Today is the feast day of St. Nonna, widow, who lived to be 374, apparently outliving her husband by just a few months. Good genes!
Her family is full of saints. Her husband, who she converted, is the great St. Gregory Nazianzen the Elder. Three of her children are saints, including the great St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Caesrius of Nazianzen. The third is St. Gorgonia.
So, why do some families have lots of saints in them and some have none?
One simply reason-Nonna and her kin wanted to become saints. They prayed, studied, suffered, encouraged each other in habits of holiness. They all had two things in mind-Christ and His Church.
St. Basil the Great's brother was also a saint, and his sister, and an aunt.
Do you want your child to be a Doctor of the Church? Be a saint.
