A number of families and religious congregations around the world have a wonderful tradition to start a new year: "recruiting" a patron saint for all the intentions the year might hold.
St. Faustina loved this tradition!
The tradition of drawing a patron saint of the year is particularly cherished by the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, to which St. Sister Faustina Kowalska belonged. In her Diary, she recalls January 1, 1935, as follows:
When we came to the refectory for breakfast, after we had said our goodbyes, the drawing of the patrons began. When I approached the pictures on which the patron saints are written, I took them without thinking, but without reading immediately; I wanted to mortify myself for a few minutes. Then I hear a voice in my soul: I am your patron, read. At that moment I looked at the inscription and read: patron saint for 1935 - the Blessed Eucharist. My heart trembled with joy (Acts 360).
Every year St. Faustina was convinced of the great help of her patron saint and the intercession of heaven.
How does it work?
Some religious congregations have holy cards specifically prepared for this tradition. Certain communities might include a virtue that particularly characterized the saint -- as motivation to work toward building that virtue throughout the year.
Any collection of saint cards could work for this.
The idea is that the saint is chosen randomly, either by drawing a card or with some other method. A prayer to the Holy Spirit before or after the selection is a good idea!
Alternatively, you could use a book of saints, and simply open it to a random spot, then take the saint of that page. This works for a digital book option as well. You can scroll through the pages and see where it lands.
The "click" method
A few online options are also available and these might be the easiest of all.
Popular Catholic comedian has offered a "saint generator" for many years. She also has a "word of the year" generator, which is a fun companion.
For Jen's saint generator, click here. And to get a word, click here.
And the adorable Tiny Saints web site is offering a generator this year too. They have updated it to include the new saints from 2025.
Click here to get a saint with Tiny Saints.
No matter how you choose a saint -- with a holy card, a book, or an online generator -- it it a great way to remind us that we have the "cloud of witnesses" in Heaven praying for us. And it is an invitation to get to know and befriend a new saint throughout the year!
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If you'd like to understand better why Catholics ask the saints for prayers, take a look at the first article below. Pope Francis did a great job explaining it in his characteristically simple way!
