Hello there Rosary lovers. In this post I would like to share some Catholic saint quotes on suffering.
These quotes come from people who knew a great deal about suffering and hardships in life. Their words and thoughts are far away from my own, because they were much holier than I am. I thought it would help us to read their words and try to understand something of what they are saying.
St Gemma Galgani
St Gemma Galgani was a physically beautiful saint who had the stigmata. She died when she was only 25 from an extremely painful form of tuberculosis. She is appealed to for various ailments, such as headaches and bad backs. She knew what suffering was.
She said: ‘If you really want to love Jesus, first learn to suffer, because suffering teaches you to love.’
St Augustine
St Augustine is one of the greatest theologians in the history of Christianity. He wrote about 5 million words. He was a Bishop and is a revered Doctor of the Catholic Church.
St Augustine gives us a lesson here on suffering: ‘God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.’
The saint shows us here how universal suffering is, even when sin isn’t completely universal to humanity, since Jesus (and Mary) never sinned.
If suffering is the lot of every human and every child of God, then we have to realise it will happen and we need to accept this and when suffering comes we should pray for grace to endure patiently.
St Francis de Sales
St Francis de Sales is another Doctor of the Catholic Church, and was a wonderful theologian. He was used by God to bring many lapsed Catholics back into full communion with the Catholic Church, following the Protestant Reformation.
St Francis was very devoted to the Holy Rosary.
On suffering, he teaches us:
‘All the science of the Saints is included in these two things: To do, and to suffer. And whoever had done these two things best, has made himself most saintly.’
Here St Francis de Sales teaches us that all of the saints are in agreement about these two fundamental aspects of becoming great in the kingdom of heaven: do the will of God, and endure suffering faithfully.
St Faustina
One of the greatest of the modern saints, St Faustina was a 20th century phenomenon. You may well have seen in a Catholic Church the Divine Mercy painting she commissioned. It’s a picture of Jesus, with two bursts of light – one blue, one red – coming from his heart. Underneath it says: ‘Jesus I trust in you.’
St Faustina is the Saint of Divine Mercy. She is the reason why the Church emphasises God’s Mercy so much today. St Faustina helped bring to our attention that Mercy is the greatest attribute of God.
Many Catholics pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and this devotion was given to Jesus by St Faustina.
St Faustina had many private revelations from Jesus during her life as a Polish nun, and they are documented in her Diary Divine Mercy in My Soul. I heartily recommend you read this book, it will change your life.
St Faustina knew a great deal about suffering. She was only 33 when she died, and she was often opposed by those closest to her who sometimes thought she was demon-possessed or going against the Church. This is the hardest trial for any saint to endure.
Here’s what St Faustina has to say about suffering:
‘If the angels were capable of envy, they would envy us for two things: one is the receiving of Holy Communion, and the other is suffering.’
The angels would envy us for suffering? Why? St Faustina answers:
‘Suffering is a great grace; through suffering the soul becomes like the Saviour.’
St Ignatius of Loyola
St Ignatius was a convert to the faith, converting after he had received a battle wound and was confined to bed for a good while. He couldn’t do anything, so he read a book about the lives of the saints.
This changed him so much that he devoted his life to God. He ended up founding the Jesuit movement, which is still going strong today. Pope Francis is the first Jesuit Pope!
St Ignatius said:
‘If God sends you many sufferings, it is a sign that He has great plans for you and certainly wants to make you a saint.’
Two Other Saint Quotes
Here are two other quotes, but they are from Catholic saints I know nothing about. Please enjoy their rich words.
‘He who wishes to love God does not truly love Him if he has not an ardent and constant desire to suffer for His sake.’ – St Aloysius Gonzaga
I have to say that I have found this to be a common theme in the lives of the saints. They talk about this a lot. The greatest saints talk about WANTING to suffer to Christ’s sake. I am so far from this holiness.
‘When it is all over you will not regret having suffered; rather you will regret having suffered so little, and suffered that little so badly.’ – St. Sebastian Valfre
Lord have mercy.