Children and pregnancy

Any of these can be asked. There is no order of precedence and no wrong choice, so pick whoever the story fits.

• St. AgnesMartyred at about thirteen. Her name means lamb, and Rome has kept it for seventeen centuries.
• St. AnneThe mother of Mary, asked for by mothers and grandmothers.
• St. Brigid of IrelandIreland’s other patron: abbess of Kildare, endless generosity, the cross of rushes.
• St. Gabriel the ArchangelThe angel of the Annunciation, God's messenger for the news that changes everything.
• St. Gerard MajellaThe saint expectant mothers ask for, especially when a pregnancy is difficult.
• St. Gianna Beretta MollaA pediatrician and mother who refused a treatment that would end her pregnancy, and paid for it.
• St. JoachimMary’s father: the grandfather of Jesus, patron of grandfathers and long awaited answers.
• St. Leonard of NoblacThe hermit whose shrine filled with the chains of freed captives.
• St. Luigi OrioneOnly charity will save the world: he ran toward two earthquakes and dug with his hands.
• St. Margaret of AntiochThe legend even her medieval editors doubted, and the patron women in labour have trusted for a thousand years.
• St. Margaret of CortonaNine years a nobleman’s mistress, a son, a murder, and then the Franciscans’ Third Light.
• St. Mariam BaouardyThe little Arab: a Galilee orphan who survived the unthinkable and built the Carmel of Bethlehem.
• St. Nicholas of MyraThe bishop behind Santa Claus: fiercer, poorer, and better than the legend.
• St. Peter Julian EymardThe apostle of adoration: he built a life around simply staying in the Presence.
• St. PhilomenaA name on three tiles and a devotion the saints themselves carried.
• St. Raymond NonnatusDelivered by cesarean after his mother died, he spent his life buying other people back.
• St. TarcisiusThe boy who would not surrender what he was carrying: the altar servers’ martyr.
• Sts. Elizabeth and ZechariahJohn the Baptist’s parents: her greeting became half the Hail Mary, and his silence ended in a canticle.
• Sts. Francisco and Jacinta MartoThe shepherd children of Fatima, asked by Our Lady of the Rosary for exactly this prayer.
• Sts. Perpetua and FelicityA young mother and her enslaved friend, martyred hand in hand. Her prison diary still survives.