Sometime ago, a very dear friend called me at midnight crying hysterically. Her husband had died just about a year ago and on this particular night she was extremely upset because she had lost his wedding ring. Being brought up in the Catholic faith, we had a prayer for everything and everyone and I immediately told my Jewish friend to pray to St. Anthony, the patron Saint for lost articles. The simple prayer goes like this "Oh Saint Anthony please look around, something’s lost and cannot be found." She dismissed my support citing her Jewish faith as an impediment to success.

I told her I was quite certain  that interfaith rivalry would force St. Anthony to prove himself in an important matter like this. He might be too busy to help a Catholic, or even a Protestant, but he certainly would not dare fail a Jew. The loss of prestige would be far too important. I had faith that he would guide her.

Anyway, I started to think about all the different Saints I personally prayed to through the years, and told her that when she was ready to start dating again, that I had another prayer to offer — "St. Catherine, St. Catherine, oh help if you can, and pray that I soon will get me a man."

My friend chuckled when I told her all during high school we would chant this prayer while at Mass on Friday in the hope of getting a date on Saturday. I hate to tell you how many Saturday nights I spent alone during my high school days. St. Catherine was definitely a second stringer.

I then went on to offer some more of my Catholic theology. I told if indeed St. Anthony and St. Catherine did not do the job for which they were invoked, there was always St. Jude, the patron Saint of desperate cases..

The other day I was at a bar-b-que and a friend of mine is trying to sell her house. She was told by a "good" Catholic to bury a statue of St. Joseph in front of the house. However, one must remember that St. Joseph is to be buried upside down. Why? Beats the heck out of me. I had never heard that one before. However, since I first heard of this rather unique leap of faith, two others have said "It’s true. I know people who have sold their house within twenty four hours of burying an upside down St. Joseph." Realtors, take note!.

I decided to go a step further and "check out" some other Saints. What better way than to surf the INTERNET. A web site www.catholic.org was the way to go. They list hundreds and hundreds of Saints. They even list Saints who have lost their status such as St. Christopher and St. Philomena. (I have no idea if customer complaints played any role in the demotions.

I learned the Patron Saint of bankers is St. Matthew and St. Michael the Archangel is the Patron Saint for law enforcement. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patron Saint of the Americas. Even archers and solders have their own St. Sebastian while physicians and surgeons rely on St. Luke.

The blind have St. Lucy while booksellers, firefighters, printers, heart patients, hospitals, nurses, and the sick share St. John of God. Saint Martha is the Patron Saint of cooks. Do you think Martha Stewart’s mom had that in mind when she named her daughter Martha? Oh yes, one other Saint — St. Hilary is the patron Saint of snake bite victims. I am not going to touch that one.

How did I get the impetus to write about the saints? Why I prayed to St. Francis de Sales, the Patron Saint of journalists, of course. Hey, check it out there are more than 300 Saints listed from A o Z — that’s St. Aaron to St. Zoe.

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