Three Saints with Sad Stories

Like most Catholics I love reading the lives of the saints. I have read about many of our heavenly friends over the years. Yet, there are three of these  holy people whose stories stand out in my mind because of the pain they suffered while they lived. It is comforting to know that they now rest on the loving bosom of God.

The Death of Germain Cousin by Alexandre Grellet

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1. St. Germaine Cousin - Patron Saint of abused children. She was a young shepherd girl who was abused and neglected by her heartless and cruel stepmother.

Blessed Margaret of Costello

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2. Blessed Margaret of Costello She should be if she isn't already, the patron saint of the pro-life movement. She was "born a hunchback, dwarf, blind, and lame, her family was ashamed of her and kept her hidden in virtual imprisonment for nine years in a tiny cells attached to a forest church".

Charles de Foucauld

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3. Charles de Foucauld (Brother Charles of Jesus He was a hermit who was killed in Algeria. What makes his story sad was that he could not attract one follower while he was alive, to join him in God's work. The following is from "No Stranger to Violence: No Stranger to Love" by Boniface Hanley, OFM.

Since his day sin Nazareth, Charles de Foucauld had sensed that he would die a violent death. This became a strange consolation to him. He bore the disappointment of never attracting any followers by feeling that in death his life would make some sense to others and attract them to follow the path he had marked. He drew great strength from the words of Christ: "Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit." Indeed the scripture quotation could be an epitaph for Charles de Foucauld. When he died he had not one single follower....