Saints for the Summer

Yesterday Carrie posted on her wonderful blog, The Parenting Passageway, about her family's plans for June, including a list of Feast Days for different saints. That was perfect timing for me, since I'm about to start a Saints block and I'm always curious about some of the saints out there which we've never studied. I have done Saints many many times, but it's always fun to see the lists from other people. Check out her blog post because she includes links to resources and other suggestions for the following:

June 9 - Saint Columba

June 11 - Saint Barnabas

June 12 - Saint Enmegahbowh – first Native American priest in the Episcopal Church of The United States

June 19 - Sahu Sundar Singh of India

June 22 - Saint Alban

June 24 - The Nativity of St. John the Baptist / St. John’s Tide

June 29 - The Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul

This Summer I'm working with a family who asked for some saint stories. It is good timing for their family because it's currently Ramadan. So I pulled out my notes from doing the Saints block in the past and picked eight favorites which we can do over the next few weeks. The evening of Thursday, June 14th is the end of Ramadan this year.

These are my favorite versions of the stories but it is worth nothing that lots of these saints are represented in more than one book. I did a HUGE blog post in 2015 listing the saint stories which are in each one of my books... check it out if you're trying to decide what to buy.

For our list of saints -- and stories -- this summer I'm thinking

February 3 - Saint Werburgh
"Werburgh and the Troublesome Geese" from
The Giant at the Ford and Other Legends of the Saints by Synge


May 30 - Saint Joan d'Arc
"I am just a peasant girl" from
Stories of the Saints by Knijpenga


"England and France, Joan of Arc" background info from
The Age of Discovery by Kovacs



June 3 - Saint Kevin
"Saint Kevin and the Blackbird" from
Saints Among the Animals by Zarin



August 23 - Saint Rose of Lima
"Rose of Lima" from
More Once-Upon-a-Time Saints: Faith Tales for Children by Pochocki


September 30 - Saint Jerome
"St. Jerome, the Lion and the Donkey" from
The Giant at the Ford and Other Legends of the Saints by Synge


October 4 - Saint Francis
"Rich, and born on straw," "Lady Poverty," and "The birds" from
Stories of the Saints by Knijpenga


"Saint Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio" from
Saints Among the Animals by Zarin



November 17 - Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
"Pure red roses" from
Stories of the Saints by Knijpenga



November 17 - Saint Hilda
"A Story about Saint Hilda" from
Saints Among the Animals by Zarin

I put them in order of their feast days. For activities, I'm thinking

Saint Werburgh - a poured pulp handmade paper illustration of a Goose, inspired by Denise Fleming's illustration style, especially Barnyard Banter, and where the shape of the Goose makes a G as in L M N O P and All the Letters A to Z


Saint Joan d'Arc - colored pencil drawing of the beautiful sword from Archangel Michael

Saint Kevin - wet felting over a raw egg (chicken, duck, peacock)

Saint Rose of Lima - watercolor painting of her bed and then adding coarse sea salt while the paint is still wet, so that it has the texture of the broken pottery and glass she slept on

Saint Jerome - block beeswax crayon drawing of a lion from Teaching with the Fables: A Holistic Approach by Sieglinde de Francesca


Saint Francis - wool picture of "Saint Francis Preaching to the Birds" from Magic Wool: Creative Activities with Natural Sheep's Wool by Dagmar Schmidt & Freya Jaffke


Saint Elizabeth of Hungary - illustration with stamped celery heart roses using red paint

Saint Hilda - field trip to Giant City State Park to look at rock formations

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