![]() Andrew was the first apostle called - the first to ‘leave all things to follow Christ!’”įather Simon Baker, the chaplain of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, said he almost thought his name had failed him. Joseph to give my family the strength we all needed,” she said, and now after 30-plus years as a vocations director she appreciates that “St. Sister Joseph Andrew had no idea that her double name meant “Increasing Strength” when she requested and received the name.īut now she sees how the names fit. Sisters and monks say they have learned the meaning of their names over time in their roles in religious life. Simon was renamed Peter, “Rock,” when he was called to be the steady center of gravity for the Church. Abram, or “exalted father,” was renamed Abraham, “father of a multitude” when he founded a new people. In the Bible, when someone is given a new name, they also receive a new mission. Second: Your name gives you your mission. Whatever the reason, she said, “we also believe the saints choose us - and put a special devotion in our hearts to them.” “Different people choose for different reasons,” she said: “perhaps it is a saint they simply have great devotion to and wish to honor perhaps it is a saint who excelled in a virtue they realize they may lack it could be someone with whom they have a special connection through their interests or work or education or it may be a saint that is special to someone whom they love.” Lay people see this especially at confirmation, she said, when we pick a patron. “Your name is given in heaven!” Sister Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz of the Ann Arbor, Michigan, Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, told me. In Germany, where Catholics traditionally celebrated name days more than birthdays, there was a saying : “Every cow has a birthday.” No cow has a home in heaven, however. ![]() Here are their reasons.įirst: Your birthday connects you with the earth - but your name day connects you to heaven. To try to understand why, I asked people who are experts in name changes - the monks and other religious who have changed their names. In many countries, your name day is more important than your birthday. If there are many saints with your name - Elizabeth of Hungary, Elizabeth of the Trinity, Elizabeth Ann Seton, for example - and your parents didn’t have a specific saint in mind, then get to know these saints and pick one as a special patroness. So, for example, Pope Francis, baptized Jorge Mario, celebrates his name day on the feast of St. The feast day of the saint who shares your name is definitely a reason for festivities!įirst off, what is a name day? It is the feast day of the saint after whom you were named, or, if your parents didn’t name you with a particular saint in mind, we could say it is simply the feast day of the saint whose name you share. ![]()
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