Do you know of a saint or saints who were not a religious or priest?

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BarbaraTherese

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I am looking for saints who were lay people. My research to date on the internet seems to indicate there is no site that classifies such saints under that one laity group heading:

If you know of one, can you answer any of these questions please:


  1. *]Name of saint
    *]Please write a brief biography
    *]If possible, title and details of a book about the life of the saint
    *]Link to a site that gives a biography of the saint
    *]Do you know of a book that gives biographies of saints who were neither religious nor priests.
    Thanks heaps…Barb:)
 
Saint Dymphna

Her mother died. Her father searched for a new wife and couldn’t find one. He saw that Dymphna was as beautiful as her mom and tried to have relations with her. Being a devout Christian, she fled with a priest. When her father found her and the priest, they were killed.

saints.sqpn.com/saintd01.htm
 
Thank you very much to all who have contributed. I started the thread searching for information for an OP in another thread. If you would like to have a look at the thread Go to HERE

Very grateful:thumbsup: and thank you all heaps…Barb:)
 
I did wish to note this, Barb.

Considering the fact that men and women are often busy, raising their family,
and have neither the funds, nor the time, to begin the process that is involved in raising a
cause for sainthood, it’s understandable that most saints are from the vowed life.

In the U.S., the cause is being forwarded, for Pierre Toussaint, a former slave who
cared for the family, to which he had once been enslaved, when the father of that family died.

oremosjuntos.com/SantoralLatino/Venerable_Pierre_Toussaint1.jpg

Pierre became a hairdresser to the financially favored, in Manhatten, and cared for
Irish orphans, and he helped raise funds to build the original St. Patrick’s Cathedral, on Mulberry St. in New York City.
[When he came to the door of the catheral, for the first Mass to be celebrated there,
he was turned away - him not being recognized as one who helped gather funds for
the Cathedral’s construction.]

He and his wife were childless, but Pierre cared for Irish orphaned children, among others. This man was a saint, and people are just waiting for his cause to move further forward. He was declared “Venerable” in 1996.

Cardinal O’Connor, the then Cardinal Archbisop of the New York Archdiocese,
really got behind the movement to have Venerable Pierre Toussaint considered for canonization.

I do find it endearing - that a Cardinal Prince of the Church, who’s ancestors were Irish, was the prelate who saw the sancity, in the life of the Venerable Pierre Toussaint.

bcimall.org/calendar/franuniv/pierre_toussaint.htm

reen12
 
Hi Barb. St. Gemma Galgani. She wished to join the Passionists during her life, but I believe she was prevented by ill health. She did become a Passionist Lay Sister.

Here the link to the site.

stgemma.com/

You could count also, the very young saints… such as St. Maria Goretti, St. Dominic Savio, Blesseds Francisco and Jacinta Marto as Lay Saints. True, they may have entered religious life… had they lived long enough to do so, but as they died young… they are technically Lay Saints. God bless.
 
Well one immediately spring to mind, but that may be because I have her on my mind a lot of late:
  1. Saint Maria Goretti
  2. The little girl who said no to her neighbour’s lustful advances as what she knew was wrong, and told him that she forgave him even as he murdered her. At 11 years old she is now the youngest officially recognised saint.
  3. I don’t have a book to hand, but I do have a website:
  4. mariagoretti.org/mariabio.htm
  5. I know of no such book, perhaps this post could be the start of your research into publishing one - a ray of hope for us laiety 🙂
Hope that helps,
 
Thank you very much all…all contributions are most helpful indeed all those already made or will be made! When asked if I knew of saints who were lay people, and though I knew we had many indeed, my mind just went blank …not unusual mind you!:o

Thanks heaps again all…Barb:)
 
MarieVeronica said:
Barb, check out this link too… when you get a chance. It’s for a book about married saints. There is a short list of them… on the page. 🙂

MV

albahouse.org/Married.htm
Click to expand...
Thanks heaps, MV…some great information coming out of this thread through Posters sharing. It is great to know that we do indeed have so many lay saints and even books about them…I can hear the dollars running out the purse - and soon!👍 I think we really need to investigate these lives and role models and evolve a spirituality for lay people, including those who may suffer some form of disability or illness. We used to call the latter “The Apostolate of The Sick” and back pre V2 it was regarded as a very important indeed apostolate or ministry (I really prefer “apostolate”) in the life of The Church and many years since I have heard even a squeak about such personally. The disabled and those ill are more looked upon as the point of focus for our Charity (and I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense) and not as having been given by God a very real and important ministry in the life of The Church and The Mystical Body…a whole spirituality of its own could be built around this Apostolate of The Sick and those disabled and ill, who are marked in a unique and special human way with The Passion and Cross of Christ.

Thanks again, MV…and to all who have taken time and effort to post and share…Barb:)
 
i have been collecting saint’s biographies in the link in my sig.
while there are many religious saints there, there are also many non-religious saints.
 
chewchoo said:
i have been collecting saint’s biographies in the link in my sig.
while there are many religious saints there, there are also many non-religious saints.
Click to expand...
Excellent! Thank you very much for posting, Chewchoo!..Barb:)
PS I have not looked at the link just yet, but am hoping non religious, priests etc. might be highlighted. I came across heaps of lists of saints on the internet, without a site that mentioned their state in life, meaning I had to go through the whole list and so many it would be almost a lifetime’s work I think,which is not meant to be a criticism at all for anyone or any site - and certainly not you, Chewchoo, but a hint or suggestion if stating state in life is a feasible possibility for the future - e.g. St Thomas More - married, martyr…St. Catherine of Siena - single state, Third Order Dominican…and so on and so forth.

Edit…just accessed the link on your signature and had a quick look, Chewchoo…great thread and one to go into the Favourites or Bookmarks!👍
 
BarbaraTherese said:
Excellent! Thank you very much for posting, Chewchoo!..Barb:)
PS I have not looked at the link just yet, but am hoping non religious, priests etc. might be highlighted. I came across heaps of lists of saints on the internet, without a site that mentioned their state in life, meaning I had to go through the whole list and so many it would be almost a lifetime’s work I think,which is not meant to be a criticism at all for anyone or any site - and certainly not you, Chewchoo, but a hint or suggestion if stating state in life is a feasible possibility for the future - e.g. St Thomas More - married, martyr…St. Catherine of Siena - single state, Third Order Dominican…and so on and so forth.

Edit…just accessed the link on your signature and had a quick look, Chewchoo…great thread and one to go into the Favourites or Bookmarks!👍
Click to expand...
i’ll try to add a static or two in future postings
a handful of entries do say widow or martyr or priest, etc. but you have to look thru a lot of posts to find them right now.
 
chewchoo said:
i’ll try to add a static or two in future postings
a handful of entries do say widow or martyr or priest, etc. but you have to look thru a lot of posts to find them right now.
Click to expand...
…👍 …Thank you, Chewchoo - when I saw how many saints I saw on various different saint sites, and I knew I did not see all them by far, I realized that looking for saints who were lay people was surely the needle in the haystack challenge as I would have to access every link and read their story …one site, the list under A alone was enough to discourage me…perhaps these classifications may come into the picture on sites at some future point which would be helpful…but putting in a thread here has solved much I think towards compiling the start anyway of a list of saints who were lay people and their stories.
Your thread is excellent and I have made a note of it:thumbsup: …and this thread link too…Barb:)
 
Not too original, but Mary, St. Joseph, St Anne (May’s Mother right?) St. Elizabeth (Mary’s cousin right? and mother of St. John) Joan of Arc. And that’s all I got. 🙂
 
MCMcG12 said:
Not too original, but Mary, St. Joseph, St Anne (May’s Mother right?) St. Elizabeth (Mary’s cousin right? and mother of St. John) Joan of Arc. And that’s all I got. 🙂
Click to expand...
Hi again MCMcG12…Good to see you on the Board again:) …Hope you are starting to find a footing in CAF and again that it will be a totally rewarding, educational and even growth experience for you.👍 As with The Church Universal still, we come in all ‘shapes and sizes’ dispositions and temperaments …and right from the start when Jesus chose the first, we were a colourful lot and a motely sort of crew. Even unlikely in some instances - surprising. We tended to be more a simple lot than noted to be of any sort of great social importance, even spiritual and intellectual attainment…and right from the start there were differences of opinions, even hearty, heated argument and argumentatives. As I said a most colourful crew indeed…and we still are. In our very early days (early Christiantiy) it was remarked with awe “see how they love one another” which I think is an observation from the Acts of TheApostles and what others were saying about the Christians who then often shared a life in common and material goods as well and while retaining lay status, marriage and children etc. etc. one’s workplace occupation. The monastic movement did not begin its course as we now know it until the 300’s I think. Right from the start however we did have a priesthood and bishops, deacons…although I think back then these could be married. I may be wrong in this though. There were back then however virgins who chose to keep their virginity and not marry. Among all these, we have saints and martyrs.

Jesus of course had been a carpenter probably with his foster father, Joseph, until he left home to begin his public ministry and as a more or less wandering, without daytime employment. preacher and teacher. They relied more or less on donations and the more wealthyoften women who followed Jesus for sustenance and material needs. Peter lived with his wife in Capernaum (a very busy city of much trade and comings and goings for trading purposes) where Jesus later resided as base too, and it is thought probably with Peter.
If any posters can correct me on any of the above, or fill in more facts, thoughts etc…much appreciated.

Every contribution to this thread is helpful, small or great…afterthoughts and few more lay people saints are welcome too…Rest easy on that score…Happy CAF-ing at all times…Blessings and my regards…Barb:)
 
BarbaraTherese said:
I am looking for saints who were lay people. My research to date on the internet seems to indicate there is no site that classifies such saints under that one laity group heading:

If you know of one, can you answer any of these questions please:

    • Name of saint
    • Please write a brief biography
    • If possible, title and details of a book about the life of the saint
    • Link to a site that gives a biography of the saint
    • Do you know of a book that gives biographies of saints who were neither religious nor priests.
      Thanks heaps…Barb:)
Click to expand...

  1. Just a few:​

    • Anne Line
    • Margaret Clitherow
    • Dominic Savio
    • Edward the Confessor
    • The 22 Martyrs of Uganda
    • The Emperor Henry II
    • Constantine III, King & Martyr
    • Menas the Camel-driver
    • Moses the Black
    • Thomas More
    • Mary Magdalen
    • Elizabeth of Hungary
    • Margaret of Scotland
    • St. Hedwig
    • St. Homobonus
    • Sergius & Bacchus
    • Kennocha (she is sometimes known as Enoch)
    • Roch
    • Ponticus & Blandina (martyrs)
    • etc.
    • Pelagius (martyr)
    • Pancras
    • etc…
      They do exist - ideally, one should a woman, a martyr, or an adolescent (like Pelagius or Ponticus).
    HTH 🙂
 
Thanks heaps, Michael, for your contribution also! I know we have literally hundreds of saints who were lay people. Unfortunately all the sites I accessed had, most of them, literally hundreds and hundreds of saints…but no classification such as virgin and religious, martyr and priest, virgin and third order lay woman, wife and mother, single female, child, adolscent martyr…etc. etc. - something akin to this after their name would be helpful and just might be done hopefully at some future date at least on some sites…I hope. They may even exist already - just that I have never come across them.

Thanks again…all helps!..Barb:)
 
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