(20) The All Saints Top Ten: Men and Women

        Today being the feast of All Saints, it would be a great time to think of our models of extraordinary holiness and heroic virtue. A small fraction of the millions of saints in heaven made the Hall of Fame, that is canonization. We also honor today the millions of unknown saints who did their little bit each day for God and His people with great love for both and faithfulness to the Church and their state of life as married, single, or religious.

        Fr. David Schmitt wrote up his Top Ten of Greatest Saints. He cautioned that each person would have a different criteria and bias in making a top ten. Being an American Catholic, his bias restricted his choices to saints of Western Europe and the Western Hemisphere, only Roman Catholic, and humans rather than angels. His criteria includes the great influence that each had in their time and down to the present as well as being a model of holiness for their time and the ages.

    Top Ten Women Saints                Feast Day                    Time Period Lived

1. Mary, Mother of Jesus         Jan. 1 Mary Mother of God

                                                      Feb. 11 Out Lady of Lourdes

                                                      Mar. 25 Annunciation

                                                       May 31 Visitation

                                                       July 16 Our Lady of Carmel

                                                       Aug. 15 Assumption

                                                       Aug. 22 Queenship of Mary

                                                       Sept. 8 Holy Name of Mary

                                                       Sept. 15 Our Lady of Sorrows

                                                       Oct. 7 Our Lady of the Rosary

                                                        Nov. 21 Presentation of Mary in the Temple

                                                        Dec. 8 Immaculate Conception (Patroness of the United States)

                                                        Dec. 11 Our Lady of Guadalupe (Patroness of the Americas)

                                                        First Saturday of Every Month

3. St. Clare of Assisi                   Aug. 11                                                  1193 - 1253
4. St. Catherine of Siena             April 29                                                  1347 – 1380
5. St. Theresa of Avila                Oct. 16                                                   1515 – 1582
6. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque  Oct. 16                                                   1647 – 1690
7. St. Bernadette Soubirous        Apr. 16 & Feb. 11                                  1844 – 1879
8. St. Frances Cabrini                 Nov. 13 or Dec. 22                                 1850 – 1917
9. St. Katherine Drexel                March 3                                                 1858 – 1955
10. St. Theresa, Little Flower        Oct. 1                                                     1873 – 1897
11. Mother Theresa                                                                                      1910 - 2003

Honorable Mention – St. Ann, Mother of Mary; St. Mary Magdalen; St. Monica, Mother of St. Augustine; St. Agnes, early Roman martyr; St. Kateri Tekakwitha, early Indian convert; St. Edith Stein, convert from Judaism & Holocaust martyr; St. Elizabeth Seton, Mother of Catholic Education in U.S.

 

Top Ten Male Saints                                     Feast Day               Time Period

      1. St. John the Baptist     June 24 (Birth) & Aug.29 (Death)    6 B.C. - 29 A.D

      2. St. Paul the Apostle                                June 29                3 B.C. - 65 A.D.

      3. St. Peter the Apostle                               June 29                4 B.C. - 64 A.D

      4. St. John the Evangelist                             Dec. 27               6 A.D. - 100 A.D

      5. St. Anthony of Egypt, founder of monasticism. Jan. 17                   251 - 356

      6. St. Patrick of Ireland                                March 17                       385 - 461

      7. St. Jerome, translated Bible from original Hebrew or Greek to Latin. Sept. 30

      8. St. Augustine, a doctor philosopher of the Church. Aug. 28             354 - 430
      9. St. Francis Aquinas, renewed the Church. Oct. 4                           1182 - 1226

    10. St. Thomas Aquinas, a doctor theologian of the Church. Jan. 28     1225 - 1274

Honorable Mention – St. Joseph, foster father of Christ; St. Nicholas; St. Benedict – founder of the Benedictine Order; St. Boniface, patron of Germany; St. Dominic; St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order; St. John of the Cross, reformer of the Carmelites; St. Thomas More; and St. Alphonsus Liguori.

You can google any saint on the internet and find all kinds of information.