She had the gift of prophecy and recorded her visions in writing. Hildegard of Bingen was 15 when she began wearing the Benedictine habit and pursuing a religious life. Some say that fine weather on her feast day, March 17, means it is time to begin spring planting. Because of her attention to the care of her gardens, gardeners have asked for her intercession. She was known for her hospitality to pilgrims and her assistance to missionary monks from Ireland. Gertrude was known for her charity, fasting and prayer. A Benedictine abbess and patron of gardeners, St. Gertrude refused to marry and would only take Christ as her bridegroom. Emphasizing the ecclesial doctrine to which the goods of the Earth are dedicated to all people, the pope criticized the modern practices of exploiting nature. The letter is one of the first magisterial documents to mention explicitly the topic of the preservation of the environment. “Man is suddenly becoming aware that by an ill-considered exploitation of nature he risks destroying it and becoming in his turn the victim of this degradation,” he wrote. He labeled environmental degradation as one of the most pressing problems facing humanity, at least partly linking care for the environment to spiritual health. In his forceful 1971 apostolic letter, “Octogesima Adveniens,” he said the exploitation of the environment is a human social problem. Giovanni Battista Montini was born near Brescia in northern Italy and elected pope in 1963. Kateri is the first Native American to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church and is the patron of the environment and ecology. Her name, Kateri, is the Mohawk form of Catherine, which she took in honor of St. At age 19, Kateri converted to Catholicism, taking a vow of chastity and refusing to marry. She has been referred to as a “child of nature” who often went into the woods to make crosses out of sticks and to talk to God. Kateri was raised in the Iroquois nation that managed the fields, forests and wildlife of their homeland. In honor of the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ second encyclical, “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home,” and in honor of the Diocese of Burlington’s current Year with the Saints, Vermont Catholic magazine is featuring some of the saints that have a connection to the environment.

What is a catholic saint