Saint John The Baptist
Feast days: June 24 and August 29
At a prayer meeting in 1988, the Brothers felt like God was inviting us to establish John the Baptist as their principal patron.
Our patron reveals to us the true life of a man who is consecrated for prophetic union. From an early age, he accepted the call that God had for him. As far as we can tell, his fiat was as total as a man’s can be. He is totally set apart for Jesus, not for himself. He obediently accepts all the rigors and hardships of his life and call. He truly was a great prophet in the spirit of the great Elijah. He was bold and steadfast in proclaiming the word that was given to him. He did not soften his message to be liked. He did not shy away from the calling– calling the religious leaders and royal leaders to the same repentance he preached to all.
Lord, help us to exhibit humility, obedience, and an openness to hearing your word as John the Baptist did. By his prayers, help us bear witness to the truth that Jesus alone is enough.
“He must increase, I must decrease.” (John 3:30)
Saint Andre Bessette
Feast day: January 6
Born in 1845 and died in 1937, Br. Andre is a model of consecrated life as a brother. In 1999 we established the humble porter as a second patron of our Brotherhood, after St. John the Baptist.
The doorkeeper at the College of Notre Dame in Montreal was a renowned healer. Throughout his 65 years as a religious, Brother Andre fostered great devotion to St. Joseph among the sick and afflicted. He was a man of prayer and a friend of the poor.
Many people in distress traveled great distances to visit him. He pointed them towards deeper faith in God, recourse to prayer and the sacraments, and a firm trust in St. Joseph’s intercession. The astonishing number of discarded crutches and canes that still adorn the shrine today attest to the healing these pilgrims received – both in body and soul.
The people of God found hope through St. Andre in their “illness or anguish.” By this humble brother’s intercession may we become as spiritually fruitful in our generation as he was in his.
Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati
Patron of our missions
Feast day: July 4
I consider Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati my friend.
I was introduced to him my first year at FSU when my faith began to mature. We all hope to have good friends, especially during our college years. Pier Giorgio was the first in my “friend group” who was a saint.
It was easy to be his friend. He loved adventure and so do I. He loved to laugh so hard, he’d have to gasp for air– that happens to me, too! He had a deep experience of the Eucharist that gave him the desire to attend daily Mass. Yep! Same with me.
He had a love for the poor and those who didn’t matter to the society. In fact, Pier Giorgio died because he contracted polio from someone he was giving medication to in Turin. This was the radical witness of love for God and love for neighbor that stirred my heart and gave me courage to follow Jesus wholeheartedly.
I engaged my faith in the beginning with Habitat for Humanity, working with foster kids, and visiting the elderly. He helped me inspire and connect faith with service. He once wrote, “Jesus comes to me every morning in Communion, and I return the visit by going to serve the poor.”
Humanly, he was funny, athletic, and had a deep love for family and friends– regardless of how dysfunctional they were! Spiritually, he encountered Jesus early in life and wanted to live out his faith in deed and truth (Cf 1 Jn:3:18). Faith was what motivated him to evangelize his friends by inviting them to attend Mass first before going hiking in the mountains!
The saints are not boring. They possess a depth that leaves you wanting to get closer to God and a joy to be fully alive as a human being.
This is one of many reasons why Pier Giorgio Frassati is the patron of our college outreaches. We want our students to see that the Lord can work deeply in the young who give Him permission to do so with His grace.
Let Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati become your friend this year as the Church raises him to become a saint in the Holy Year 2025.
Saint Joseph
Patron of the Universal Church and our outreach to men
Feast days: March 19 and May 1
Patron of the Universal Church and our outreach to men
St. Joseph was a regular guy that was hoping to have a regular marriage and a regular family. Instead he got a divine virgin birth, an immaculately conceived bride, visits from angels, gifts from the magi and fled to escape an angry king!
We Brothers are very much cut from the cloth of ordinary men. We are not famous or remarkably talented and yet God, like Joseph, has called us to an extraordinary mission.
This mission is to reach thousands of college students and young adults with His Love and the love of His Church. The full scope of this mission potentially reaches millions of young people through the ripple effects on others. Clearly this is impossible for ordinary men with ordinary resources alone.
To be an earthly father to Jesus and prepare Him for His mission was also beyond Joseph’s natural abilities. But grace builds on nature. And so Joseph embraced his mission to Jesus and the Holy family, trusting that if God called him, then he was indeed the right man for the job.
So to any of you out there who are in over your head, like me and the other Brothers, turn to St. Joseph and get some inspiration and help from the patron of “Regular Guys”.
St. Joseph pray for us!