HEAVENLY
BRICKS

St. Peter Damian is one of the thirty (at time of writing) Doctors of the Church . He was a major reformer against the scandals of the church in his day, and was an influence on Dante Alighieri and St. Francis of Assisi .  Lifetime: 988 to 1072 Region:  Northern Italy Patronages:  Faenza and Font-Avellano, Italy; Insomniacs Iconograpy:  Quill and book; Knotted rope; Grey robes Feast Day: February 21 Peter was the last born to a large noble family who was, despite their titles, rather poor. He became an orphan at a young age, and was adopted by an older brother. Unfortunately, this brother didn't seem to take in young Peter out of the kindness of his heart; Peter was treated like a slave, underfed and forced to care for the brother's pigs. One of Peter's other brothers, who was a priest, eventually took pity on Peter and gave him money to go to school. This brother's name was Damian, and Peter was so moved by his sibling's kindness that he added the brother's na...

So first of all, I need to say that our favorite Danish brick toy company has a severe shortage of women of color, especially those without glowing eyes or alien face paint. St. Bakhita's later forgiveness for -- nay, appreciation of  -- her captors truly demonstrates the power of God to forgive all things. Lifetime: 1868 to 1947 Region:  Sudan; Italy Patronages:  Sudan; Victims of human trafficking Iconograpy:  Simple habit and head wrap; Broken chain Feast Day: February 8 Bakhita forgot the name she was born with. That's because, when she was 7 or 8, she was enslaved by slavers and the trauma of her capture caused her to lose that memory. Her captors are the ones who gave her the name Bahkita, which means "lucky". They also made her convert to their religion. Before she was taken, Bakhita was part of a loving family, with three brothers and three sisters. Her uncle was the chief of her village. A year before Bakhita's enslavement, one of her older sisters was t...