All Saints Day

Happy All Saints Day! I really haven't posted anything in quite some time, so I thought that today was a wonderful day to share something new. So, in the spirit of honoring the Saints, this post will explore the Saints who started religious Orders, and what those Orders look like today.

We'll start off with St. Benedict, who was born in Italy, in 480. He founded an order of monks, the Benedictines, in 529, and they've grown to include women religious as well.

Some six hundred years after St. Benedict came another holy founder, St. Norbert.

He, obviously, founded the Norbertines, of which I have already posted on. He's a very fascinating Saint, with a "St. Paul-esque" conversion, complete with lightning and falling off of his horse. Very dramatic, indeed. Here are the Norbertines today, Priests and Sisters:

Then, of course, there is St. Francis, a very splendid little saint. 

He founded the Franciscans the 1200's. While many of the Franciscans have become a little liberal, there are quite a few that still adhere to St. Francis' beautiful rule of extreme poverty and simply living the Gospel.

St. Francis' first female follower (say that five times fast...), was St. Clare who founded, in conjunction with St. Francis, the Poor Clares. 

St. Clare has such a beautiful love story; Stealing away from her family's castle in the middle of the night so as to escape, for a time, their wrath at the thought of this gorgeous, lively girl becoming a Bride of Christ. Ahh, the romance...

 

 

 

When St. Francis was establishing his Order in Italy, St. Dominic, a former Norbertine, was establishing his new Order in Spain. 

 

The Dominicans (like the Norbertines, Franciscans, and Benedictines), have Priests, and Contemplative and Active Sisters.

St. Jane de Chantal founded the Visitation Sisters in about 1610.

And, as this post is getting rather long, I will end with Blessed Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity:

I know these are only the very few, and generally more well known, Saints and Orders that exist, so if you have a favorite, or one I forgot to add, please let me know. 

Have a happy feast day!

Pax Christi,

Lindsay Frances