On March 8, International Women’s Day is celebrated around the world. It is a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women as well as advocate for continued equality.
The Catholic Church is filled with female saints who accomplished incredible feats for the Church and serve as role models for women around the world.
Here is a list of inspiring quotes from 10 female saints:
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein): “The world doesn’t need what women have, it needs what women are.”
St. Teresa of Ávila: “We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials.”
St. Faustina: “In whatever state a soul may be, it ought to pray. A soul that is pure and beautiful must pray, or else it will lose its beauty; a soul that is striving after this purity must pray, or else it will never attain it; a soul that is newly converted must pray, or else it will fall again; a sinful soul, plunged in sins, must pray so that it might rise again. There is no soul that is not bound to pray, for every single grace comes to the soul through prayer.”
St. Kateri Tekakwitha: “Look at this cross. Oh, how beautiful it is! It has been my whole happiness during my life, and I advise you also to make it yours.”
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: “We know certainly that our God calls us to a holy life. We know that he gives us every grace, every abundant grace; and though we are so weak of ourselves, this grace is able to carry us through every obstacle and difficulty.”
St. Teresa of Calcutta: “It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home, for this is where our love for each other must start.”
St. Joan of Arc: “I have a good master, that is God; it is to him I look in everything and to none other.”
St. Rose of Lima: “The gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase.”
St. Josephine Bakhita: “If I were to meet the slave-traders who kidnapped me and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for if that did not happen, I would not be a Christian and religious today.”
St. Catherine of Siena: “You are rewarded not according to time or work but according to the measure of your love.”
source: ACI Africa
