Holy students and teachers offer intercession during back-to-school days
As schools around the Archdiocese of St. Louis kick off the new school year this week and next, here are five saints that students, parents and teachers can turn to for help.
St. Rose Philippine Duchesne
A school founded by St. Rose Philippine Duchesne is still educating children in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Rose Philippine Duchesne was born in 1769 in France. She entered the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1804, but she had a long-held desire to go to the Louisiana territory to evangelize through schools.
In 1818, her dreams were realized, and she accepted Bishop William DuBourg’s invitation to come to the diocese and establish schools for Native American and French children. Rose Philippine Duchesne and her companions made their home in St. Charles and opened the Academy of the Sacred Heart, the first Catholic school in what is now the Archdiocese of St. Louis and the first free school west of the Mississippi. By 1828, they had opened six schools for girls in Missouri and Louisiana.
In 1841, she and three other sisters went to Sugar Creek, Kansas, to establish a school for Potawatomi girls. Her health only allowed her to stay for a year, but she earned a name meaning “woman who prays always” from members of the Potawatomi tribe. She died back in St. Charles in 1852 and was canonized in 1988. She is the patron saint of perseverance amid adversity, as well as one of the patrons of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
St. Joseph of Cupertino
St. Joseph of Cupertino is proof that academic achievement is not a prerequisite for holiness. Joseph was born in 1603 in Cupertino, a small town in southern Italy. His father died before his birth, and his mother treated him harshly. He struggled greatly in school and also failed in an attempt to learn the shoemaking trade. He tried to enter the Franciscan order, but they rejected him; he joined the Capuchin monks, but they dismissed him after just eight months.
Finally, he found a place as a servant at a Franciscan friary, where he devoted himself to God and humble work. The Franciscans eventually allowed him to begin studies for the priesthood, but Joseph still struggled academically. One story recounts that when Joseph was preparing for an exam, he was nervous because he could only remember a small portion of the material. He prayed that that portion would be on the exam, and it was. After his ordination, he became known as the “Flying Friar” because he would miraculously levitate while celebrating Mass or speaking about Jesus.
He was canonized in 1767 and is known as the patron saint of test-takers and those with learning disabilities.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was both a homeschooling mother and the founder of Catholic schools and a religious order. Elizabeth, a convert to Catholicism, became the first U.S.-born saint to be canonized. She was born in New York City in 1774. She and her husband had five children, whom she taught at home. After her husband died, Elizabeth and her children moved to Maryland, where she opened a Catholic school to support her family.
As women came to help with the school, Elizabeth founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, the first religious order founded in the U.S. While continuing to raise her children, Elizabeth and her community dedicated themselves to caring for poor children in the community, opening schools, orphanages and hospitals. She died of tuberculosis at age 46 and was canonized in 1975.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is the patron saint of Catholic schools.
St. Charles Borromeo and St. Robert Bellarmine
St. Charles Borromeo and St. Robert Bellarmine were scholars and priests who played important roles in the reforms of the Church during the 16th century. St. Charles Borromeo was highly educated, receiving degrees in both civil and canon law before being ordained a priest at age 25 and a bishop at age 27. Shortly after, he was invited to participate in the Council of Trent, which was a response to the Protestant Reformation. As Archbishop of Milan, he dedicated himself to continued reform of the Church and sharing the Church’s true beliefs. He formed a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine for catechists, a basis for our modern Parish Schools of Religion, and helped found seminaries, schools and colleges.
St. Robert Bellarmine, a Jesuit and cardinal, taught theology at the University of Louvain in Belgium and the Roman College. He wrote a three-volume defense of the Catholic faith, “Disputations on the Controversies,” and served as the chair of “controversial theology” at the Roman College, where he specialized in theological disputes dividing Christians. He also served on commissions revising the Latin Bible and preparing a new edition of the Greek Bible, and he was a theological advisor to three popes.
St. Charles Borromeo and St. Robert Bellarmine are the patron saints of catechists for their role in spreading the truths of the faith during a tumultuous time.
Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati lived a holy life as a typical 20th-century university student. Pier Giorgio was born in Turin, Italy, in 1901. He attended both a state school and a private Jesuit school through adolescence and had to repeat a year of Latin on two occasions after failing exams. After graduating from high school, he enrolled in the School of Industrial Mechanical Engineering at the Royal Polytechnic of Turin, specializing in mining engineering. At that time, miners experienced poor working conditions, and Pier Giorgio wanted to use his degree to help change that.
As a college student, Pier Giorgio was a member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, where he dedicated much of his spare time to serving those in need. He also took part in Catholic political action groups, including demonstrations in Rome with the Young Catholic Workers Congress. But he also made time for sports, especially mountain climbing, and enjoyed theater, museums and music with friends. Just a couple of credits shy of earning his university degree, Pier Giorgio contracted poliomyelitis and died at age 24.
Pier Giorgio Frassati was beatified in 1990, and in April 2024, the prefect for the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints said his canonization “looks to be possible for the next jubilee year” in 2025.
A student’s prayer
Come, Holy Spirit, Divine Creator, true source of light and fountain of wisdom! Pour forth your brilliance upon my dense intellect, dissipate the darkness which covers me, that of sin and of ignorance. Grant me a penetrating mind to understand, a retentive memory, method and ease in learning, the lucidity to comprehend, and abundant grace in expressing myself. Guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to successful completion. This I ask through Jesus Christ, true God and true man, living and reigning with You and the Father, forever and ever
Amen.
—St. Thomas Aquinas
