Laundry, the great unifier. The baskets that never stays empty for more than a handful of minutes. More than once I have joked that I needed a saint of laundry to ask to pray on my behalf while I find the perfect management strategy.
It turns out that there is a patron saint of laundry! The other day I heard that it was the international day of laundry. After giggling that “every day is laundry day” I became curious. So I switched the laundry from the wash to the drier and dove in to find the most Catholic reason of all: the feast day of a canonized saint!
Saint Hunna, was a French saint. She died April 15 in the year 679, and was canonized by Pope Leo X in 1520. Her son, Deodatus, joins her as a venerated saint. So not only was she a saint but she raised one as well! What a great inspiration she is already. (Wonder how much of his college kid laundry she did!)
The daughter of a Duke, she married and became a mother. She was devoted to helping fund monasteries, churches, and devoted much of her time to service of the poor. She regularly was found washing the laundry of those around her in the community. When she came across an item that needed mending, she mended it herself. If an item was beyond repair or she noticed it was ill fitting, she would replace it without any fuss. Just added the new item to the basket of clean clothes when she returned it. The more she served and cared for the people around her, the more they trusted and loved her.
She died of natural causes and was buried in her little town. Her son went on to become a monk following in her footsteps of faithfulness to our Lord and the Church.
So the next time you find yourself facing mount laundry, discovering blown out knees beyond repair (especially in the knees of any kids) say a prayer to Saint Hunna, and maybe another to her son, Deodatus. Allow her example to point you in the direction of grace and service to others just as she did.
St Hunna, pray for us!