Five Mothers Who Raised Saints
The incredible impact of five devout women on their sons (who became great saints).
According to St. Alphonsus Ligouri, reading the lives of the saints is one of the most important and beneficial kinds of spiritual reading that we can do. Holy Mother Church presents their lives to us in order that we might imitate their virtues.
I simply love reading about the lives of the saints. And the more I delve into their histories, the more a common theme emerges: the influential role of the mother. Perhaps it is because I am getting older now, but when I read about the early lives of the saints, I am drawn more and more to the behavior of their mothers. Some of these stories and anecdotes of the saints’ mothers are too sweet and inspiring not to collect and share.
Now, there are many holy women who are well-known for their good influence on their saintly children, such as St. Monica (the mother of St. Augustine), Blanche of Castile (the mother of St. Louis IX), St. Zelie Martin (the mother of St. Thérèse of Lisieux), and Margherita Sarto (the mother of St. Pope Pius X). But for this article, I wanted to focus on some lesser-known women.
Anne Catherine Cavalieri: the mother of St. Alphonsus Ligouri.
St. Alphonsus Ligouri’s mother was a woman of singular virtue, descended from parents remarkable for their piety and rank. Devoted to prayer and loving the poor, she practiced self-denial and mortification, abstained from worldly amusements, and was to be found most frequently in the house of God.
Anne gave birth to Alphonsus on September 27, 1696. Two days later, he was baptized and received the following names: "Alphonsus Mary Anthony John Francis Cosmas Damian Michel-Angelo;" the first of which were given him in memory of his ancestors, the others in honor of the Saints on whose respective days he was born and baptized. From the hour of his birth, his mother placed him, in a special manner, under the protection of the Blessed Virgin.
Contrary to the usual custom among the nobles, the early education of Alphonsus was not confided to strangers, but his mother superintended it herself and instructed her son in the knowledge of religion.
The brother of Alphonsus, D. Gaetan related that every morning after having blessed her children, she made them pray to God, and every evening she assembled them around her, and taught them the elements of the Christian faith, reciting with them the Rosary and other prayers in honor of different Saints.
She was careful in preventing them from associating with other children of their age; she wished that grace should anticipate in them the malice of sin, and that they might early be taught to hate it; she therefore took them every week to confess to her own director, F. Thomas Pagano, of the Oratory of St. Jerome.
It was thus she guided her dear Alphonsus, and made him truly holy. Above all, she endeavored to kindle in his heart a tender love for Jesus Christ, and a filial confidence in Mary.
To the latest period of his life, Alphonsus continued to acknowledge his obligations to his mother, for the great care she had taken of him during his childhood. "If I must admit," he was wont to say, "that there was anything good in me, as a child, and that I was kept from wickedness, I owe it entirely to the tender solicitude of my mother."
Marie Beluse: the mother of St. John Vianney.
Marie had a sweetness and tenderness of character, a gentleness of manner, an elevation of mind which sprang from a deeply interior spirit, and fitted her to be the mother of a saint.
Before the birth of the second of her six children, Marie had often offered him to God and the Blessed Virgin, and had even made a secret vow, should God accept her desire, to consecrate him to the service of the altar; with this view he received in baptism (on the very day of his birth,) the names of Jean Baptiste and of Marie.
Marie Beluse watched for the first dawn of reason to turn her child's earliest thoughts to God. At eighteen months old, he had already learned to join his little hands in prayer and to lisp the names of Jesus and Mary.
Jean Marie used often to tell how his mother would always come herself every morning to awaken her children, that she might see that they offered their hearts to God, and secure the first thought and the first action of the day for Him.
At three years old, Jean Marie already began to retire into solitary places to pray. When he could yet hardly speak, he loved to join in all the devotions of the family. He was the first to kneel down at midday or sunset to recite the Angelus with infantine gravity. The first present which he received from his mother was a little statue of the Blessed Virgin. He prized it, not as a child's toy, but as an object of pious veneration.
In the long winter evenings he would sit for hours by his mother's side, talking with her of God and holy things, till her heart swelled with joy that her long-cherished hopes were thus being realized in the early sanctity of her child.
St. John Vianney said, "When I was quite little I had a pretty little rosary, to which my sister took a fancy; she wanted to have it. This was one of my first troubles. I went to consult my mother about it. She advised me to give it up for the love of God. I obeyed; but it cost me many tears."
All these holy affections grew with his growth; prayer was his delight before he understood it to be his duty. It was the spontaneous language of his lips, which were never profaned by any of the coarse and unbefitting words so commonly learned by village children. He was shielded from the knowledge of evil by the pure atmosphere of his father's house, and he seldom left his mother's side. Such was the innocence of his childhood, that he has been heard to say: "I knew nothing of evil till I learned to know it in the confessional."
Blessed Alèthe de Montbard: the mother of St. Bernard.
Blessed Aleth was loving and devout. She bore her husband seven children: six sons and one daughter. She offered her children to the Lord as soon as they were born, with the prayer that He would call them to serve as priests or religious. And all of them did. All of them have been beatified, as has Aleth herself.
Piety and humbleness distinguished her character. Charity, too, she exercised in her neighborhood. Despite belonging to the highest nobility of Burgundy, she sought out the poor in their squalor and misery, attended to and relieved their sick, cleansing their cups and vessels with her own hands.
The latter years of her life were passed in devotions and austerities, which were monastic in all but name. By scantiness of food, by simplicity of dress, by the avoidance of worldly pleasures, by fasting, prayer, and vigils, she strove after that ideal of self-sacrifice and holiness.
Aleth nursed all of her children herself, refusing to hire a wet nurse as was common among women of her rank. Despite having worldly wealth, she raised her children to eat simple foods and avoid ornate fashions.
To her great joy, she perceived that, early in childhood, Bernard possessed a most tender love for God and the Blessed Virgin, a great horror for sin, a most watchful care to preserve his innocence and purity, a great contempt for all temporal goods, and a high esteem of all that related to God and the salvation of souls.
Catherine de Veuster: the mother of St. Damien of Molokai.
Catherine gave birth to her sixth child, Joseph Veuster, on January 3rd, 1840. A few weeks later, in the nearby church, he was baptized. They were pious people who offered silent prayers as the child officially entered the Church. Then, Catherine knelt at the communion rail and was "churched."
Damien's first lessons in conventional education were received from his mother. There were few books in the farmhouse, and those there were had been in the family for many generations. Written in ancient Flemish, they were of a religious theme. One book in particular was most popular with the family: a huge tome entitled "Lives of the Saints" with graphic woodcuts. Every day in the late afternoon, the three youngest children (Joseph, his brother Auguste, and his sister Pauline) would congregate with their mother in the kitchen. It was their favorite time of the day. The father and older children were still working in the fields and so the younger children had their mother, with the day's duties finished, all to themselves.
The kitchen was a large, cheerful room, hung with polished pots and pans and with an open fire blazing beneath the iron pits. A sweet biscuit would be issued to each child, then the three would sit by their mother's feet as she delved into the volume and read the heroic deeds in the ancient days. These were the stories that colored their childhood and were practically the only ones they ever heard. It is no wonder, then, that their games became flavored with a tinge of ancient histories. These three young Flemings were the victims of a Roman mob, each one braving a roaring lion or a snarling centurion, and each taking turns at impersonating villainous characters. The farm garden became the Holy Land and the glories of the Crusades were reenacted. Bold knights battles savage Saracens among the cabbages.
The woodcuts of the big volume would be pored over and the pictures of the Saints experiencing varieties of ferocious deaths would kindle the young imaginations, and as the sparks flew from the kitchen fire, the minds of the children would paint vividly the agonies of the early Christians at the stake.
Doubtless, these early impressions of faith and martyrdom helped to direct their own lives: in later years, all three entered the service of the Church in the religious life.
Venerable Margherita Bosco: the mother of St. John Bosco
At the age of 24, Margherita Occhiena married 27-year-old Francesco Bosco, a widower with a three-year-old son, Antonio. Soon, Margherita and Francesco had two more sons.
A gentle peace that was never disturbed reigned in the Bosco household. Margherita loved order and peace and with thrift managed the household, while Francis worked hard in the fields to provide for the maintenance of his ailing seventy-year-old mother, three children and two farmhands. Nothing was dearer to the heart of Francis and Margherita than to preserve for God those beloved treasures He had bestowed upon them. Both parents kept a watchful, loving eye on them lest anything blight their innocence. All their neighbors held the Bosco's in great esteem as God-fearing people who lived an exemplary Christian life.
Tragically, Francesco died at the age of 33 from pneumonia, leaving Margherita a single mother with three sons: Antonio, Giuseppe and Giovanni (John).
Margherita suffered terribly to care for the farm and the three boys by herself. At one point, she received a very attractive proposal of remarriage, but she turned it down saying: "God gave me a husband and took him from me. As he lay dying, he entrusted three sons to me; I would be a cruel mother were I to abandon them when they need me most." When she was assured that her children would be entrusted to a guardian who would take excellent care of them, Margherita replied: "A guardian is only a friend. I am their mother. I would not desert them for all the gold in the world. My duty is to dedicate myself entirely to their Christian upbringing.”
She knew the powerful influence she possessed in the Christian education of her sons. As soon as her children could tell right from wrong, Margherita started teaching them the ABC’s of their religion. She encouraged them in the diligent practice of their faith and to live up to its precepts. She taught daily catechism instruction and frequently referenced its doctrines as the surest means of securing the obedience of a child. She frequently repeated catechism questions and answers until the children had memorized them.
“God sees you.” That was the watchword that she constantly brought to their attention. When she allowed them to go out and play in the nearby meadows, she would leave them with the words: "Remember that God sees you." If at times she sensed that they harbored resentful thoughts against each other, she would suddenly whisper: "Remember that God sees you and that He knows even your most secret thoughts." If, when questioning one of them, she anticipated a lie or an excuse, she would forestall an answer by telling them: "Remember that God sees you."
She was also very adept in drawing a moral lesson to any event that impressed any of her sons. It was from his mother that John learned to feel the omnipresence of God, and to accept everything, good and bad, as coming from the hand of God.
Margherita herself prepared her children for their first confession as soon as they were able to discern right from wrong. She accompanied them to church, made her own confession, then introduced them to the priest. Confession over, she helped them with their act of thanksgiving. She continued to assist them in this manner until they were able to make their own confession properly. Under her guidance, John went to confession frequently. She took the children to Mass every Sunday and holy day to a small country chapel. Through prayer and the Sacraments, Margherita led her children to God.
Besides religious instruction and prayer, Margherita also used another means to educate her children—work. She could not bear to see her sons idle. Even as very young children she entrusted them with simple chores.
Margherita kept her children's conduct under constant supervision, but there was nothing unpleasant about her vigilance. It was not irksome, mistrustful or nagging; rather, it was constant, prudent and loving.
St. John Bosco wrote about his mother and his childhood in his memoirs:
“My mother's first concerns were instructing her children in religion, teaching them obedience, and keeping them busy with activities that were right for their age. When I was a child, she taught me my prayers; and as soon as I was able to play with my brothers, she made me kneel with them morning and evening, to join all the others in reciting the prayers and the third part of the Rosary.”
“I still remember how she prepared me for my First Confession. She went to the church with me, where she confessed before recommending me to the confessor; after my confession she helped me with my thanksgiving and continued to help me until I was able to make a good confession by myself.”
John Bosco remembers the evening before he left for the seminary. His mother addressed him with these words that he never forgot:
"‘My dear John, you have donned the priestly habit, and I am as happy as any mother could be with her son. But remember that it is not the habit which confers luster to your state, but the practice of virtue. If you were ever to doubt your vocation, oh, for Heaven's sake, do not disgrace this habit. Take it off immediately. I would rather have a poor farmer for a son than a priest who neglects his duties. When you were born, I consecrated you to the Blessed Virgin. When you began your studies, I recommended that you be devoted to her who is your Mother. I beg of you to belong entirely to her; love your friends who are devoted to Mary, and if ever you become a priest, always recommend and promote devotion to Mary.’”
“Ending with these words, my mother was moved; I wept. "Mother," I answered, "I thank you for all you have said and done for me. These words of yours will not have been spoken in vain. I will treasure them throughout my life."
After becoming a priest, Don Bosco was able to rent a house known as the Pinardi House. He wrote in his memoirs about his mother’s great sacrifices to help him:
“At that time, two rooms of the Pinardi house became available, and I rented them for my mother and me. "Mother," I said to her one day, "I should go and live in Valdocco, but because of the others who occupy the house there is room only for you and me." She understood immediately and replied, "If you think that this may please the Lord, I am ready to leave right now." This was a great sacrifice for my mother because of our family, though we were not rich, she was the boss. Loved by all, she was respected as the mistress of the house by the children and adults alike.”
“We sent ahead a few of the most necessary things which we added to those that had been sent from the Refuge to our new quarters. My mother filled a basket with linen and other indispensable household items, and I took my breviary and some very helpful books and notebooks, which was all we possessed. We left on foot and as we walked from Becchi to Turin, we made a short stop at Chieri and arrived in Valdocco on the evening of November 3, 1846.
But how were we to live, what were we to eat, how were we to pay rent and provide for the many boys who always asked for bread, shoes, coats or shirts, without which they could not go to work? We had brought with us some wine, corn, beans, wheat, and the like. In order to meet our first expenses, we had sold a few acres and a vineyard.
“My mother had brought her bridal outfit which, till then, had been carefully preserved. Some of her dresses provided material for vestments; the linen was used for amices, purificators, surplices, shirts, and tablecloths. My mother had a few rings and a tiny gold chain. They were quickly sold to buy trimmings and ornaments for the sacred vestments.”
In 1850, Don Bosco bought the Pinardi house, which became the cradle of the Salesian Congregation. As for Mamma Margherita, she died on the 25th of November, 1856, after ten years of motherly care and service to hundreds of Valdocco boys, pleading with her son to always prefer poverty and to seek only God's glory in all things.
“Mamma Margaret” was declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.
What stood out to you the most?
For me, it was how these mothers (1) fostered a consistent prayer life in their children even from infancy; (2) how they guarded and protected them from the world's evil influences and instilled a hatred of sin; (3) how they personally oversaw their earliest education instead of delegating it out to others; (4) how they taught them to make sacrifices and practice virtue not only by word but principally by way of example; (5) how they read aloud the stories of the saints as examples to emulate; and (6) how they taught them their catechism even from a very early age, and took great care to teach them how to go to confession as soon as they knew right from wrong.
And another thing that stands out to me so clearly is that we Catholic mothers today need not reinvent the wheel. Jesus Christ has paved the path, the Christians before us have followed in His footsteps, and now we, too, must tread the same path. Generations of women before us have been raising holy children, whether they were poor farmers or rich nobility. They had all the graces to fulfill their duties available to them in the Sacrament of Matrimony. We have these same graces available to us, which God will so generously pour out to us in this vocation of raising children, if we will only ask Him.
Sources:
The Life of Saint Alphonsus by Antonio Tannoja (1855)
Life of the Curé d'Ars by Alfred Monnin (1862)
Life and Times of Saint Bernard by James Cotter Morison (1901)
Damien the Leper by John Farrow (1937)
This was a great surprise. Especially to see the mother of St. Bernard. She gave fruit to such a treasured saint to me.
Saint John Bosco’s mother most caught my attention. “I beg of you to belong entirely to her; love your friends who are devoted to Mary, and if ever you become a priest, always recommend and promote devotion to Mary.” AMEN!