Saints in heaven have left behind a legacy of wisdom in words. This is in addition to the example of their lives. By living by their words, we can hope to join them someday. I’m currently working on a project that has me meeting or re-meeting some of these pithy sayings. I share with you here a short collection of ones I found most delightful.
First, let me remind you that I once researched the dying words of saints. These were published in the book I Am Going . . . Reflections on the Last Words of the Saints, which is available on Amazon (clicking on the word “Amazon” will take you there) and from St. Mary’s Press.
That book has the words of 89 canonized saints, a brief bio for each, and a reflection on the words. A beautiful blackline drawing accompanies 14 of the saints.
Now for your enjoyment, enlightenment, and inspiration some saintly quotations . . .
ABOUT BEING GOOD
“No one heals himself by wounding another.” ~ St. Ambrose
“Nothing appeases an enraged elephant so much as the sight of a little lamb.” ~ St. Francis de Sales
“Don’t waste your suffering.” ~ Saint Pope John Paul lI
“Feeding the hungry is a greater work than raising the dead.” ~ Saint John Chrysostom
“We shall be called to account not only for every idle word, but also for every idle silence.” ~ Saint Ambrose
“Our business is to gain heaven, everything else is a sheer waste of time.” ~ Saint Vincent de Paul
“Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.” ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo
“It is by design that Jesus hid the last day from us—so that we’d be on the lookout for him every day of our lives.” ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo
ABOUT CHRISTIAN LIFE
“God thirsts to be thirsted for.” ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo
“When you approach the tabernacle, remember that he has been waiting for you for twenty centuries.” ~ Saint Josemaria Escriva
“The earth is pregnant with God.” ~ Saint Angela of Foligno
“We must empty purgatory by our prayers.” Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
“Be merry, really merry. The life of a true Christian should be a perpetual jubilee, a prelude to the festivals of eternity.” ~ Saint Theophane Venard
“From the moment of her fiat, Mary began to carry all of us in her womb.” ~ Saint Adrian
“When you are in the kitchen, God walks amid the pots and pans.” ~ Teresa of Avila
“Don’t be discouraged because you are discouraged.” ~ St. Francis de Salles
ABOUT ACTING
“We cannot go to heaven in featherbeds.” ~ Saint Thomas More
“Hell is full of the talented, but Heaven of the energetic.” ~ Saint Jane Francis de Chantal
“One who makes no mistakes, makes nothing.” ~ Saint Teresa of Avila
“Better mistakes than paralysis.” ~ Saint Julie Billiart
“The future starts today, not tomorrow.” ~ Saint Pope John Paul II
“Be ever engaged, so that whenever the devil calls he may find you occupied.” ~ St. Jerome
“It can only be disgraceful for some Christians to snore while other Christians are in peril.” ~ Saint Thomas More
• Do you have a favorite quotation from a Saint? You might add it in a comment.
This video presents the Litany of Saints in Latin but so you can read it. A plus is that a picture accompanies each petition so you can visualize the one you are asking, “Pray for us.”
