A few years ago online (I wish I could remember where) I read about a Catholic family’s New Year’s tradition to choose a new patron saint for their family each year. I thought this was a great idea!
Choose a saint that you feel would be a good fit for your family- something relative to you. We chose St. Anthony because my family is hopelessly disorganized, and we constantly loose things. I thought the patron saint of lost objects would be fitting for us.
I like to put a statue of our family’s patron saint by the door in our home. Keeping the statue there reminds me daily of our patron saint of the year.
Here are some ideas for celebrating the yearly patron saint of your family:
- Put a statue of that saint in your home.
- Give your children holy cards or inexpensive saint medals of the saint.
- Do research and learn about your saint over the year.
- Celebrate your saint’s feast day.
- Make crafts and do activities with your children relating to your saint and his or her patronage. (Search in my navigation bar for ideas under “saints”).
- Do a quick google search to see if your saint has a prayer you can say together on New Year’s day, and put up somewhere in your home. Include this prayer in your bedtime prayer routine for the year.
Just so you know, buying Catholic stuff for your home doesn’t have to break the bank. I like to check out Catholic Deals for money saving ideas, but I’ve also found some good deals around town.
Looking for affordable saint statues? I have routinely found saint statues that stand a foot high at Ross for somewhere around $9 each, which is a great deal! And no, they’re not plastic. They’re not usually labeled, so you need to know who you’re looking at. It’s hit or miss, but worth checking out for sure! If they’re damaged at all, ask for a discount- they’ll always give it to you.
If you’re lucky enough to have a local Catholic shop, every Catholic store I’ve ever been in has a set of these drawers with cheap saint medals inside. They’re about 0.50 cents each. These are great for kids, and excellent for crafting!
Some of my favorite things about having a new patron saint of our family each year:
- We are exposed to more saints and learn about a new one each year.
- Rather than choosing a New Year’s resolution, we can choose a saint with a positive aspect that we can work towards emulating for the year.
- We have more saints that we feel “close” to, and are special to us. The number grows each year.
- It gives us a new angle to work on ourselves spiritually, taking our new patron saint on as a spiritual inspiration.
- It gives us a reason to celebrate a new saint feast day each year, and learn about the traditions that go along with that saint.
Here’s Julian proudly sporting his St. Anthony medal from last year. He loves it!
PS. Just wanted to make sure you all remember that New Year’s Day is indeed a holy day of obligation, so going to mass should be a part of your New Year’s tradition. 
What other traditions does your family have for celebrating the New Year’s?
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