Patron Saints

Let me put my cards on the table… I’ve never quite understood the practice of the intercession of the saints. There. I’ve said it. But there must be something to it, given that part of the ancient practice of the church in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths is to pray ‘through’ the saints. Connected to that is the idea of patron saints, who, it seems, have been tasked with hearing the prayers of certain groups of people or in certain situations.

This morning we celebrate with a number of saints.

Primarily, we celebrate with St Anne, the mother of St Mary, and Grandma of Jesus. She is patron saint of pregnancy, childless people, expectant mothers, grandmothers and mothers, homemakers and housewives, women in labour and of course, churches (or chapels) that bear her name.

This morning our guest preacher, Rev’d John McLister, will be sharing some stories from his work at the port. The Patron Saint of seafarers is a little more difficult to identify. Google seems to say that many saints hold the title including: St Nicholas of Myra, St Peter Claver a Spanish priest who vowed to be the slave of the slaves he encountered in Colombia or St Brenda, or St Christopher, or St Elmo, or St Andrew (the original ‘fisher of men’), or St Clement (martyred by having an anchor tied to his neck and cast overboard), or St Brigid (captured by pirates and sold to slavery in Ireland).

Many other churches will today be celebrating Social Services Sunday, and so we think of a variety of other saints: St Benedict Joseph Labre, the patron saint of the homeless – a priest who died at age 35 having chosen to spend 13 years living on

the streets), or St Martin, the man who famously gave away his little coat (‘capella’, which is where we get the word chaplain from), or Louise de Marillac of France who spent her years as a widow assisting the work of Vincent de Paul, and launching the Sister of Charity, or St Vincent de Paul himself, patron saint of all charitable organisations who reminds us that “There is no charity without justice.”

While I may not be praying to or through the saints this morning. I do, nevertheless, give great thanks for the bold lives of service they’re led, and the challenge they leave to our generation of saints, to pick up the bold life of faith in all of its sacrificial hope.