Meet Our Patrons

The Communion of Saints

If an academy is to hand on the Catholic faith whole and entire—keeping Christ at the heart of everything—as Coeur du Christ proposes to do, it must nurture a very special relationship between students and those who have succeeded in cooperating with the grace of God. Students must identify with the saints. They must come to desire to imitate the saints, and so must also cultivate affection for the saints. In the Church’s history, though, there are too many saints to count. Selections must be made, not in judgment over the merits of this or that particular holy person, but in highlighting saints that imitate Christ in the way we want our students to do so. All the saints imitated Christ, and there are no two saints that are alike. As a result, individuals, families, and academies should choose their own patrons according to their own life of devotion and goals for sanctity. Coeur du Christ Academy has chosen various holy men and women to integrate into the life of the students for exactly these purposes.

Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati is patron of CDCA’s athletics, our focus on the integration of physical fitness into formation of the whole person, and of Frassati Fridays—our time intentionally set aside for excursions into the beautiful wilderness of North Idaho as well as for acts of charity and service, both in following the noble example of Bl. Frassati himself. His witness as a young man full of vigor and life, intrepid in the full enjoyment of God’s creation, and committed to charity and service we believe is particularly suited to the life of our school. 



St. Thomas More was a married father of four, a poet, lawyer, judge, statesman, classically educated intellectual, and martyr for his heroic stance for Catholic doctrine in the public realm. He is patron saint for one of our young men’s households and was intentionally chosen to embody the best virtues of a Catholic in the public square, namely that of generous regard for the common good, provision for the material needs of those under his care, acts of charity and service to those less fortunate, and lastly, for his courage, even unto death, to take a public stand against injustice.



St. Thérèse of Lisieux was a Carmelite nun and is a Doctor of the Church. She is especially noted for her rather simple approach to spirituality, which is referred to as her “little way.” This contemplative approach to spirituality with its emphasis on a quiet detachment from worldly passions accompanied by a loving union with the heart of Christ is especially important in our contemporary culture of constant distraction and widespread inability to rest in the stillness required for deep communion with God. For these reasons, St. Thérèse was chosen as a fitting patroness of one of our female households, representing an important and humble witness in the lives of the saints.



St. Dominic de Guzmán, founder of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), was chosen as an archetypal patron of our other male household. Formed well by the deep intellectual and spiritual traditions of the Church in the ferment of a time of great heresy, and also great reform, he revitalized the Church through his return to ascetic and self-denying practices of the deep monastic tradition, while simultaneously tackling the heresy of the time head-on through bold preaching. Our hope and prayer is that this spirit of self denial paired with courageous witness is communicated well to all of our students through the patronage of St. Dominic.  



St. Gianna Beretta Molla was a married mother of four and a pediatric physician. She is especially noted for her courageous choice in sacrificing her own life to save the life of her unborn child, who is still alive today. In our contemporary society of secular materialism and death, which denigrates both motherhood and self-sacrifice for higher goods, St. Gianna is a striking witness against the self-serving horror of abortion, as well as a model of courageous charity as a woman in full—as wife, mother, and servant of those in need around her. As the patroness of our other female household she serves as a  model of unique virtue for our students to look to in our day and age.



St. Cecilia of Rome is patroness of CDCA’s fine arts programs and serves to highlight not only the importance of the arts as a key component of an integrated program of formation, but also the specific importance of music and song in the process of enculturation we intend to promote given her particular patronage of music through the ages. Whether in cultivating a deep appreciation for the artistic heritage of Western Civilization through studying the art and architecture of medieval Christendom, gathering as a community for folk music and song, or students lifting their voices in sacred polyphony, St. Cecilia’s inspiration as patroness is at the forefront of so much that we do.

This combination of saints shows Coeur du Christ students that they themselves can be saints too. No matter what vocation to which God calls them, a life lived in accordance with grace can make them men and women of the beatitudes, like Frassati and Lisieux. Grace can grant them the courage to die to themselves for the faith and in service to others, like More and Molla; it can enable them to extol the simplicity of beauty, turning their gaze upward like Sts. Cecilia and Thérèse; it can help them to communicate the truth to others like Sts. Dominic and Thomas More. 
 

All you holy men and women, pray for us!