Thursday Thirteen #18: Favourite Saints

Excluding the Holy Family to leave more scope, a slightly random selection of favourite saints (ask me again tomorrow and I would probably give a different list) arranged in more or less chronological order ...

1. St. Peter. I find it so reassuring that Jesus chose an impetuous fisherman who couldn't live up to his own expectations to lead his Church.

2. St. Thomas. Another thoroughly human saint. If even one of the Twelve could doubt Jesus, I feel better about my own weaknesses and inadequacies.

3. St. Joseph of Arimathea. The rich man who gave up his own tomb to Jesus, only to have it become the site of the Resurrection. The story that Joseph subsequently came to England and settled at Glastonbury may be legend, but it is a beautiful one.

4. St. Helena. I can't help but admire a woman whose influence helped convert an Empire, and who trotted off to the Holy Land in her old age to try her hand at archaeology. And she is one of my patrons, as my middle name is Helen.

5. St. Nicholas. The real Santa Claus.

6. St. Benedict. The father of monasticism in western Europe. His rule is so humane and still applicable nearly 1500 years after he wrote it.

7. St. Thomas Becket. Who would have guessed that King Henry II's egotistical, display-loving chancellor would end up a saint and a martyr. Pig-headed, stubborn and at times a thorn in the flesh even of his friends, Thomas's flaws make him seem very real to me.

8. St. Hugh of Lincoln. An outstanding English medieval saint. Even Henry II was prepared to tolerate outspoken cricitism from Hugh, which says a great deal for his force of character.

9. St. Francis of Assisi. Simply extraordinary.

10. St. Thomas More. Brave, humane, intelligent, likeable, and prepared to die rather than go against his conscience.

11. St. Teresa of Avila. An woman of great energy and humour as well as outstanding spiritual qualities. I chose her as my confirmation saint, then realised later that her feast day is my birthday.

12. St. Bernadette of Lourdes. One of the first saints I "met" after I became a Catholic.

13. St. Michael the Archangel. Can I count him? Representative of all those angels that guard and defend us. (I suppose chronologically he should be first!)