“I’m brave and strong, Mama! Just like my saint!”
It was All Saints Day, and my family was getting ready to go to the parish costume party.
My daughters were putting the final touches on their costumes: St. Margaret of Scotland, the Blessed Mother, and Our Lady of Knock (same lady, different costume!).
My four-year-old was very excited to dress up like St. Margaret, who is not only a saint in heaven but also was a queen on earth.
After the party, I couldn’t stop thinking about my daughter's comment.
“Brave and strong.”
That’s what my daughter sees when she thinks of what it means to be a woman and a saint.
There’s a common misconception that to be a religious woman is to be quiet, weak, and inessential — basically a sidekick to the more important work the men are doing.
But if you immerse yourself in the lives of the saints, a different picture emerges. A picture of women who are brave, and strong, and rooted so firmly in Christ that nothing and no one can tear them from Him.
These are the stories that shaped me, growing up as a curious little bookworm whose home and school library were filled with books about the saints. The saints helped raise me, making me the person I am today.
What did their stories show me? That I could be a leader, and a great one. That I could face hard and scary challenges, and overcome them, just like the saints did.
The women saints we uphold and revere were strong and wise leaders, heroines in their own right.
There’s Joan of Arc, who led armies into battle and told them to “Hold high the cross, that I may see it above the flames.”
Catherine of Siena, who advised the pope himself, urging him to return to Rome because his people needed him.
Teresa of Avila, who traveled around Spain, reforming convents, speaking and writing, and spreading the Gospel of Jesus.
Clare of Assisi, who ran away from home when her parents wouldn’t let her follow God’s call, and defied the armed men of her family to stay true to what she knew she had to do.
Hildegard of Bingen, who served the Church as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and medical writer and practitioner — all while leading her order of nuns.
That’s not even the tip of the iceberg. We could go on all day, couldn’t we?
Every woman saint lived with a power and greatness we cannot comprehend — and that didn’t come from her own strength, but from God, in whom the saints knew that all things are possible.
This March 8 is International Women's Day, and the 2026 theme seems uniquely suited to our Catholic ethos: “Give To Gain.” What a beautifully Christian message.
The saints gave everything — often their very lives — to gain the crown of heaven. And they would be the first to tell you that it is in giving that we gain the most.
As I raise my own crew of little Catholic girls, the saints are the greatest examples I can give them of how to live their vocations with strength and courage.
Here’s to bringing the saints into our homes — through stories, prayers, and daily friendship — so they can help us raise the next generation of great Catholic women.
