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For everyone who carries a cross
Your suffering is not the end of your story.
Here the saints walk beside you. Here the Cross of Christ speaks. Here pain is not explained away — it is met by Someone who suffered it first, and rose.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
John 10:10
Meet the saints of the cross Leave a prayer intention
The Way of the Cross · Luke 23:26
Kyrie eleison Nun Choir & Pipe Organ · © Catholic Eternal Chants · tap ▶ to play
“The one who has hope lives differently.”
Pope Benedict XVI · Spe Salvi, 2
Saints of the Cross
They were not spared the cross. They found Christ on it.
Cancer, polio, tuberculosis, slavery, prison, depression, betrayal. Their suffering often never stopped — yet each one ended in a crown.
Read all 100 stories
Leukaemia · aged 15
St Carlo Acutis
“I offer all my sufferings to the Lord for the Pope and for the Church.”
Tuberculosis of the bone
St Bernadette Soubirous
Promised happiness “not in this world, but in the next.” Her body lies incorrupt in Nevers.
Tuberculosis · darkness of faith
St Thérèse of Lisieux
“I am not dying; I am entering into life.”
Fifty years of the stigmata
St Pio of Pietrelcina
Wounded, investigated and silenced — he never stopped hearing confessions.
A mother’s sacrifice
St Gianna Beretta Molla
She chose her baby’s life over her own, and died a week after giving birth.
Slavery · 144 scars
St Josephine Bakhita
She forgave the men who enslaved her, and called God “my Master.”
Auschwitz · starvation bunker
St Maximilian Kolbe
“I am a Catholic priest. Let me take his place.”
Polio · aged 24
St Pier Giorgio Frassati
He gave everything to the poor, and died in five days. “Verso l’alto” — to the heights.
Anonymous prayer intentions
Jesus, I trust in You.
Write what weighs on you. Your name is optional. Our community prays every intention at the Hour of Mercy, 3 pm, and they are placed at the foot of the cross.
The prayer wall
Tap “I prayed” when you pray for someone
You are not alone
If the pain feels too heavy today
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46(45):11
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St Michael the Archangel · Defender in battle
Quis ut Deus?Who is like God?
His very name is a war cry. When Satan rose up in pride, Michael rose up in humility and threw him down from heaven. The enemy who whispers despair to you in your darkest hour has already been defeated, and Michael still stands guard over the people of God.
“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon … And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.”
Revelation 12:7–9
Scripture names him “one of the chief princes” (Daniel 10:13) and “the great prince who has charge of your people” (Daniel 12:1). The Church keeps his feast with St Gabriel and St Raphael on 29 September.
When he came to fight on earth
Three times the Church remembers
Each of these is honoured by the Church: in a shrine, in the liturgy, or in the life of a canonized saint.
Monte Gargano, Italy · 490s
The cave on the mountain and the battle of Siponto
St Michael appeared to St Lawrence, Bishop of Siponto, on Monte Gargano and asked that a cave on the mountain be consecrated to God. When the pagan army threatened the city, he promised help: a great storm of thunder and lightning broke over the enemy, and the people of Siponto were spared. The angel declared that he himself had consecrated the grotto.
How the Church honours it: The Sanctuary of San Michele Arcangelo at Monte Sant’Angelo is one of the oldest Christian shrines in the West. For centuries the Church kept 8 May as the feast of the Apparition of St Michael, and St John Paul II prayed in the grotto in 1987.
He fights for the little ones who call on him.
Rome · 590
The sword sheathed over a city of plague
A terrible plague was killing the people of Rome. Pope St Gregory the Great led a penitential procession through the city, carrying an image of Our Lady. As they crossed the Tiber, tradition records that St Michael appeared above the tomb of Hadrian, putting his blood-stained sword back into its sheath. The plague ended.
How the Church honours it: The fortress has been called Castel Sant’Angelo ever since, and a bronze statue of St Michael sheathing his sword still stands on its summit, near St Peter’s.
Prayer and penance can turn back even the darkest scourge.
Domrémy & Orléans, France · 1425–1429
The voice that sent a peasant girl to war
St Michael spoke to a young farm girl, Joan, and told her that God was sending her to save France. Against every human expectation she led the French army, broke the siege of Orléans in 1429 and brought the king to be crowned. At her trial she testified again and again that it was St Michael who had first come to her.
How the Church honours it: Her condemnation was overturned by a papal commission in 1456. Pope Benedict XV canonized St Joan of Arc in 1920, and her testimony about St Michael stands in the official record of her trial.
He gives courage to the weak to do the impossible.
Prayer to St Michael
St Michael the Archangel,defend us in battle.Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,by the power of God,cast into hell Satan and all the evil spiritswho prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.Amen.
Composed by Pope Leo XIII, who in 1886 asked that it be prayed after every Low Mass throughout the world. St John Paul II urged the faithful to pray it again (Regina Caeli, 24 April 1994).
Novena to St Michael · 9 days
Nine days under his protection
Pray one day at a time, ideally at the same hour. Each day: the day’s prayer below, then the Prayer to St Michael, one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be. Many pray it from 20 to 28 September, before his feast, but it can be prayed at any time of need.
Day 1 · For a strong faith
St Michael, you were the first to cry “Who is like God?” Strengthen my faith when doubt and fear attack me, and keep me close to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.
Then: Prayer to St Michael · Our Father · Hail Mary · Glory Be.
The darkness you are fighting is real, but it is not stronger than God. Call on St Michael, and stand behind the Cross.
Saint of the impossible · Feast 22 May
St Rita of Cascia, interceding for impossible causes
Married young to a violent man, Rita answered his anger with patience until he was converted. Then he was murdered, and her two sons died soon after. Refused three times by the convent at Cascia, she first made peace between the feuding families, and only then was received.
On Good Friday 1442 she begged Jesus to share His suffering, and a thorn from His crown pierced her forehead. She carried the wound for fifteen years. As she lay dying in winter, a rose bloomed for her in the snow. Pope Leo XIII canonized her in 1900.
Your situation may feel impossible. Hers did too, again and again. God was not finished.
Prayer to St Rita
O glorious St Rita,you shared in the Passion of Christand carried crosses no one could carry alone.Look on me in this impossible trouble.Ask Jesus, who wounded you with His love,to grant me [name your intention],if it is for His glory and my good.And whatever He wills,give me your patience, your peaceand your trust in God.Amen.
Novena to St Rita · 9 days
Nine days with the saint of the impossible
Each day: the day’s prayer, the Prayer to St Rita, then one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be. Many pray it from 13 to 21 May, before her feast, but it can be prayed in any time of need.
Day 1 · Trust when all seems lost
St Rita, you hoped when there was no reason left to hope. Teach me to trust that nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37).
Then: Prayer to St Rita · Our Father · Hail Mary · Glory Be.
The Divine Mercy · Every nation, one prayer
Do you still trust Me with your cross?
From every country and in every language, His children are answering. Choose your language, then tap the words to lay your trust at the feet of the Merciful Jesus.
Your language
Written together, one act of trust at a time
Each light is someone, somewhere, who said it today in their own language.
Today
All together
Jesus, I trust in You · Jezu, ufam Tobie · Jesús, en Ti confío · Yesu, nakutumainia
Jesus speaks to your heart
My child, I see the cross on your shoulders. I know its weight, because I carried Mine before you. I know the nights you could not sleep and the prayers you thought I did not hear. I heard every one of them.
Tell Me, do you still trust Me?
Not only when all is well, but today, with this cross, in this darkness. I am not far from you. I am closer to you than your pain.
Remember what the angel told My Mother: nothing is impossible for God. No illness, no grief, no sin and no broken home is beyond the reach of My mercy.
When you pray, do not only ask Me to take the cross away. Pray as I prayed in the garden, with tears: “Father, not my will, but Yours be done.” My Father’s will did not feel comfortable to Me either. But it passed through the Cross to the Resurrection, and it will lead you there too.
Give Me your trust, even if it is small and trembling. It is enough. Lay it at My feet, and I will carry what you cannot.
A meditation in the words of Scripture: Luke 1:37 · Luke 22:42 · Matthew 11:28
“The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive.”
Jesus to St Faustina · Diary, 1578
Find meaning in your cross
What the Church teaches about suffering
Go deeper when you are ready — Scripture, the Popes and the saints on why the Cross is not the end.
Take up your cross Why suffering? What Jesus taught, the Pope’s letter on hope, and why the prosperity gospel is wrong. Read more → Hebrews · His Blood The New Covenant From shadow to reality, and the eight powers of the Precious Blood. Read more → Be still Meditation and the Rosary A guided meditation with St Teresa of Ávila, your guardian angel, then the mysteries with Mary. Read more → You are not alone Prayer groups Find a prayer group, healing Mass or adoration near you — or announce your own. Read more →
Testimonies
Christ was there. Tell us where you met Him.
Your story may be the one that keeps someone else from giving up. Share how Jesus was present in your illness, grief, loss or darkness — and how His joy broke through.
“The Lord is king, let earth rejoice.” Psalm 97(96):1
Healing Peace in grief Light in darkness Faith restored
One Lord, every nation
Photos: Adeyemi Emmanuel Abebayo, Geron Dison, Joel Mott · Unsplash
Share your testimony Read more stories →
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Saints Have Cross www.saintshavecross.org — a place to find meaning in pain, and Christ in the meaning. General enquiries: info@saintshavecross.org Prayer requests: fearnot@saintshavecross.org
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“By his wounds we are healed.” — Isaiah 53:5
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Scripture references follow the CTS New Catholic Bible. © Saints Have Cross. Ad majorem Dei gloriam.