Upcoming Canonizations in Rome on May 15, 2022!

    HELLO!

     Here is our reminder that Rob is going to Rome on Thursday, May 12th, and will be attending the 10 Canonization ceremonies where several men and women will officially become Saints at the Vatican on Sunday, May 15, 2022.

    Blessed Charles de Foucauld will finally become Saint Charles! 350 members of his family will be there to celebrate. It’s not certain what Pope Francis and his Cardinal friends will decide about specific patronages for Saint Charles. Saints’ patronages typically evolve organically, it seems. 

      As of now though, after studying a bit, SaintsforSinners and SaintsforHOPE are putting it out into the universe that Saint Charles de Foucauld might be a patron Saint of Letters! It’s true that letter writing is a bit of a “lost art” these days since we methodically and somewhat impersonally communicate digitally with computers, phones, tablets, and text messaging. 

    Saint Charles de Foucauld was a true “Man of Letters.” His family has collected hundreds of the notes and letters he wrote to them while he lived abroad, away from his French family members. His letters are treasures to be archived and read for many years.

    Blessed Charles was not like a lot of the other saints we know about who converted thousands to Christianity. Charles had softer and more clever ways of persuading people. While he was still living in France, he wanted to travel to Morocco to help the people living there in tenuous conditions.  

     The problem with his idea was that French Catholics were not allowed to go to Morocco. Bright line rules never deterred Charles. He disguised himself as a Jew and was in Morocco helping the people there with barely a moment’s notice. Perhaps Blessed Charles is the patron of disguises too. Billy Koel’s “the Stranger” comes to mind:

We all have a face that we hide away forever;
And we take them out and show ourselves
when everyone is gone;
Some are satin, some are steel
some are silk and some are leather;
They’re the faces of the stranger
but we love to try them on.”

     

As many of you know, we send out free souvenirs from our trips to the Canonizations in Rome. Usually, it’s a Rosary or other items we find during our saint medal and trinket hunting on the streets of Rome. We’ve been doing this for decades! So, in case you are one of the newer folks added to this always growing mailing list, here’s how to get the free gift from Rome commemorating the upcoming canonizations on May 15, 2022.      Please send us ONE SELF ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE -”SASE” ( Please do not use very small envelopes and if you want something for a friend, have the friend send us the envelope on their own. Each person must send their own SASE. ) We will then use your SASE and mail you a free gift upon our return to New Orleans. YOU CAN ALSO WRITE US A NOTE AND ASK FOR SOMETHING IN PARTICULAR. Perhaps there’s a certain something a friend or family member would truly appreciate! We are not sure whether we will be able to fulfill your request exactly, but we promise to give it a good try. We know the true gift of giving is in the giving….       We never know which medals we will be discovering on our trips. If we find a Saint medal we do not have in our line-up yet, that we can afford to buy, we always buy it and add him or her to our collection.

     

     If you would like us to send you something directly from Saint Peter’s Square in Vatican City in Rome, with the official Vatican Postmark, we will happily do it. Use the link below and pay for postage and handling and we will mail you a personally and-written postcard straight from Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican!

Vatican City Postcard  <~ LINK HERE