Who's Your Favorite American or Canadian Saint or Blessed?

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Yes, we Americans are still hoping to annex Canada some day. 🙂 We tend to be fairly ignorant of things up north of us. The one saint of Montreal, I know, except I forgot his name. lol
 
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Fr Solanus has been called upon by quite me a bit to help 🙂 The more I learn about him the more I like him
 
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I will try and look these saints up to learn about them Father Ruggero. Thanks for mentioning them.
 
The only Canadian saint I know is St. Jean de Brebeuf, who is one of the patron saints of Canada. I think he was actually martyred on the US side though, in New York someplace. Dreadful story, worse than St. Isaac Jogues’.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
The only Canadian saint I know is St. Jean de Brebeuf, who is one of the patron saints of Canada. I think he was actually martyred on the US side though, in New York someplace. Dreadful story, worse than St. Isaac Jogues’.
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No. He was not. He was martyred in Ontario, north of Toronto. The three out of eight who were martyred in what is today territory of the United States are St. Isaac Jogues, Saint René Goupil and Saint Jean de la Lande.
 
Don_Ruggero said:
No. He was not. He was martyred in Ontario, north of Toronto. The three out of eight who were martyred in what is today territory of the United States are St. Isaac Jogues, Saint René Goupil and Saint Jean de la Lande.
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You are right, I think I confused it with St. Isaac Jogues who died on the New York side. Still, awful story.
 
Greenfields said:
Fr Solanus has been called upon by quite me a bit to help 🙂 The more I learn about him the more I like him
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I found out he initially didn’t want to join the Capuchins because he didn’t like the idea of having a beard. How ironic that now he is known for that long beard.
 
Since you included “Blessed” in your options, I’ll take it a step further and add some of my favorite “Venerables” and “Servants of God” (those whose cause for canonization have been approved and are moving along the investigation process):
  1. California’s own Venerable Bishop Alphonse Gallegos
  2. Servant of God Dorothy Day, from the U.S. (previously mentioned here)
  3. Servant of God Catherine de Hueck Doherty, of Canada
I also have a devotion to St. Andre Bessette of Canada (Brother Andre).
 
My favorite American or Canadian Venerable is Archbishop Sheen of course.
My favorite American or Canadian Servant of God is Rhoda Wise. I pray for her cause every day and say the novena to St. Therese that she promoted.
 
Then there is also St. Junipero Serra, the Spanish Franciscan Friar who founded the California Missions, recently canonized.

I’ve been learning about another early Western missionary, Servant of God Eusebio Kino, the Italian Jesuit missionary who founded missions in Arizona and Mexico even before St. Padre Serra.

And closer to our time, another favorite of mine is Servant of God Fr. Emil Kapaun, the heroic U.S. Army chaplain who died as a prisoner during the Korean War.
 
The war chaplain Servants of God like Fr. Kapaun and Fr. Capodanno are great, I hope they become saints. Also Fr. Flanigan who started Boys’ Town.

I also recently discovered Fr. Peyton, the “Rosary Priest”, who emigrated to US from Ireland. He is a Servant of God who is currently up for Venerable status (theologians have sent in the documents for review). He used to have these giant Rosary rallies in various countries funded partly with CIA money (about which I could not care less, I’d rather see the CIA fund Rosaries than revolutions). There are videos of him saying the Rosary on Youtube that I use to say mine sometimes. He also started the phrase “The Family That Prays Together Stays Together” which I heard constantly growing up.
 
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I am also following the causes of Venerable Henriette DeLille, who founded the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans, and Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, of the Sisters of Charity of New Jersey.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Servant of God is Rhoda Wise.
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We know about her thanks to Mother Angelica! Here in California, we have another lay woman who experienced mystical phenomena similar to Rhoda Wise, Servant of God Cora Evans, the L.D.S. convert to Catholicism who had private revelations.
 
I have been following the cause of Servant of God Fr. Demetrius Gallitzin.

He was a Russian prince and convert to Catholicism from Russian Orthodoxy (although his parents weren’t practicing).
He immigrated to the US and was ordained a priest. Because he had a diplomatic background, the Church wanted him to be a liaison between the Vatican and the brand new United States, but he asked for and was given permission to set up churches in western Pennsylvania (which was still frontier in those days).
 
I’ve heard of Cora Evans as well. So interesting that there were two US women who converted and seem to have had similar experiences.
 
I do not really have a favorite saint so to speak I honor them all, but I have a special place for the North American Martyrs.

I pray that someday the Venerable Archbishop Sheen, and Servant of God Father John Hardon honored as a saint.
 
St. Mother Katharine Drexel of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament did great work helping the poor and oppressed across the U.S. when she could have lived a life of ease as a wealthy heiress.

German-born St. Bishop John Neumann of Philadelphia reminds me of the good work done by those of German heritage, like myself, in establishing the Church in the U.S. during the later part of the 19th century.
 
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, as has been mentioned already. She is my patron saint for my middle name (Elizabeth), and I now work for the Catholic Schools office in our diocese, so I appreciate her story even more.

Blessed Stanley Rother, who was martyred in Guatemala during the Guatemalan Civil War. He has an impressive story too. Not so book smart in seminary, but he managed to learn the Mayan language of the people he served. He left Guatemala briefly during the Civil War, but returned, even though he knew his life was threatened, saying a shepherd cannot leave his sheep. He was killed a few months later. His body was brought back to Oklahoma, but his heart was buried in the Guatemalan community where he had served.
 
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