Ah! Easter is here at last. Or here again …

April 7 is Easter Sunday, too. The priest at Mass all week says “on this Easter Day” before the eucharistic prayer, and this Sunday is Easter Sunday 2. Give your family a second Easter celebration! A nice meal, some more candy … See page one for the other feast celebrated today: Divine Mercy Sunday.

This is also a great month for saints who model specific virtues to your boys and girls. Here's a sampling:

April 8, St. Julie Billart. Girls: apostolic zeal. As a young girl, this Belgian peasant learned to read and write, even while she earned money on a farm. She learned so that she could teach catechism to other poor girls who were unschooled. She continued to pray and teach others even when she was completely paralyzed as an adult for 22 years. During that time, the paralyzed woman so impressed others with her service that an order of nuns formed around her.

April 9, St. Waldetrudis. Teenage girls: being faithful even when it's unpopular. As a young woman (she was married at a young age), Waldetrudis had a very holy family: Her husband and children all are saints also. As often happens, people thought she was silly to have such an active faith. They said her piety was just a mask to hide her secret sins. The young woman didn't defend herself, but kept to her religious practices and suffered for God. Today, girls should keep to their faith, even if it some people criticize them.

April 12, St. Joseph Moscati, Teen-age boys: organizing your time. The Italian doctor was able to do many things, including daily Mass, prayer and spiritual reading, while excelling in his studies. Later, he became renowned for his medical research, correctly diagnosing difficult cases and helping many patients, both physically and spiritually, often without payment. Boys might enjoy Regina Martyrum's audio tape dramatizing his life (800-565-3123). It also features his courageous service in World War I.

April 19, Blessed James Duckett, Boys: respect for priests and books. James Duckett wasn't Catholic (the Church was persecuted in England when he was alive, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I) until he happened to read a book that changed his life. He stopped going to his Protestant church and was thrown into prison twice for it. He began helping to hide priests, and to print Catholic books. He was martyred for doing so.

Other saints for boys: St. George, April 23, who fearlessly fought evil in the form of a dragon (little boys can imitate him by fighting selfishness!) St. Mark the Evangelist, April 25, is mentioned by St. Paul as having abandoned the missionary work he started out on. Even pre-teen or teen-age boys who have fallen away a little can learn from this Gospel writer, that they can always come back with a vengeance.

For girls, there are also some better-known saints who are good role models: St. Zita, April 27, patroness of domestic workers, patiently and diligently performed her duties amidst peer ridicule. When she defended her chastity from a fellow worker, she was rewarded greatly by her employers and eventually became a model for other workers, showing that “work is beautiful when it is done with Christian love.” St. Catherine Siena, April 29, can inspire girls to defend the pope and to be a diligent about following God's will. She's a doctor of the Church because she boldly used her learning and her love for God to intervene at a time of crisis in the Church. She spent her 33 years on earth transforming all kinds of hearts with her delicate but forthright dedication to Christ and his Church.

April Hoopes writes from

Hamden, Connecticut.