child saints as role models for children
Parents need to tell their children stories of the saints and bedtime is usually the best moment. As well as exciting adventure stories, fairy tales, and well-known children’s novels all children love, the true life stories of the great saints and martyrs of the Church awaken their interest and fascination.
A saint does not have to die young in order to be a role model for children and adolescents of course, and many of the most popular saints lived well into adulthood. Yet there is something appealing in a child saint, having the wisdom and intrepidity (because this is indeed what it takes) to discover God’s love early in life, and “leaving all to follow Him”.
Youth is no barrier to holiness, and mere children can become saints. The call to holiness begins at Baptism; we do not have to wait for old age and grey hair to serve God. Youthful saints tell us something about sanctity, and their example is especially luminous as they dedicate their young lives to God. Youngsters need flesh and blood heroes to admire, whose courage, determination and great love of God and his Church, have been their incentive to overcome temptation and difficulties. The example of the saints counters that of the straw idols that are all too often the only ones they are offered nowadays.
ST. DOMINIC SAVIO
It isn’t always easy to be different from others, but Dominic, who was born in 1842, was different. Even as a young boy, he had great faith. His parents taught him how important it was for him to put Jesus first in his life. They had one other goal for Dominic. They wanted him to learn to read and write, something they could not do. They could not afford to send Dominic to boarding school, and there were no public schools in his small Italian village of San Giovanni di Riva. Dominic spent his days on the streets. It did not look like he would have a good future. When he made his first Holy Communion, at the age of seven, he wrote down the following as his plan of life: “I will go to Confession very often and go to Communion as often as my confessor gives me permission. I will celebrate Sundays and feast days as holy days. Jesus and Mary will be my friends. Death rather than sin.” Dominic kept faithfully to this plan, strengthened by the sacraments and his devotion to Mary, and accepted hardships gladly. God blessed him with special gifts.
A priest named Father John Bosco devoted his life to educating poor boys. He helped them to learn a trade so that they could earn a living when they grew up. When Father Bosco met Dominic, he was impressed by Dominic’s faith and his eagerness to learn.
Father Bosco invited Dominic to attend the school he had recently founded. It would mean moving away from home, but Dominic’s parents gave their permission. It was a wonderful opportunity for their son! Dominick was excited, too. He knew that if he was a good student, he could eventually become a priest and grow even closer to the Lord.
Away at school, Dominic became more religious. He made visits to church several times a day.At his First Communion he became determined to go to confession and communion often. Sometimes he skipped meals so that he would have more time to pray. The other students made fun of him. Father Bosco told Dominic that the way to holiness was to be happy and to help others find happiness. Dominic put Father Bosco’s words into action. He became a good friend to all the students and found ways to help them with their studies or chores. He asked Father Bosco to help him become a saint.
He prayed and studied with great seriousness and he was constant in fulfilling his duties well. His kindness and cheerfulness made him a friend of all his companions helping them in every way, teaching the younger ones their Catechism, tending the sick, sorting out quarrels, etc.. To help everyone save his soul, he started the Sodality of the Immaculate Conception. St. John Bosco would afterwards refer to this period of Dominic and his companions at the Oratory as the “golden years.”
When Dominic was 14, he became very sick. Today we have medicines to treat the illness Dominic had, but there was nothing that could help him in those days. He died peacefully just before his 15th birthday after receiving the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick
Father John Bosco, who was later canonized a saint, wrote the story of Dominic’s life. Dominic was named a saint in 1954, almost 100 years after he died. He was the youngest non-martyr to be declared a saint in the Church. Some people thought that he had not lived long enough to be considered for sainthood. But Dominic’s example teaches us that no matter how old we are, we can serve the Lord in small ways every day.
Pope Pius XII described St. Dominic Savio as “small in size, but a towering giant in spirit.” He is the patron saint of choirboys and juvenile delinquents
St. Bernadette
What Catholic child does not feel compassion and fascination for the little asthmatic girl, St. Bernadette (1844 – 1879), who was visited by Our Blessed Lady in the grotto of Lourdes? Her family’s appalling poverty, her suffering and the many obstacles she encountered as she set about to do Our Lady’s bidding, show what a truly valiant spirit she possessed. But Bernadette was a very humble and unpretentious person. She once said, “The Holy Virgin only chose me because I was the most ignorant. If she could have found someone else more ignorant, she would have chosen her.” Once, when she had to stand before the police to explain her revelations, she impressed her interrogators with her naturalness. But before her parents, the parish priest, and her religious superior, she was a model of respect and obedience.
Here you have the spirit of a true Catholic, of a true saint. She never gave importance to the world’s values, she didn’t care about what other people were thinking about her, be it good or bad. If someone gives importance to the applause of the world, he ends by losing his liberty and relying on the applause to go ahead. To be able to enjoy complete serenity, one has to be independent of the opinion of the world. St. Bernadette Soubirous was one who did not care about that. She used to do what her duty was according to Holy Mother Church.
St. Bernadette’s tale, and that of the little shepherds of Fatima, also encourages children to grow in a deeper understanding and love of the holy Rosary.
Source: http://catholicismpure.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/child-saints-as-role-models-for-children/