A client shares her thanks to St. Philomena:
I wanted to offer thanks to St. Philomena and to Karma for performing the community altar service. I prayed for assistance with my father’s medical problems and we are seeing progress that he hasn’t seen in years. He has found two really good doctors who are taking a proactive approach to his care. Not only that, but they are on the same page with each other and want to try approaches that complement each other. My mother came back from one of the doctor’s appointments with my dad and said, “This is too good to be true!” So I am really grateful to see these positive changes in his care, which should lead to better long-term health solutions.
– E.S., 2021
I am really glad to hear of the positive changes in his care, and thank you for sharing your experience with St. Philomena! She really does earn her title of the Wonder Worker, and she’s a generous saint who is very understanding and gentle. In other words, she *isn’t* one of those saints with a reputation of being “hot” or hard to handle or demanding things be “just so.” If you can’t afford elaborate altar setups, she’s ok with a simple candle and flowers. If you can’t afford or find real flowers, she’s ok with those made of crepe paper or fabric. If you can’t afford even that, she’s ok with a sketch or a photograph. I’m not kidding. The point is just “do your best.”
About St. Philomena
St. Philomena was martyred in the early 300s in Rome when she was only about 14 years old, as the legend goes. Her relics weren’t discovered, and thus her public veneration didn’t begin, until the 1800s. But her popularity has grown in leaps and bounds ever since with no signs of slowing or stopping.
Known as the Wonder Worker, she’s invoked by devotees for all kinds of things when other measures have failed and it seems pretty much hopeless. Some call her the patron saint of the impossible. In that respect she’s become something of a companion saint to St. Jude in contemporary folk practice.
Those who have formed a relationship with her have sought and received her help with everything from the conversion of unbelievers to fertility problems, healthy pregnancy and delivery, cure of mental illness, attraction of a spouse, and the sale of real estate. She’s said to have effected miraculous cures of injuries and illnesses ranging from heart defects to cancer. But officially, she’s the patron of babies and children and is considered the patroness of the living rosary. Padre Pio called her the Princess of Heaven.
In some houses and temples in traditions of the African diaspora, she is known as a lwa in her own right as the helpful and pleasant Filomez. She helps those who make their livings as market sellers, removes negativity and evil from the surroundings, and grants the ability to have prophetic dreams.
Resources
St. Philomena oil at Seraphin Station
Read a whole lot more about St. Philomena at Philomena.org
A novena to St. Philomena at Our Catholic Prayers
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