Infertile Couples Whose Faith Gave Us Great Saints

Everyone knows about St John the Baptist, but St Louis IX, St Francis of Paola, and St Collette were all born to parents long past normal childbearing age. 

From One Peter Five

By Brooke Larson

They say “good things come to those who wait.” Many of us who have got our “miracle babies” after our infertility journeys know the feeling of totally ecstatic happiness that a baby can bring. Along with that feeling are often questions of “what is God’s plan for this little one.” The hope, of course, is that they will become a saint.

When you’re dealing with the cross of infertility, it can be tempting to get obsessed with eating the perfect diet, tracking cycles, exercising the right amount, taking prenatals, etc. These things aren’t bad in themselves, but we must always remember that conceiving a child is not an act of science, it’s an act of God. It’s good to make sure you and your spouse are in optimal health, but it is more important to take your trials to prayer and ask God for your ‘miracle baby’. Here are a few saints who did just that and the results were these saints we know and love.

St. Colette

The couple Robert Boellet and Marguerite Moyon were old and childless. They decided to pray to the patron saint of children, St. Nicholas. Their prayers were answered when the 60-year-old Marguerite gave birth to their daughter Nicolette who was, of course, named after the saint who interceded for this little girl. Nicolette soon became known as Colette and that is how she is known most commonly today. Her parents died when she was 18 years old and, after trying a few different religious orders, she became a second order Franciscan.

After this story of her miraculous conception, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that many of St. Colette’s miracles revolve around babies. Collette was once staying with some friends, a husband and wife, during a trip, and while she was there the wife went into labor. The labor turned treacherous and St. Colette rushed to the local church to pray. Due to these prayers, a little daughter named Petronilla arrived safely. When Petronilla grew up, she joined a monastery that St. Colette started. On another occasion, St. Colette brought a stillborn child back from the dead.

St. Francis Paola

After fifteen years of marriage, Giacomo D’Alessio and Vienna di Fuscaldo had no children. They decided to go on a pilgrimage to Assisi to ask St. Francis for his intercession in this matter. One night, shortly after their return, the villagers of Paola gathered outside the couple’s house. Curious why his neighbors were gathering and what they were looking at, Giacomo stepped outside his house to find out. He saw tongues of fire hovering above his house and heard angelic songs. That was the night St. Francis of Paola was conceived. This wasn’t the end of St. Francis of Assisi’s intercession for this young boy, however. His eyes began to swell up when he was a baby and his parent’s quickly asked St. Francis of Assisi to heal him promising that their son would spend a year at a Franciscan convent. This promise was fulfilled when St. Francis of Paola was thirteen years old. He went on to found the Order of Minims and lived a life of prayer and simplicity. Giacomo and Vienna went on to have two more children.

St. Dominic

Felix de Guzman and Bl. Jane of Aza had two sons who were adults, but they were struggling with secondary infertility. Bl. Jane went to the Abbey Church of St. Dominic of Silos to petition his intercession for another son. She was given a dream that a dog carrying a torch jumped from her womb and set the world on fire. St. Dominic of Silos appeared to her saying she would bear a son who would be a light to the Church. They went on to have another son and a daughter. The two older brothers, Anthoney and Mannes, also became priests and Mannes was beatified by Pope Gregory XVI. St. Dominic was a great promoter of the Rosary, which plays into our next story.

St. Louis

Queen Blanche and King Louis VIII had been married for twelve years, but their marriage had still not produced an heir. St. Dominic visited the queen and told her to pray a Rosary every day petitioning Our Lady for the gift of motherhood. After a year of praying the Rosary she gave birth to a son named Philip. We can imagine how crushed she must have felt when Philip died in his infancy. Undaunted, she continued praying for another child and this time she gave out Rosaries to many courtiers and citizens of her kingdom, entreating them to pray for this blessing. Soon after, she gave birth to a little boy name Louis who is more commonly known as St. Louis IX, King of France. And Mary didn’t stop the blessings there. The couple went on to have Robert, Alphonse, St. Isabelle, and Charles. Twelve years is a long time to wait, but isn’t it worth it to have two of your children canonized by the Church?

St. John the Baptist

The story of Sts. Zachary and Elizabeth is wildly known because of St. Luke’s Gospel account. This couple reached old age and no child had been given to them. One day, Zachary was serving in the temple and an angel appeared heralding the birth of their son who was to be named John. St. John the Baptist was a cousin to Christ and, of course, St. Elizabeth was the one who gave us the beautiful words in the Hail Mary, “Blessed art thou among women!”

St. Joseph

Not much is known about St. Joseph’s life prior to marrying the Mother of God, but there were private revelations to Sr. Maria Cecilia Baij, O.S.B on the subject of his life. These revelations are not explicitly rejected or approved by the Church so take them with a grain of salt. According to the book comprised of her revelations titled The Life of St. Joseph, his parents Jacob and Rachel were barren for some time because God wanted St. Joseph to be, “a child obtained through prayerful entreaty.” After much prayer, supplication, almsgiving, and pilgrimages, they were given their much-desired son who would become the foster father of Christ!

Our Lady

There are no definitive accounts of the life of Sts. Joachim and Anne, but it is widely accepted in the Church that the grandparents of Our Lord lived many years of their marriage without children. Here we can again look to private revelation, this time given to Ven. Mary of Agreda, for a more detailed account of the events preceeding Mary’s Immaculate Conception. Because of the twenty years of infertility the couple endured, they were shunned by their friends, neighbors, and even the priests of the temple. The Jews at that time believed that if a couple did not have children they lacked God’s favor and could not take part in the kingdom the Messiah. Oh, how wrong they were! Not only do they take part in the kingdom of the Messiah, but they were His grandparents!

If you are in a period of waiting for a child, take encouragement from these stories of ‘miracle babies’ who went on to be a light for the whole world. Maybe your baby will be too!

Pictured: The Meeting of Joachim and Anne outside the Golden Gate of Jerusalem by Filippino Lippi  (1457–1504).