Portraits of Saints

Art by Catholic Artist, Tracy L. Christianson. Catholic Art and Unique Gifts. Over 650 Saints available for purchase on our website.

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Saint Charles Lwanga and Saint Kizito

1860-1886

Feastday: June 3

Patronage: youth, converts, torture victims, Catholic action

Saint Charles Lwanga is one of the martyrs of Uganda, killed during King Mwanga’s reign. In 1879, the White Fathers (Society of Missionaries of Africa) welcomed by Mwanga’s father, came and started to evangelize Uganda. Mwanga, violent and a pedophile, came to power in 1884. He hated the Christians of the court, especially because they kept the royal pages away from his advances. St. Charles was the page’s guide, instructing them about the faith. When they would not renounce the faith, Mwanga ordered them to be executed. 13 Catholics and 11 Anglicans were martyred. They said, “You can burn our bodies but you cannot harm our souls.”

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Saint Clotilde

474-545

Feast Day: June 3

Patronage: brides, adopted children, parents, exiles, widows, skin disease

Saint Clotilde was married to King Clovis who ruled the Franks and was instrumental in the King's conversion. She is credited with bringing Christianity to Europe. Queen Clotilde was known for her charitable and penitential works of mercy. After Clovis’ death she retired to the Abbey of St. Martin of Tours and died of natural causes.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Saint Kevin of Glendalough

498 - 618

Feast day: June 3

Patronage: blackbirds, Glendalough, Ireland

St. Kevin, also known as Coemgen in Ireland, lived with monks from age 12. After being ordained he came to live a hermit’s life in Glendalough Ireland (meaning glen of two lakes). There are many stories of his connection with animals, a blackbird is even said to have made a nest in his prayerfully outstretched hands. St. Kevin eventually left his life of solitude to build a monastery and teach the people of Ireland about God. His life is surrounded by many extravagant miracles.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Saint Erasmus of Formia

Died c.303

Feast Day: June 2

Patronage: sailors, colic in children, intestinal ailments and diseases, cramps and pains of women in labor, cattle pest, Gaeta and Formia, Italy

Saint Erasmus was the Bishop of Formia in Italy who was martyred during the Diocletian persecution. Legend is that when a blue light (a glow from atmospheric electricity known as St. Elmo’s fire) appears on a masthead of a ship before and after a storm, St. Erasmus was protecting the sailors. He is the patron of intestinal and stomach pains because he was tortured by iron hooks that pulled out his intestines. He is one of the 14 Holy Helpers.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Saint Blandina of Lyon

162 AD - 177 AD

Feast Day: June 2

Patronage: falsely accused people; young girls; servants; Lyon, France

Saint Blandina (Blandine) was a Roman slave girl in ancient Gaul who was martyred for her faith in Lyon, France, in 177 AD. Persecution of Christians in Lyon took place during the Reign of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. As a non-Roman citizen who refused to renounce her Christian Faith, young Blandina was first tortured, then bound to a pillar, and wild beasts were set on her, but did not touch her. After days of torture and watching her companions tortured and die, she was killed with a dagger.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Saint Justin Martyr

c. AD 100 - C. AD 165

Feast Day: June 1

Patronage: philosophers. lecturers, orators, apologists, speakers

Saint Justin Martyr was the son of pagan parents that came to the faith through Platonic intellectual philosophy. He was the first great apologist and his writing today continues to teach and defend the faith. His writings describe the Catholic Mass and the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Justin died after being scourged and then beheaded for refusing to sacrifice to the gods.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Saint Giovanni Battista Scalabrini

1839 - 1905

Feast Day: June 1

Patronage: Catholic Action, migrants

Saint Giovanni Battista Scalabrini (John Baptist Scalabrini) worked with cholera victims, visited the sick and prisoners, and helped the poor and the bankrupt nobility. He saved thousands of farmers and workers from famine, selling his horse, chalice, and the pectoral cross that Blessed Pope Pius IX had given him in order to buy food. He was made Bishop of Piacenza, Italy in 1876 and the following year he founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of Saint Charles.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Saint Hannibal Mary Di Francia

July 5, 1851-June 1,1927

Feast Day: June 1

Patronage: vocations; seminaries; orphanages; the poor; Messina, Italy

Saint Hannibal Mary Di Francia, also known as Annibale Maria Di Francia, was an Italian priest known for founding a series of orphanages, the Rogationist Fathers and Daughters of Divine Zeal. His father died when he was very young, which caused him to be empathetic towards orphans. He became a priest in 1878 and with the encouragement of his archbishop and St. John Bosco, Hannibal started a school and orphanage for young children, called the Anthonian Orphanages. Through prayer, and by publishing newsletters, his work thrived. He died of natural causes in Messina, Italy in 1927.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Elizabeth

Feast day: May 31 (New) July 2 (Trad)

And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord. And Mary said:

My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him. He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy: As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever. Luke (1:41-55)

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Saint Emmelia of Caesarea

Died: 375

Feast Day: May 30

Patronage: mothers

Saint Emmelia of Caesarea is known as the “Mother of Saints.” She was the wife of St. Basil the Elder, and mother of 10 children, five of whom became canonized saints in the Catholic Church, St. Basil the Great, St. Macrina, St. Peter of Sebaste, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Theosebia. She instilled in them a strong faith through prayer and the Church. After her husband died, she distributed her property amongst her children and, with her oldest daughter, St. Macrina, founded a convent, where she died peacefully.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Saint Ferdinand III of Castile

1199-1252

Feast Day: May 30

Patronage: Spain, Spanish monarchy, Spanish army corp of engineers, administrators, governors, magistrates, rulers, large families, parenthood, paupers, prisoners

Saint Ferdinand III of Castile became Spain’s king when he was 18 and was crowned King of Leon in 1230. He successfully fought the Moors as a trained Knight while devoting himself to prayer, fasting, and Our Lady. As a great and just administrator, he compiled and reformed the code of law, and oversaw the rebuilding of the Cathedral of Burgos, University of Salamanca, hospitals, and monasteries. He was a member of the Franciscan third order and had the virtue of a saint and the courage of a soldier when he died. His incorrupt body is interned at the Cathedral of Seville.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Saint Joan of Arc

1412-1431

Feast day: May 30

Patronage: France; martyrs; captives; military personnel; people ridiculed for their piety; prisoners; soldiers

Joan of Arc, national heroine of France, was born in 1412 during the Hundred Years War. At age 12 she began receiving visions of Saint Michael, as well as other angels and saints, telling her to drive out the English. Possessing remarkable mental and physical courage, Joan led the French army to victory over the British at Orleans when she was 18. Several additional victories led to Charles VII’s coronation. Eventually burned at the stake, she held up a cross calling continually upon the name of Jesus. A retrial declared her innocent in 1456 making her a martyr. Joan of Arc was canonized 500 years later.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Saint Pope Paul VI

1897-1978

Feast Day: May 29

Saint Pope Paul VI, born Giovanni Battista Montini, was elected pope in 1963 during Vatican II and reigned until his death in 1978. He held various positions in the Church and helped political refugees and prisoners of war during WWII. In 1953 he became Archbishop of Milian and was know as “The Archbishop of Workers”. During his papacy he’s famously known for his encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (Of Human Life) but also for social advancements, unity between Christians, reaching out to non-Christians, establishing the Synod of Bishops and promoting world peace. He died on the Feast of the Transfiguration.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Saint Bona of Pisa

1156 - 1207

Feast Day: May 29

Patronage: flight attendants, travelers, pilgrims and travel guides

Saint Bona was born in Pisa, Italy. A child of a single mother, she experienced many visions and dedicated herself to God at the age of ten, becoming an Augustinian tertiary. At fourteen she went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to find her father who was fighting in the Crusades. On the way home she was captured by Muslim pirates and imprisoned and later rescued. She made many pilgrimages to the Holy Land. She had a great devotion to St. James and made the pilgrimage of St. James (Santiago de Compostela) nine times. On the tenth trip she returned home due to illness and died.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Blessed Rolando Rivi

1931-1945

Feast Day: May 29

Blessed Rolando Rivi was a young seminarian from a strong Catholic farming family in Italy. He was martyred by the Communist partisans after he refused to stop wearing his cassock. He is a role model for seminarians and youth because of his determination to stay true to the faith in the face of persecution and danger. “I belong to Jesus.” was his mantra. He’s a martyr for Catholic identity.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński

1901-1981

Feast Day: May 28

Beatified September 12, 2021

Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski was Polish nobility that heroically stood against the socialist and communist government. He became a priest and chaplain of the Polish underground during WWII, surviving torture and many hardships. In 1946-1948 he was ordained the Bishop of Lubin and in 1953 was made Cardinal. The Communists imprisoned him for 3 years for his outspoken stance for religious freedom. Known for his devotion to Our Lady of Czestochowa, family rights, economic rights for workers and his prudent negotiations with the government, Cardinal Wyszynski was a true hero. He’s given the title “Primate of the Millennium” and “Primate of Poland.”

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

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Venerable Pierre Toussaint

1781-1853

Feast Day: May 28

Venerable Pierre Toussaint was born a slave in Haiti to the Berand family. They brought him to New York City in 1787 to escape the political unrest in Haiti. He became a successful hairdresser, eventually even supporting Mr. Berand’s widow, who granted his freedom in 1807. Using his wealth he became a philanthropist to the poor in NYC, starting an orphanage, employment and credit bureaus, a hostel for travelers and priests and contributed to the building of Old St. Patrick Cathedral and is interred in the new cathedral. Pierre died at 87 and is known as one of NYC's most famous Catholics.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)