More Favorite Saints
Yes, more favorite saints. As I said in the comment box below, my favorites are constantly shifting depending upon my focus and the needs of the moment. So I thought of some more favorites:
St. Columba--who rebuked the Loch Ness Monster.
One who slipped off my radar initially, but who really is a top favorite is the Blessed Niels Stensen--Founding father of crystallography, the law of superposition, and the law of original horizontality (both laws relating to the interpretation of geological strata) also within his Prodromus were some of the foundational principles and ideas of palaeontology. Thus, a true saint for a scientist and particularly for a geologist.
Maximilian Kolbe comes to mind as another Saint whom I would like to have the courage to emulate.
St. Paul, St. James, and St. John, each exemplary.
For non-saints, but great influences, people I can think of include Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, Julian of Norwich, Walter Hilton, Hugh of St. Victor, Richard Rolle and Jean-Pierre de Caussade--both great writers on wonderful spiritual matters.
Blessed [corrected from St.--see comment] Henry Suso, and St. Jan van Ruysbroeck also leap to mind as appealing in a great many ways.
St. Claude de la Colombiere and St. Louis de Montfort also leap to mind as highly praiseworthy. St. Philip Neri and St John Bosco fit the bill for "Dear Lord save me from sour-faced saints."
St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, St. Seraphim of Sarov, St. John Cassian. . . And on and on and on.
What do we learn from this little exercise? The bounty and generosity of God in our human models is inexhaustible. We have an array of saints for every situation, for every mood, for every moment in life. We have guides at all times and for all time who, each and every one, point the way to sanctity and blessedness. God cannot be outdone in all that he does for us.
