Confessions of a Catholic Mommy

Talking about saints with little children is challenging. 

Maybe its just girls . . . maybe its just my children . . . maybe its actually just Turtle?

I know I'm supposed to do it -- good Catholic children know their saints, right?

I really tried this year on All Saints Day to talk about what the day meant, how it was ALL-the-special- friends-of-Jesus-who-are-up-in-Heaven's feast day.

And we looked at this Picture Book of Saints

and it raised many very . . . um . . .interesting questions.

 St. Sebastian: 

Turtle: "Why is he tied?  Why are those [pointing to arrows] sticking in him?  Why did the bad guys do it?  Did it hurt him?  Alot?  Did he cry?  How does he get off of there [pointing to the tree]?" 

(And then, after a while of staring at the picture:  "I'm going to hug him.")

St. Stephen:

Rosebud:  "That's Uncle Steve???  Why does he have blood??"

St. Thomas Aquinas:

"Why is there a sun on his head?"

St. John:

"What is that eagle doing on his back?"

St. Angela Merci (who is embracing a weeping woman):

"Why is that lady crying?"

St. Lucy:

"Why are those eyes right there?"

St. Barbara:

"What are those?"  [pointing to the shackles on her hands]

St. Francis:

"Why are there boo-boos on his hands?"

St. Mary Magdalene and St. Jerome:

"Why do they have bones? [skulls]  Whose are they?  Are they scared of them?  But we don't have scary, yucky things like that at Halloween!  Are bones yucky?"

*Sigh*

I got very fond of Dominic Savio, St. Therese, St. Agnes and all the pleasant pictures that did not produce difficult questions.  I tried hard to give careful, considered answers to the questions that are, ultimately, of such great significance . . . but I really must complain here, why do all the saint stories need to be heavily censored before being told to children??