St. Nicholas

St Nicholas was at one time bishop of Myra. He is supposed to have died on December 6 which is why his feast is celebrated on that date. Recognised for his great generosity, he is the patron saint of little children and school children. After several decades, Christian society found it more appropriate to bring this "children’s festival" closer to that of the birth of Jesus.

St. Francis

St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology, was a Roman Catholic saint who took the gospel literally by following all Jesus said and did. He was torn between a life devoted entirely to prayer and a life of active preaching of the Good News.
He wanted to be a missionary in Syria or in Africa, but was prevented by shipwreck and illness.
During the last years of his life, St Francis was half blind and seriously ill. He died at age 44.

St. Bernadette

St Bernadette was the oldest of six children. At the time of her communion in 1858, she received a vision of the Virgin Mary. She received seventeen more during the next five months and was led to a spring of healing waters (the Shrine of Lourdes). At 22, Bernadette became sick and poor and was taken in by her two sisters. Bernadette later died in her sisters’ care.

St. Andrew

Our class is names after St. Andrew. Andrew and his brother Peter were both fishermen and they loved Jesus. After Jesus died his friends were sad. Andrew was the first follower of Jesus.
On the 30th November each year we remember St. Andrew and celebrate his life. St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and fishermen. He died on a diagonal cross and it is the cross of St. Andrew that is shown on the Scottish flag. The blue background is to represent the sky.
By St. Andrew class (2006-2007)
illustrated by Max R

St. Joseph

Joseph was chosen by God to be Jesus' Father on earth. he was married to Mary and they lived with Jesus in Nazareth. Joseph was a skilled carpenter and Jesus helped him with his work.
St. Joseph is the patron saint of Fathers and craftsmen. We celebrate St. Joseph on March 19th and May 1st.
By St. Joseph class (2006-2007).
illustrated by Kezzia P

St. Thomas More

Thomas More was born in Milk Street on February 7 in 1478. He became a barrister in 1501. Thomas More was beheaded on July 6, 1535.
The Catholic Church made him a saint in 1935.  St. Thomas More's feast day is June 22.
By St Thomas More class (2006-2007).

St. Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc was born on 6 January 1412 in France. When Joan was thirteen, she began to hear the voices of saints (Michael, Margaret and Catherine) in her head. They told her to advise France to fight Britain. During the war Joan was captured and sold to the British who thought she was a witch. She was chained at the neck, wrist and ankles and burnt on a stake. She was found innocent in 1456 and became a saint in 1920.
By K Young and F Fraser

St. Monica

St. Monica was born at Tagaste. Her parents brought her up as a Christian and later ordered her to marry a pagan, who had a violent temper. She attended church every day and sought to make her husband a better person. Her determination worked and she soon converted her husband to Christianity, where he learnt to control his temper.

St Monica had 3 children; Augustine, Navigius and Perpetua. She died at the age of 56 in Ostia. Her feast day is May 4 and she is patron saint for patience, wives and mothers

St. Augustine

Aurelius Augustine was born in North Africa in 354 AD to a pagan father and Christian mother (St. Monica). He was very clever and enjoyed studying. At 42, he became Bishop of Hippo. He wrote many papers, letters and sermons, before dying at aged 76.
By E Kennedy

St. Angela

St. Angela was born on 21st March 1474 at Desenzano (a small town on the southern shore of Lake Garda in Lombardy). Her son was Augustus of Hippo. She was a blind lady and her favourite quote was the 'Devil does not sleep but seeks out in a thousand ways'. St. Angela died on the 27th January 1540 and her body lies buried in the church of St. Afra.
by C. Afranie and A. Connary.

St. Catherine

St Catherine of Sienna was born in 1347. She came from a large family. Her mum Monna Lapa thought she was a difficult child and did not like Catherine's wish to become a nun. For 3 years she never left her room, except to go to mass and confession. Soon later, she was told by God to focus on her family. It is here that she began to nurse the sick and help the poor. In her later life she lived in Rome, where after a series of strokes died in 1380. Her body was buried in Minerva, but her head was removed and taken to Sienna. She became a saint 81 years after her death.
By J Thiruchelvem and S Ferguson

St. Martin de Porre

St. Martin de Porres was born in Lima and at 8 years old adopted by a Spanish nobleman, who provided him with an education. Although he originally trained as a barber (cirujano), Martin was also a pharmacist, doctor and surgeon. Martin began to devote himself to the poor. He was admitted as a lay helper in the Dominican monastery of the Most Holy Rosary. He entered the Dominican order 9 years later. Martin became a saint in 1962. His feast day is on November 3rd.
By J Kavanagh

St. John Bosco

St. John Bosco was born in 1815 and became an Italian Catholic priest in 1841. As he grew up he dreamt about becoming a man who would serve God, but his family neglected his dreams by laughing at him.  His father died when John Bosco was only 2 years old and his mother was a housekeeper.
St John Bosco cared for poor and unwanted children. He was particularly good at caring for boys and opened up a boarding house where he taught his apprentices tailoring, shoe making and other trades. St. John Bosco died in 1888 and his feast day is celebrated on January 31st.
by M Buxton

St. Maximillian Kolbe

St. Maximilian was born Raymond Kolbe in Poland, January 8, 1894. At a young age he contracted tuberculosis. Although he recovered, he remained frail all his life. He was sent to study in Rome and became a priest in 1918. In 1941, the Nazis imprisoned Father Maximilian in the Auschwitz death camp. He offered his life for another prisoner (a young husband and father) and was condemned to death. He was the last to die, enduring two weeks of starvation, thirst and neglect. This is why St. Maximilian Kolbe is the patron saint of families and prisoners.
 His feast day is August 14th.

St. Teresa

St. Teresa's real name was Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin and was born on January 2nd 1873 in Alencon, France. She was then baptised two days later on January 4th, which became the start of her religious life. When Teresa was only four years old, her mother Zelle Martin died, leaving her father and sisters to care for her.
At the unusual age of fifteen, Teresa Martin entered the convent of Liseux and became a nun with two of her sisters to give their whole lives to God. Eight years after joining the convent, Teresa sadly died (1896), at the age of twenty-four.
By C. McCarthy and M. Haskins.