The Saints are the holy men and women who have gone before us, and they are our Heavenly friends helping us become holy! There are thousands (estimated to be over 10,000) of canonized Saints for us to get to know. Pope Francis canonized 942 of them during his papacy alone, and Pope Leo XIV will canonize 2 in September 2025.
As a catechist and parent I love sharing the lives of the Saint with my students and children. Today, I am introducing my Saints of the Week series to share with your students and children! I will be publishing a weekly article with 7 Saints that the Church celebrates that week. Be sure to sign up for our weekly Amazing Catechist newsletter so that you receive the weekly Saint posts!
What is a Saint?
According to the USCCB website:
“All Christians are called to be saints. Saints are persons in heaven (officially canonized or not), who lived heroically virtuous lives, offered their life for others, or were martyred for the faith, and who are worthy of imitation.”
Read all about the canonization process here.
How to Teach Students About the Saints
Each week, I will share 7 Saints whose Feast Days we celebrate that week. For each Saint, I will provide their:
– Dates of birth and death
– Patronage
– A Link for further information on the internet
– Virtue(s) associated with the Saint
How To Use These Guides
Choose 1 Saint from the Guide for your class or home. If you want to share these with your children at home, you can learn about the Saint each day! For your religious education class, simply choose 1 Saint to share with your students each time you meet.
I left these very open-ended, so that you can tailor the discussion for the age and level of your students. For younger children, you may want to find a picture book or video related to the Saint. To keep it simple, read about the Saint yourself, and share a few of your favorite facts with the children. For older children, teens, and adults, you can dive deeper into the Saint’s life, where they were from, and any other important details that you would like to share.
What is a patron saint?
Most Saints are associated with a specific patronage. This means that the Saint has a special devotion to a particular group. The Saint’s patronage can be related to something they personally went through during their life (such as an illness), a characteristic he or she possessed, or something related to their vocation or job. For example, St. Monica is the patron Saint of mothers with wayward children because she was a mother of a wayward child (St. Augustine – who was baptized in adulthood and became a Doctor of the Church!). People pray for her intercession when they have a child or family member who has fallen away from the Church.
Encourage your students or children to learn about a Saint who has similar talents or hobbies to them. If a child shares a name with a Saint, encourage him or her to learn about the Saint and learn about the Saint’s patronage. They may also wish to find out if a Saint has a Feast Day on their birthday.
The Feast of St. Don Bosco is on my birthday, and he is the patron of youth and educators. I have a deep passion for teaching, and I am an educator! They say, sometimes, the Saints choose us! It’s an honor to share my birthday with the Feast Day of this amazing Saint.
Saints Help Teach About Virtue
In the weekly list, I will include a virtue (or virtues) associated with each Saint. These are simply suggestions based on each Saint’s life, so feel free to associate a different virtue if you wish.
After telling the students about the Saint, you can explain the meaning of the associated virtue and discuss how the Saint embodied this particular virtue in his or her life.
Sign Up for Weekly Saints of the Week Guides
Be sure to sign up for the weekly Amazing Catechists newsletter so that you can be notified when each Saints of the Week guide is available! On desktop, the email sign up is on the righthand column. On mobile, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to find the sign up. The weekly email will arrive every Friday morning so that you can prepare for the Feast Days coming up the following week.
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