St. Francis de Sales was a bishop, preacher and spiritual guide known for his gentleness and his conviction that holiness is meant for everyone, not only priests and religious. His book <i>Introduction to the Devout Life</i> is still one of the most widely read Catholic classics. He is a Doctor of the Church and the patron saint of writers and journalists.

St. John Neumann was a Bohemian immigrant who became a missionary priest on the American frontier and then the fourth bishop of Philadelphia. He built churches and schools at a remarkable pace and is remembered as a founder of the diocesan Catholic school system in the United States. He is the patron of immigrants and of Catholic education.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was a New York wife, mother and widow who became a Catholic, founded the first community of religious sisters in the United States and opened a school that helped begin American Catholic education. She was the first person born in the United States to be canonized, and she is the patron of Catholic schools and of widows.

St. John of the Cross was a Spanish Carmelite friar, a reformer alongside St. Teresa of Ávila and one of the greatest poets in the Spanish language. His writings on the "dark night" of the soul have guided countless people through times of spiritual dryness. He is a Doctor of the Church and the patron of mystics and poets.

St. Barbara is one of the most popular saints of the early Church, honored for centuries by miners, firefighters, soldiers and anyone who works near fire and sudden danger. Her story comes to us through ancient legend, but her courage in the face of death has made her a beloved patron and one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

St. Gertrude the Great was a German nun and mystic of the thirteenth century whose writings on the love of Christ's Heart are still read today. Catholics especially remember her in November, the month of the holy souls, because of the prayer for the souls in purgatory that tradition links with her name.

St. Albert the Great was a Dominican friar, bishop and teacher who studied everything from theology to plants, stars and minerals. His learning was so wide that his own age called him the "Universal Doctor." The Church honors him as a Doctor of the Church and as the patron saint of scientists and students.

St. Juan Diego was an Indigenous farmer to whom the Virgin Mary appeared on the hill of Tepeyac, near Mexico City, in December 1531. Through his humble obedience the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe came to the Church. He is honored as a patron of Indigenous peoples and the first Indigenous saint of the Americas.

St. Martin de Porres swept floors, cut hair and nursed the sick in a Dominican priory in Lima, Peru. Born poor and of mixed race at a time when that closed nearly every door, he became one of the most loved saints of the Americas. The Church honors him as a patron of racial harmony, barbers and all who care for the sick.

The saints are our friends and intercessors in heaven, and the angels are God's messengers and our guardians. This catalog lists every saint, angel, and Marian title that appears in the prayers on Daily Catholic Prayers, in alphabetical order, with the feast day kept by the Church. Each profile gives a short biography, the saint's traditional patronages, and links to every related prayer on the site. Feast days follow the current General Roman Calendar where a saint appears o

Feast day: August 20 (Memorial of St. Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church) Patron of: Beekeepers and the Cistercian Order. About St. Bernard of Clairvaux St. Bernard was born in 1090 into a noble family in Burgundy, France. At about twenty-two he entered the struggling monastery of Cîteaux, the first house of the strict reformed Benedictines later called Cistercians, and he brought about thirty relatives and friends with him, including several of his brothers. In 1115 he

Feast day: August 7 (optional memorial) Patron of: Job seekers, the unemployed, and workers. About St. Cajetan St. Cajetan, in Italian Gaetano dei Conti di Thiene, was born in 1480 in Vicenza, in northern Italy. He earned a doctorate in law at Padua and served in the papal court in Rome, but he was drawn to a deeper life and was ordained a priest in 1516. He joined the Oratory of Divine Love, a brotherhood of priests and laypeople devoted to prayer and to serving the sick and

Feast day: July 3 (Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle) Patron of: India, architects and builders, and those who struggle with doubt. About St. Thomas the Apostle St. Thomas, also called Didymus, meaning "the Twin," was one of the Twelve. He is remembered above all for the week after Easter. He had not been with the other apostles when the risen Jesus first appeared, and he declared that unless he could see the wounds and put his hand into His side, he would not believe. Eight days

Feast day: June 21 (Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious) Patron of: Young people, students, and Christian youth. About St. Aloysius Gonzaga St. Aloysius Gonzaga was born in 1568 in Castiglione, in northern Italy, the eldest son of a powerful noble family. His father intended him for a military career and trained him from boyhood, but Aloysius was drawn early to prayer and made a private vow of chastity as a child. He served as a page at the courts of Florence and Madr

Feast day: June 19 (no longer on the General Roman Calendar; commemorated in the Roman Martyrology) Patron of: The city of Milan. About Sts. Gervase and Protase Sts. Gervase and Protase, also called Gervasius and Protasius, were early martyrs of Milan, traditionally said to be twin brothers. Almost nothing certain is known of their lives, but the discovery of their relics is one of the best documented events of the fourth-century Church. In the year 386, St. Ambrose, bishop o

Feast day: June 11 (Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle) Patron of: Cyprus. About St. Barnabas St. Barnabas was a Levite from Cyprus named Joseph, whom the apostles nicknamed Barnabas, "son of encouragement." The Acts of the Apostles introduces him selling a field and laying the money at the apostles' feet, and it calls him "a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." Although he was not one of the Twelve, the Church honors him with the title of apostle. When the newl

Feast day: May 22 (optional memorial) Patron of: Impossible causes, difficult marriages, and abused wives. About St. Rita of Cascia St. Rita was born around 1381 near Cascia in the mountains of Umbria, Italy. She wished to become a nun, but her parents arranged her marriage to Paolo Mancini, a man known for his violent temper. For some eighteen years Rita remained faithful, patient, and prayerful, and tradition holds that her husband was gradually changed by her gentleness. H

Feast day: May 14 (Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle) Patron of: No widely recognized patronage. About St. Matthias the Apostle St. Matthias is the apostle chosen to take the place of Judas Iscariot. The first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles tells how, in the days between the Ascension and Pentecost, St. Peter stood up among about one hundred and twenty believers and explained that someone must be chosen to be a witness to the Resurrection with the Eleven. He had to be a man

Feast day: April 30 (optional memorial) Patron of: No widely recognized patronage; remembered especially for the feast of the Rosary. About Pope St. Pius V Michele Ghislieri was born in 1504 in Bosco, in northern Italy, to a poor family, and worked as a shepherd before joining the Dominicans at fourteen. He became a respected teacher of theology, a bishop, and a cardinal, known for his austerity and strict devotion to duty. In 1566 he was elected pope and took the name Pius V

Feast day: April 25 (Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist) Patron of: Venice and notaries. About St. Mark the Evangelist St. Mark, called John Mark in the Acts of the Apostles, wrote the second and shortest Gospel. His mother's house in Jerusalem was a gathering place for the first Christians, and it was there that St. Peter went after an angel freed him from prison. Mark was a cousin of St. Barnabas and set out with Barnabas and Paul on their first missionary journey, but he turned