6 Saints Every Catholic Single Should Befriend
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Most Catholics have a handful of saints to whom they regularly pray for specific types of requests: St. Anthony for lost objects, St. Christopher when traveling, St. Joseph when seeking employment, etc. If you are single, you may have a devotion to St. Raphael, the angel from the Book of Tobit who helped young Tobias find a wife.
However, there are other saints whose intercession is worth asking when single and discerning.
Here are a few of my current favorites...
St. Thomas Aquinas
One of the challenges single Catholics face is practicing chastity in a culture saturated with impure imagery. It can be especially difficult if you have been single for a while and are tempted to fear you may never experience chaste romantic intimacy. If you are struggling with temptations against chastity during times of loneliness, a good saint to whom you can turn is St. Thomas Aquinas.
St. Thomas Aquinas’ life was an exemplar of chaste living; after resisting the seduction attempts of a prostitute, St. Thomas received from God such an increase in chastity that from that point he never found sins against the virtue to be tempting. A prayer to St. Thomas for purity can be found on the website of the Angelic Warfare Confraternity.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary
St. Elizabeth is an excellent example of a married saint. In 1221, she married Ludwig IV, with whom she had three children. She loved her husband and children deeply, but also she managed to minister to the impoverished while still attending to the needs of her family. It is said that Ludwig displayed some resistance to her works of charity as being beneath royalty, but ultimately was won over by her good example.
Single men and women can pray to Elizabeth to help them imitate her charity so that they can be good spouses to their future wives or husbands.
St. Jude Thaddeus
St. Jude the Apostle is not typically associated with prayers to find a future spouse. He is best known as the patron of hopeless causes, a title he may have gained because of his epistle’s stress on endurance during the tribulation.
However, if you have been having difficulty finding a spouse and are struggling with temptations of discouragement, you may find solace in asking for the assistance of St. Jude. Of course, if you aren’t struggling with discouragement in this area, you may not feel called to pray for him on your own behalf; however, it would be a good work of mercy to pray for him on behalf of singles who are struggling in their search for spouses.
Sts. Joachim and Anne
While the actual names of Mary’s parents are not present in Scripture, the names by which the Church refers to them are “Joachim” and “Anne.” Little is known about them, other than that they parented the Queen of the Universe.
We can be sure, though, that by reason of His love for His mother, God showered special graces upon His mother’s parents, making them incredibly holy saints. If you are discerning marriage, then you may consider praying to Sts. Joachim and Anne to help you prepare yourself to be a holy spouse.
St. Nicholas
Known to American children as Santa Claus, St. Nicholas has long been a popular saint, not just among Catholics, but among the Eastern Orthodox. One story tells how he helped three young women obtain husbands: their father had fallen into financial difficulties, which meant that he could not provide dowries for his daughters. At the time, a girl needed a dowry in order to obtain a husband.
St. Nicholas, learning of the situation, snuck bags of coins into the poor man’s house on three separate nights. Each bag of coins served as a dowry for each of the three daughters, and all three young women found husbands. So, if you are looking for a spouse, St. Nicholas might make a good intercessor!
If you find yourself drawn to any of these saints, then add them to your list of intercessors!
And, if you are interested in learning more about these saints, as well as others, Catholic Online has some nice summaries of dozens of saints found here: Popular Saints - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online.
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