Married Saints: All Saints’ Day Edition
Happy All Saints’ Day!
In honor of this wonderful feast, I decided this month’s Married Saints blog would be a little different. Today I want to explore several of our saints to give you an overview of wonderful patrons you might not have considered for your marriage before. I’ve written about a few of these couples at length, so if any of them tug at your heart and you want to learn more, follow the link!
For the month of November, be sure to follow Covenant on Instagram for quotes and inspirations from this amazing litany!
Fathers, families, lawyers, married couples
November 25
These two are possibly my favorite married saints for whose intercession I always try to ask. They are the first married couple to be beatified together on October 21, 2001 by Pope St. John Paul II. In many ways, Luigi and Maria are “modern” saints. While they were born in the 19th Century, much of their lives (and “sainthood”) took place in the 20th Century. Luigi and Maria were married in 1905. Maria volunteered for the Red Cross. She helped refugees of World War II. Luigi studied law and worked as a civil servant; Maria was a professor of education and published writer. Luigi and Maria lived through and experienced things that are familiar to us still. Together, they had four children (including two future priests and a future nun), and constantly created a household of faith.
Sts. Gregory & Nonna
January 2 (Gregory) and August 5 (Nonna)
Gregory and Nonna are the parents of Doctor of the Church St. Gregory the Theologian (also known as Gregory the Younger). Although their marriage was advantageous due to Gregory’s wealth, Nonna was unhappy that he was a practicing pagan — he worshipped a supreme god rather than the Christian God. So Nonna prayed endlessly and fasted “through many tears” (as her son later wrote) for the conversion of her husband. One night, Gregory had a dream that he was singing the Psalm, “I was glad when they said to me, let us go into the house of the Lord” (Psalm 121/122:1). Although he found the Psalm strange, he shared with his wife that this dream gave him a new desire to go to church. Nonna told him that it would bring her great joy if this vision were to come true. So Gregory made his conversion known to the Council of Nicaea where he received the sacraments. This shift in his heart was so true that he eventually became Bishop of Nazianzos (and Nonna became a deaconess). At the age of 100, Bishop Gregory died, and Nonna altogether ceased to leave the church. Later that year, Nonna followed her husband in death while in prayer inside the House of the Lord.
Sts. Isidore & Mary de la Cobeza
Farmers
May 15 (Isidore) & September 9 (Maria)
Isidore & Maria were born just outside of Madrid in the early 12th Century, Spain. A poor family, Isidore worked his entire life as a farmer for the wealthy John de Vergas at Torrelaguna while Maria spent her time cleaning chapels and shrines. Together, they were known for caring for the needy among them. Isidore was consistently late to work the field as he would go to Mass at the dawn of the day. Thankfully, John de Vargas allowed this, and Isidore worked hard enough that his tardiness didn’t impact his work. Legend says that two angels could be seen assisting Isidore in plowing the fields. Although they had little, Isidore was known for sharing what they did have, especially his meals, even if that meant going without himself. He would even bring the hungry to his home — and Maria was always ready with a pot of stew for anyone who needed it.
Pregnant women
November 5
Zechariah and Elizabeth are probably the married saints we are the most familiar with after Mary and Joseph, but how much do we really know about them? Elizabeth is the “cousin” of Mary (though the exact relationship is lost in translation) and mother of John the Baptist. When Mary traveled to assist Elizabeth in her pregnancy, Elizabeth greeted her with the familiar words, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” But I don’t think we remember Zechariah’s story as often as we remember Elizabeth’s. Zechariah was a priest who was approached in the temple by the angel Gabriel and told that his wife would bear a son. He was skeptical and full of doubt. How was his wife, who was advanced in age and declared “barren,” supposed to conceive of a child? Because of his lack of faith, he was struck mute until Gabriel's prophecy was fulfilled. Tradition holds that Zechariah was ultimately martyred in the temple when he refused to disclose the location of his first-born after Herod’s decree. Elizabeth is not mentioned after John’s naming, likely because she would have been forced to hide from Herod with John until her death.
Sts. Aquila & Priscilla
July 8
Friends of St. Paul, these two are mentioned throughout the New Testament. Both tentmakers, they were exiled from Rome under the Jewish persecution of Claudius and settled in Corinth, where they hosted Paul on his first trip. Paul describes them as, “my helpers in Christ, who have for my life laid down their own necks” (Romans 16:3-4). We don’t know when they converted to Christianity, whether it happened prior to meeting Paul or after, but the book of Acts says they accompanied Paul to Ephesus, where their home became a church. A preacher named Apollos visited Ephesus and spread word of the Good News, but his knowledge was mostly limited to the Hebrew scriptures. Aquila and Priscilla befriended him and shared more information about the Gospel with him, making his evangelization effort all the stronger. Aquila and Priscilla stayed with Paul in Ephesus for three years, but eventually returned with him to Rome, where they continued to house the early Christians in their celebration of the Eucharist. Scripture follows them as they left Rome under Nero’s persecution and settled once again in Ephesus. They are commemorated in the Roman Martyrology, though their time of death is not known for sure.
Sts. Louis Martin & Zelie Guerin
Illness, watchmakers, lacemakers
July 12
These two were the first married saints to be canonized together. Before meeting each other, they both desired to enter into religious life but were not permitted in for various reasons. After three months of dating, Louis and Zélie married on July 12, 1858. Their hearts were already aligned in their pursuit of religious life, and they seemingly tried to create their own religious vocation within their married life as they lived celibately for the first 10 months of their marriage. But their spiritual director encouraged them to consummate their marriage, and this trust in their spiritual director led to nine children, including five daughters who would survive infancy, all of whom became Catholic nuns. One of these daughters was St. Thérèse of Lisieux. The couple was declared venerable by St. Pope John Paul II in 1994 and beatified in 2008 in the Basilica of Saint Thérèse in Lisieux by Pope Benedict XVI.
St. Joseph
March 19
St. Joseph, father of our Lord, terror of demons, is the perfect example of a married saint, although his patronage might not be immediately obvious! He was the husband in what Archbishop Fulton Sheen named “the world’s happiest marriage.” Although little is known about his married life (some speculate he was a widower prior to his marriage to Mary, while others believe he was a consecrated virgin and that’s why he was chosen as Mary’s spouse), we do know that his marriage was the perfect example of the domestic church that is the family. St. Joseph, terror of demons, and his marriage to Mary is a perfect example of what we should aspire to in our own marriages. Through their love and faithfulness, Jesus found a home. Many artists chose to depict Joseph as even decades Mary’s senior, but there is no actual historical basis to support this. He was a great protector of the family, traveling all the way to Egypt (completely on foot, by the way, as Mary was given the only seat) to protect their son, and a man of faith, participating in the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover that required three days of walking. He and Mary surely felt a very spousal love for each other, just like every other married couple, but one that demonstrated the reality of love in heaven through their celibacy. Joseph is the perfect role model for husbands and a perfect intercessor for women seeking guidance for their spouse.
St. Valentine
Happy marriages, love, beekeeping, mental illness, plague, epilepsy
February 14
Saint Valentine is obviously known in the secular world as being associated with candy hearts and bouquets of roses. Historically, he was a priest (possibly a bishop) who was martyred, his remains buried along the Via Flaminia in Rome. The truth is we don’t actually know much about him — it’s even possible that his legend conflates up to four different Valentines into one person. As the story goes, marriage was banned under the rule of emperor Claudius in an attempt to gain more soldiers for his army (as married men were less willing to potentially die in battle), so Fr. Valentine married Christians in secret. Aiding Christians was also a crime at this time, making his behavior an extremely virtuous act for the faith. Valentine attempted to form a friendship with the emperor, but his attempt at conversion ultimately caused Claudius to order Valentine’s death if he didn’t renounce his faith. He was beaten with clubs and beheaded.
Raphael the Archangel
Travelers, the blind, bodily ills, happy meetings, medical workers
September 29
Raphael is one of the seven archangels that we know of from Scripture (only three are named in canon — Gabriel and Michael being the other two). The Book of Tobit in the Old Testament tells the story of Sarah, who had to suffer surviving the deaths of seven of her husbands, all killed on their wedding night by a jealous demon named Asmodeus. Sarah begs God for death, but God sends Raphael instead. Raphael intercepts Tobiah on an errand for his father and convinces him to marry Sarah. Tobiah has heard the rumors, but Raphael teaches him how to drive the demon away. On their wedding night, Sarah and Tobiah pray for mercy and deliverance, and Tobiah survives being another victim of Asmodeus. I have a particular love for the archangels, and Raphael’s protection of marriage and guidance of spouses is why he is a patron of Covenant. Raphael is also often asked for intercession for those who are seeking a spouse.
I hope these beautiful examples of marriage and patrons of marriage inspire you on this happy feast! Remember that All Saint’s Day is for ALL saints — all those who ever were and ever will be. While we most often think of those canonized, All Saint’s Day is really a day to honor and commemorate those holy men and women who aren’t part of the canon. So for all of our loved ones who have attained the beatific vision, this your feast day! Please honor those in your life by praying for their sainthood today.
