The Saints of October (With an Incomplete Reading List)

Yo yo yo my dudes what's UP? 

I want to apologize for being such a bad blogger, but then again, you know what, I should be done apologizing. Y'all know I'm a bad blogger. 

It's a good day to begin anew. 

Which any day is. But today is a particularly good day to begin anew, because it's October. And October is, I think, the best month ever. It's fall for real (or as for real as it's going to get; maybe in November it will finally be chilly, but are there any guarantees in this world? no. no there aren't). The air is crisp and clean (or at least we pretend it is). Writing challenges are gearing up, pumpkin spice lattes are for sale at the local coffee shop, and sweater weather is upon us (or we pretend it is). The schoolyear is underway and the academic year has fallen into a rhythm. THE LEAVES ARE TURNING. And there are so many books to read that are good books for fall--mystery books, cozy books, light and dark academia-themed books. The older I get the less I like Halloween as such; but (and I think Grim may have discussed this in years past on her blog) I do think there's a certain seasonal seemliness to "spooky" season. The death of summer rightly puts us in a memento mori mood; and I think autumnal fog must always make one think, at least a little, of ghosts. Especially since November will bring with it pious visits to the graveyard to pray. 

Yes--October is a delicious month to be alive. 

But you know another great thing about October?

All the epic feast days. *flails* 

I mean, there are saint feast days on the Liturgical Calendar literally every day of the year? But October just happens to have a high concentration of saints who are particularly dear to me. 

And I've decided to put together a list of who they are and what books about them are out there, for your perusal and consideration. 

Because the only thing better than studying historical peeps is studying historical peeps whom the Church points out as models of heroic Christian virtue, amiright? 

I'm so excited, guys. I put all my favorite October saints' feast days on my calendar in my bullet journal, and--well I can't reference that particular journal right now because I left it at work, and I'm hoping to dash this post off quickly before I go to bed (when inspiration strikes, one must strike while the iron is hot, or else the blogging dry spell will go on indefinitely). But at least their names are more or less fresh in my mind. And ANYWAY. It doesn't actually MATTER because there's this thing called the internet. 

Anywho.

On to the saints. 

I'll arrange them by date. (These are just the ones I have some kind of connection with, mind. And some of them I have more of a connection with than others, so.) (Also many of the books will be books I've heard of rather than actually read. But c'est la vie.) 

October 1:
St. Therese of Lisieux 

For most of my life, I didn't really get the St. Therese hype. I tried, mind you. As a child, I was in a Little Flowers girls' group under her patronage; but truth be told, I was always far more interested in the saint we studied each month than in our patroness herself. 

I guess I was trying to be Not Like Other Girls. I mean, I wasn't about to consider St. Therese for my Confirmation saint. 

She's just...really flowery. Lots of roses. Lots of sweetness. Lots of quotes. 

"Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God. Do all that you do with love."

"It is your arms, Jesus, that are the elevator that carry me to Heaven."

"Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing."

"To draw near to Jesus, we must be so little." 

"How can I fear a God who is nothing but mercy and love?" 

And then one day scrolling through St. Therese images for the catechism class I was teaching that day, I was like...wait a second. Those quotes are really beautiful.

Really, really BEAUTIFUL. 

Ever since then, St. Therese has been stalking me. (She's been stalking me all my life, I think. Case in point: Little Flowers.) And...yeah. Within the last month or two, I've come to terms with her as one of my favorite saints. 

Which means I'm not Not Like Other Girls after all. 

Anywho. 

Reading resources: 

-The Story of a Soul, her autobiography. (I read it a long time ago, tried to re-read it in my early 20s, and have a vague but firm intention to read it again in the not-too-distant future.)

-A Family of Saints, by Fr. Stephane-Joseph Piat. (I just finished this one. It's primarily about her parents, Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, but you can't talk about them without talking about her and her sisters, so. I got impatient with the writing style sometimes, but on the whole the book is very good. It made me realize how very, very important Therese's family was to her, not only BEFORE she entered the convent but her whole life. And guys, this book made me SOB. In a good way. They're all just so holy and good and sweet and they suffered so much but it's happy because they're all gonna see each other again in HEAVEN and--*flails*)

I gave my mom a book entitled The Extraordinary Parents of St. Therese of Lisieux a while ago and I'm sure it covers the same ground as A Family of Saints, but if it's very much better, and if I ever actually read it, I'll let you guys know.

And then there's the movie Therese. Which I've not seen in years and years but suspect I would positively dig if I watched it again. 

October 2: 
The Guardian Angels

Guardian Angels are COOL, guys. And I think it's epic the Church has a feast day just for them.

That is all. 

October 4:

St. Francis of Assisi 

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 

St. Francis, like St. Therese, is a very basic saint who was there all through my childhood in pretty tangible ways (that is: every play my middle school theater group put on was a dramatization of his life), but I failed to form a connection with him until I read G. K. Chesterton's St. Francis of Assisi.

And cried. 

So, public service announcement: 

read G. K. Chesterton's St. Francis of Assisi. 

Also, today was his feast day. (St. Francis', not GKC's. GKC, unfortunately, is not a canonized saint.) 

October 5:
St. Faustina 

Okay, full disclosure, I still don't have a great devotion to St. Faustina in particular? But she's cool and I think it's cool that her feast is in October. 

I have a decent appreciation for the Divine Mercy devotion which she helped propagate. But I need to read up on it at some point so I have a REAL understanding of what it all means.

My mom has heartily recommended (and I have failed to follow through on her recommendation) that I read this book called The Second-Greatest Story Ever Told, which explains the connections between this Polish nun's visions in the 1930s, Pope St. John Paul II, and Divine Mercy Sunday (which is now celebrated the first Sunday after Easter in the Catholic Church). (Presumably totalitarianism and communism are both taken to task in said story? WHY have I not read it yet.) 

October 7: 
Our Lady of the Rosary

PSA: the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary happens on the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto, which Don Juan of Austria probably wouldn't have won if the pope hadn't asked all the Catholics to pray the rosary for the protection of Christendom. 

(October is also the month of the rosary.)

(...I should pray the rosary more often.)

A follow-up PSA: 

G. K. Chesterton wrote a poem about the Battle of Lepanto. Which is just about the greatest poem ever. 

I think it's clear how we should be celebrating the feast day on October 7.

1. we pray rosary,

2. we read Chesterton. 

October 15:
St. Teresa of Avila

Okay, St. Teresa of Avila is another one whom I have yet to form a very deep relationship with. 

But Colleen Carroll Campbell talks about her a lot in her memoir My Sisters the Saints, which I just ate up like a beach read (...that was an ugly mixed metaphor; I apologize). 

And ever since then, St. Teresa of Avila has been stalking me, too. 

(These Teresas. You can't be too careful with them.)

Obviously there's her famous book Interior Castle, which I've never tiptoed very deep into. But what has me thinking St. Teresa is my girl is her also famous, but much shorter, work (I have it half memorized and am pulling from different translations, so pardon me if I misquote): 

Let nothing disturb you
Let nothing frighten you
All things are passing
God never changes
Patient endurance attains all things
He who has God wants for nothing.  

She's just so STEADYING.

And it's very nice to know that she struggled a lot in her spiritual life before finally getting the swing of things. 

October 16:
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

I am obligated to put her down because she is my patron saint.

BUT SHE'S ALSO AWESOME. I love the image of her with a burning heart. (I showed this in a catechism class one time and someone asked, "Is that the saint who loved God the most?" And I was just like, "Nooooo, I think that would be Mother Marryyyyyyy.... But she did love God very much.")

At any rate the Sacred Heart devotion is EPIC and it is one of my genuine favorites. 

 

October 18:
St. Luke

I don't know that much about St. Luke. For the probably excellent reason that nobody knows that much about St. Luke? 

But his Gospel is my favorite one. 

(The infancy narrative. The pardon of the sinful woman. The good thief. The COMPASSION of it all.)

So I like him, you see. 

I also like the tradition that he was an artist? 

October 19:

St. John de Brebeuf, St. Isaac Jogues, and Companions (that means St. Rene Goupil!!!)

MY GUYS. 

My MARTYRS. 

My AMERICAN SAINTS. 

And, when it comes to St. Rene Goupil, my LAY MARTYR. (Maybe it's unfair to identify him as a lay saint, since he took some kind of orders under St. Isaac Jogues shortly before he died? But at any rate he was not a priest. And until last May I'd lived under the assumption that all the North American Martyrs were priests. Silly Megan, martyrdom is for everyone.) 

(...Did any 90s kids catch my Trix reference?)

Anyway. 

Reading.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: St. Isaac Jogues' memoirs are available online. Specifically, they are available here. It's gristly reading, as you might expect, so proceed with caution; but THE SECTION ON ST. RENE, GUYS. 

St. Rene is just my favorite. 

And I want a novel about St. Isaac Jogues that actually gives their friendship its due. Everyone knows St. Isaac lost his fingers, but how many people know he buried his friend? One and a half times? Not as many. 

October 22:
St. John Paul II

I have yet to read Witness to Hope, the definitive biography of Pope St. JPII.

It's on my shelf, mind you. And I have made a dent in it. But only a dent.

...There's also a movie of his life I would like to rewatch. (I watched a ton of saint movies as a kid, you see, and now that I am well into my adulthood [I've been feeling very aged of late] I need to watch them again and actually understand the political/historical/grown up stuff.) It features Westley from The Princess Bride so it's bound to be good. 

What makes me love JPII is his encyclicals. A perennial favorite is his Letter to Women, but I recently read part of Christifideles Laici and just wanted to hug him for having such a beautiful understanding and explanation of the laity's role in the Church. 

I love being lay, guys. And I love being a woman. And I don't know if I would appreciate either of those facets of my identity quite so much if it weren't for this male cleric, so. 

The Communion of Saints is a beautiful thing. 

(Also: apparently October 28 is the feast of Sts. Simon and Jude. And I have an embarrassing soft spot for St. Jude. Embarrassing, not because he's not a great saint who deserves to be loved, but because I always associate him with my character Jude and...yeah. Sorry, St. Jude.) 

WELL! That is all I have for you today, my fellow travelers on the road to Heaven! What have you been up to of late? Reading anything good? Studying any good people? Drinking any good fall lattes? I really do miss the blogging world. We'll see if I can get back into any semblance of regular posting in the next few months. :)