Kids love saint stories!
Children may look up to sports figures, admiring their skill and talent, being entertained by watching those who are at the top of their game. Saints are the same, but they are examples to show us how to live our best spiritual life. No matter their story, all saints are relatable because they are just people like us. They lived in the same world we do; they did incredible things without any superpower except grace.
Children love stories and some of the best true-life stories are provided by the saints. Share these saints, and more, with your children to both entertain and inspire them.
Blessed Carlo Acutis
Carlo Acutis is a modern-day saint. Often pictured in jeans and a polo shirt, he is immediately relatable to today’s youth because he looks like today’s youth. He loved God, praying the rosary, and going to mass. He even got his whole family attending daily mass with him.
Carlo also loved technology and video games! I mean, what’s more relatable to today’s kids than video games? Even though he loved his Playstation, he restricted his playing time as a spiritual discipline. He was very skilled in programming and used his gift to create a website dedicated to sharing stories of Eucharistic miracles. Carlo was also noted to be a defender of children who were getting teased at school.
Carlo Acutis died in 2006 of leukemia at the age of 15 and was beatified on October 10, 2020. He is the patron saint of computer programmers and youth.
Saint Michael the Archangel
If your kids love superheroes, they will love learning about Saint Michael the Archangel. St. Michael is typically depicted with a sword and often he is striking down Satan. As a defender of the Church, St. Michael defeated Lucifer and all the other fallen angels in an epic battle, banishing them from Heaven and he continues to protect the Church and its people. His story is like a real-life Marvel Movie. St. Michael is the patron saint of soldiers, police, and doctors. If your child is drawn to this saint, teach him or her this beautiful prayer:
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
If your child can’t quite relate to the monumental battles of St. Michael, may I introduce you to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and her Little Way? As a child Saint Thérèse dreamed of being a martyr for the Church. She desperately wanted to do big things for God. But God had other plans for her, and she found herself a nun in a quiet convent, no martyrdom to be seen.
After a battle with scrupulosity, Thérèse discovered that beating herself up about her sins was not the way to be close to God, it was quite the opposite, in fact. The Little Way, she figured, was the quickest way to Heaven - to love God as a child does, to trust that He loves us as a parent loves a child and to do small things with great love for Him. She not longer berated herself for things like falling asleep during prayer. She instead remained confident that God loved her as much when she was sleeping as well as when she was awake. She also offered up her small sufferings, like the annoying things the sisters in the convent did, instead of lashing out and losing her temper.
St. Thérèse’s Little Way of holiness is so powerful that not only was she canonized as a Saint, she was also named a Doctor of the Church.
Saint Nicholas
Our children probably know who Santa Claus is, but do they know who Saint Nicholas is?
A pious child in Greece, his parents tragically died when he was still young. This left him with a considerable inheritance. He soon learned of a man in his town who had lost all his money, leaving his 3 grown daughters in a dangerous situation. Unable to support his daughters, the man hoped to find husbands to take care of them, but without a dowry, it would be impossible. St. Nicholas supplied 3 separate dowries on 3 separate occasions. He did this anonymously by tossing the money into an open window at the man’s house. This is where the legend of Santa Claus originated.
His feast day is December 6th and is celebrated by children putting their shoes outside their bedroom door and waking the next morning to find them filled with treats from St. Nick! St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people, and students.
For more entertaining and inspiring stories of Saints, check out this episode of Brother Franics, as well as the Our Heavenly Friends flash cards series.
When she’s not writing about faith, Anne Metz works for Growing Catholics, whose mission is to bring Scripture to all, especially tweens and teens.
