Pray to these 4 saints and 1 angel for the conclave

As the conclave gets underway, undoubtedly all of the saints and angels are already fervently praying for the Church.

Nevertheless, it makes sense to call particularly on four saints and an angel for this intention.

According to tradition, and noted by St. Francis de Sales, God has given each diocese a guardian angel, similar to how he's given one to each of us.

St. Francis de Sales, in his Introduction to the Devout Life, highly praises the practice of conversing with your own guardian angel, as well as the guardian angels of your family, friends, and your local diocese:

Find out more about this here:

As the pope is the bishop of the Diocese of Rome, it seems particularly useful to pray to this angel, who is specially charged with protecting the diocese.

Turning then to the saints, the first two that come to mind are the obvious choices: Pope St. Peter himself, and St. Paul.

These two are the co-patrons of Rome, and are buried at two of the papal basilicas. They are celebrated together on a joint feast day, June 29.

It's interesting that these two men, very different in background and character, would be co-patrons and pillars of the Church. But that is the way the Holy Spirit has handed them down to us for 2,000 years.

While we've already had more attention than usual on a particular image of Mary -- because it was Pope Francis' favorite, and he's now buried next to it -- now is the moment to redouble our petitions to her.

We are referring to the Salus Populi Romani: The Protectress of the Roman People, sometimes translated the Health or the Salvation of the Roman People. 

This image is housed in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, and as her name indicates, she's a perfect patron for the Church as we select our next "Peter."

While Peter and Paul are the principal patrons of Rome, another early saint and martyr is also called on for his intercession. This is St. Lawrence, the deacon, famous for his sense of humor.

Lawrence was from modern-day Spain but was a deacon precisely of the Church of Rome. He served under Pope St. Sixtus II (pope from 257 until his martyrdom in 258) -- the 24th pope.

Following the arrest of Pope Sixtus and a group of his fellow deacons, Lawrence was ordered to collect the Church’s treasure and to hand it over to the civil authorities. On the appointed day, Lawrence presented the poor — the Church’s true treasure — to the imperial prefect.

He was martyred for his trouble -- on August 10, 258, by being roasted to death on a gridiron.

St. Lawrence is a wonderful intercessor for the conclave for various reasons. Notable among them: As a deacon his ministry was to serve, and that is the truest mission of the Roman Pontiff.

It makes good sense to pray to any of the apostles for their intercession -- they were the first ones to rally around Peter as pope, after all. But one in particular stands out: Andrew, the brother of St. Peter.

Andrew is the one who got Peter into the "mess" of following Jesus in the first place. Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, and responded to Jesus' invitation "come and see."

Then, St. John tells us:

St. Andrew brought Peter to Jesus. We can ask him to do the same with all the cardinals, and with each of us.