favorite saint of mine."
When it was time for me to choose a confirmation name, I read bios of heroic saints in a giant book clad in white, faux-leather binding with thin pages and gilded edges. I ended up choosing my mother's confirmation name (a classic also shared by Jesus' mother). I can't say that I have a favorite saint, but these make an impression:
- St. Therese of Liseaux, patron saint of missions, also known as "The Little Flower," entered the Carmelite convent in Lisieux at age 15. It is believed she coined the phrase"the little way" as a path to holiness and positively influencing one's life everyday in ordinary ways.
- St. Catherine of Sienna, patron saint of Europe, firefighters, sick people, miscarriages, nurses is said to have spoken boldly to popes and to princes.
Please share your favorite saints with us in the comments below or on Facebook.
Embroidery photo by Flickr/Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P/cc by-nc-nd 2.0
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