Patron saints
Who Is the Patron Saint of Those With Special Needs And Their Families?
Saint Bernadette · Feast day April 16
The patron saint of those with special needs and their families is Saint Bernadette, whose feast day is April 16.
Who was Saint Bernadette?
Saint Bernadette Soubirous was a poor, sickly, and unschooled shepherd girl of Lourdes, France, who reported visions of Mary in 1858 and spent the rest of her short life as a humble nun, offering her constant illness to God.
Why the patron of those with special needs and their families?
Because of her poverty, illness, and simplicity, she is a patron of the sick, of shepherds, and of those considered least in the eyes of the world.
In the Word
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;1 Corinthians 1:27 (KJV)
A note for all traditions: patron saints are honored in the Catholic and Orthodox churches as examples of faith and as friends who pray with us, never worshiped, for worship belongs to God alone. Many Protestant Christians honor the saints as examples without asking their intercession. Across all traditions, there is one Lord and one mediator between God and us, the man Christ Jesus, and every one of us, not only the saints, is called to holiness and to him.
All the saints point to Jesus, and so are you called
Saint Bernadette was not the point; Christ was. Every saint is a window, and the light is Jesus, who is Lord of all. You are called to the same holiness and the same love. Pray, read the Word, and gather with the family of God on The Living Bread. Free, with no ads, for all people.
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