Whenever you or a loved one are in need of healing, whether it be physical or emotional, it is important to thank God for the doctors and other healthcare workers who are there to tirelessly serve us in times of our greatest needs.
Sirach 38:1-2 states:
Honor physicians for their services, for the Lord created them; for their gift of healing comes from the Most High.
Especially at this time, those working in healthcare are in need of our deep intercession.
Patrons and Prayers for Doctors + Healthcare Workers
Here are a list of just a few of patron Saints of healthcare workers.
Saint Luke
St. Paul referred to Luke as the beloved or glorious physician. Well known as the author of one of the Gospels, St. Luke was one of the greatest physicians of the first century and traveled throughout the Mediterranean world healing the sick.
Let's ask for St. Luke's intercession:
Most charming and saintly Physician, you were animated by the heavenly Spirit of love. In faithfully detailing the humanity of Christ, you also showed his divinity and his genuine compassion for all human beings. Inspire our physicians with your professionalism and with the divine compassion for their patients. Enable them to cure the ills of both body and spirit that afflict so many in our day. Amen.
Saints Cosmas and Damian
We hear their names during Sunday Mass in one of the Eucharistic Prayers, but do you know their background?
They were twin brothers who became extremely skilled physicians in the third century, and never took money for their services. They were eventually martyred for their beliefs in Christ.
Saint Gianna Beretta Molla
Gianna, whose name means "God is gracious," was a 20th century Italian pediatrician.
She once wrote to her husband, "Love is the most beautiful sentiment that the Lord has put into the soul of men and women."
When pregnant with her third child, she faced an impossible choice of having surgery for a uterine tumor versus dying so that her unborn child could live. She chose the latter.
St. Gianna is the inspiration behind the first pro-life Catholic healthcare center for women in New York, the Gianna Center. She's a patron Saint of mothers, physicians, and unborn children.
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Saint Maximilian Kolbe
Associated with being a patron Saint of the Anointing of the Sick, Maximilian Kolbe was a Franciscan friar with a great devotion to the Blessed Mother.
He is perhaps best known for his time caring for others in Auschwitz, ultimately ending when he volunteered to die in place of another prisoner. John Paul II proclaimed him “Patron Saint of our Difficult Age.”
Saint Raphael the Archangel
This archangel's intercession is credited for the healing and cures of many who have sought his intercession.
He is the patron Saint of healing.
Saint Luke, pray for us.
Saints Cosmas and Damian, pray for us.
Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, pray for us.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.
Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.
Jesus, the Divine Physician, Be Their Strength!
Let's pray this traditional prayer for our doctors and healthcare workers:
Righteous God, I thank You for every healthcare worker and I declare that You are their strength and song. You have become their salvation; You are their God and we will praise You. Father, I pray that You will be the God of the people every healthcare worker cares for. Amen.
Will you pray for our doctors and healthcare workers today?
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Dr. Alexis Dallara-Marsh is a board-certified neurologist who practices in Bergen County, NJ. She is a wife to her best friend, Akeem, and a mother of two little ones on Earth, plus two others in Heaven above. You can find out more about her here.
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