I'm sure many Catholics are familiar with a terrific website called Saint Generator. It's a program that generates the name of a "Saint" who "chooses" to be your patron saint for the year. Some fellow Lay Dominicans suggested I try this out. (One lady actually chose St. Dominic as her 2014 Patron Saint!) I must confess I wasn't very happy with my initial result, so I went through the program ten additional times. Names included Saint Lucy, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and even Saint Francis. But then I thought, "I better research more on the first Saint name that was picked for me! Obviously that is my chosen Patron Saint. I'd be cheating if I used the program over and over to pick who I wanted."
Well, my first Saint "chosen" for me was someone I'd never heard of. A man who isn't even a Saint yet! His name is Blessed Anton Martin Slomsek. Here's a pic:
Blessed Anton was Bishop of the Diocese of Lavant, Austria. He lived from 1800-1862. He was known for his campaigns to improve Catholic education in Slovenia and wrote many children's textbooks. Also, he helped build many schools . Not only was he a gifted author, but he was well known for his preaching. He founded the St. Hermagoras Society which circulated inexpensive books in the native language, producing over 26 million books between 1852 and 1952. Much of the region's literacy can be attributed to Blessed Anton Martin Slomsek. Bl. John Paul II beatified Blessed Anton in 1999. His feast day is September 24th.
Kind of cool to have a Bishop as my 2014 Patron Saint! He fits quite well since he was a writer and large supporter of education and literacy.
Blessed Anton Martin Slomsek, Pray for Us!
-J.
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