Spiritual Directors
This parish priest and theologian from 16th centruy Spain labored as a preacher, confessor, spiritual director, catechist, evangelizer, and educator. He was convinced that reform of the Church as a whole required reform of the eccesiastical state, especially the priesthood. In 1531 he was denounced to the Inquisition. During his year of imprisonment, he wrote, "Audi, Fililia" (Listen, O Daughter), a guide to the spiritual life, for a young woman who was living a consecrated life under his direction.
Who is St. John of Avila?
This humble French priest listened to all with an open heart, especially in the confessional. He believed listening to others and to God could save souls. His singular holiness radically transformed the tiny town of Ars.
Who is St. John Vianney?
This woman was a wisdom figure who listened to her younger, unwed cousin when she told her she was pregnant with the Messiah.
Who is St. Elizabeth?
These two men were Arab brothers who were physicians. Famous for accompanying the sickly poor and offering their services freely, they gained the nickname "Moneyless". They were martyred near Antioch while Diocletian was Emperor of Rome.
Who are Saints Cosmas and Damian?
This person was a British-born Italian website designer who listened to the Holy Spirit's inspiration to document Eucharistic miracles and approved Marian apparitions and to catalogue both on a website he designed before his death from leukemia in 2006.
Who is Blessed Carlo Acutis?
This Dominican Tertiary sister listened to the signs of her times and became an instrumental influence in the religious and political affairs of the Church, writing letters and advocating for the Papacy. She traveled abroad to mediate for the Pope. She was known for her holiness, asceticism, and spiritual visions, and received the stigmata which was only visible after her death.
Who is St. Catherine of Siena?
This religious brother served as porter at Notre Dame College in Montreal and welcomed thousands of distressed people who were looking for a ray of hope. He listened to them and recommended that they pray to St. Joseph in whom he had full confidence.
Who is St. Andre Bessette?
While not explicitly referred to as a saint, this woman from the Old Testament is deeply revered and celebrated for her devoted loyalty and accompaniment towards her mother-in-law and adopted Israelite faith, despite being a Moabite foreigner.
Who is Ruth, the daughter-in-law of Naomi?
This humble man was a Dominican lay brother who possessed knowledge and skills for healing. He was put in charge of the monastery's infirmary. He often went out into the slums of Lima to help neglected street people and would sometime take a sick person back to his own bed. Levitation, bilocation, clairvoyance, healing and even invisibility are attributed to this simple man of God.
Who is St. Martin de Porres?
This holy Vietnamese priest, became an Archbishop just before Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese forces. His immediate imprisonment separated him from his beloved people at a time they needed him most. Like St. Paul, he decided to write to them from prison - but by stealth. He wrote on a calendar and smuggled the pages out with a boy who visited him. Those pages became his first book: "A Road to Hope." In the 13 years he spent in prison, many lapsed Catholics were brought back to the faith and many non-Catholics were converted - even many of his Communist captors. This holy father showed us how to become saints in the mess of the present moment by accompanying others as Jesus would, one soul at a time.
Who is Venerable Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan?
This man was a priest and professor at Vilnius University in Lithuania. He eventually became the confessor and spiritual director to St. Faustina Kowalska, spending several years listening to the revelations Jesus had communicated to her. This holy priest closely accompanied Faustina to help bring the message of Divine Mercy to the world.
Who is Blessed Michael Sopocko?
This priest listened to people experiencing difficulty. He opened a boarding house for wayward boys and taught them ways to earn a living in various trades. He was personally involved in the care of his charges, often entertaining them with acrobatics, juggling, and magic tricks.
Who is St. John Bosco?
This saint has a twin brother who is also a saint! Each year the two allowed themselves a single 24 hour visit for prayer and spiritual conversation. During her final visit with her brother, she prayed that their time together would be extended, and this was divinely accommodated when a violent storm began to rage outside, thus keeping her brother from returning to his monastery. For double bonus points, name both saints!
Who is St. Scholastica?
Add 300 bonus points if team is able to correctly answer: Who is St. Benedict?
This man, a carpenter by trade, was engage to a young woman in the town of Nazareth. While there is no written record of anything he ever said, the Gospels do tell that he was a man who listened well to the messages of Angels and accompanied Mary and Jesus throughout their lives.
Who is St. Joseph?
This frivilous socialite, born in the mid 19th century to a famous American writer, left her alcoholic husband out of fear for her saftey. Upon his death, she listened to God's persistent call to enter religious life and became a Domincan tertiary. Eventually, she co-founded the Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer and became known as Mother Mary Alphonsa. She served the poorest of the poor and delighted in splurging on luxuries for her patients. This holy woman is a testimony to the power of God to transform selfish, self-absorbed souls into saints.
Who is Servant of God Rose Hawthorne Lathrop?
This Spanish nun listened deeply to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and was active during the Counter-Reformation. She became the central figure of a movement of spiritual and monastic renewal, reforming the Carmelite Orders of both women and men. She was later joined by St. John of the Cross, with whom she established the Discalced Carmelites.
Who is St. Teresa of Avila?
This Frenchman served as a missionary to the Native population in North America. Severly mutilated from torture received while held as a slave for over a year, he managed to escape back to France. After listening to the Holy Spirit's promptings, he returned to the missions where he was eventually martyred.
Who is St. Isaac Jogues?
This woman was a wealthy purple-dye merchant in Thyratira who welcomed Paul and his companions in Phillipi. When Paul noticed her attentiveness as she listened to his proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ, he baptized her and her household.
Who is St. Lydia?
This man from the Old Testament was born to a barren woman who prayed fervently for a child. As a young boy, he was dedicated to God's service and was raised in the temple at Shiloh where he began to hear God's voice, initially mistaking it for Eli's, the priest whom he served.
Who is Samuel?
This person was an American Catholic laywoman who served as the Director of Adult Faith Formation for the Diocese of Bismark before dying of cancer at the age of 31. In her previous work as a campus minister with Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), she closely accompanied college students as a mentor and encouraged young men to join the priesthood and young women to become religious sisters. Her life radiated the joy of Christ to all she encountered.
Who is Michelle Duppong?
This man was a French Jesuit priest who closely accompanied and assisted Mary Alacoque in establishing the devotion to the Sacred Heart. His writings and testimony helped to validate her mystical visions and elevated Jesus' Sacred Heart as an important devotion in the Church.
Who is St. Claude de la Colombière?
This priest traveled to a distant island to proclaim Jesus Christ. While there, he listened to the families whose loved ones were being forced to leave their homes due to a government-madndated quarantine because they had contracted leprosy. This holy father freely chose to join the lepers on the island of Molokai so that they would personally know the love of Christ through his sacrifices. After sixteen years of close accompaniment with his flock, he died of leprosy.
Who is Fr. Damien?
When this young woman listened to an angel proclaim that she would be the bearer of the Messiah, she believed what he told her to be true.
Who is the Blessed Virgin Mary?
This man was a layman farmer who happened to travel into Rome on the day a new pope was being elected to replace Pope Saint Anterus, who, after serving 40 days in his office, had been martyred. When a dove landed on this farmer's head, the gathered clergy and laity saw this as a sign that the Holy Spirit was anointing him to be the next Pope. As Pope, he helped bring Christianity to unconverted areas of Europe, fought heresies, worked to extend aid to the poor, and promoted and kept the faith in spite of certain persecution.
Who is Pope Saint Fabian?
This gentle French woman fell in love with and married an atheist named Felix. She fervently prayed for her husband's conversion, offering her daily sufferings, and never losing hope that God would answer her prayer. After her death in 1914, her obstinate husband traveled to Lourdes to "prove her superstitions wrong" once for all. Much to his surprise, Felix's experience of God's presence and his wife's, too, overwhelmed him so much that he converted and decided to become a Dominican priest. Once ordained, he spent most of his priesthood working to spread the message of his wife's life - her heart poured out in merciful love for him, a hostile unbeliever. This holy woman had offered her life in sacrifice for her husband's soul and trusted that God would bring about the miracle she had prayed for.
Who is Servant of God Elisabteth Lesuer?