St. Dominic of Silos (1000 to Dec. 20, 1073)

   I am surrounded by pregnant friends and coworkers in their twenties and thirties all day long, but today I learned of something short of a miracle. My older brother's wife, who will be 47 in February, is pregnant with their first child. The baby is due in June. No egg donor and no in vitro fertilization. Something to regulate ovulation? I'm not going to ask.
  "It happened the natural way," my younger brother said.
  I'm so happy because this child will grow up in a loving household with devoted parents. And now, when I hear people say it's impossible for them to get pregnant if they are in their forties, I can say there is hope.
  (I was also thrilled to hear the good news on Dec. 10 because for the past 42 years, it's been a solemn day in my family. I was 4-years-old when my second cousin, a police officer, froze to death while trying to save a child who fell through the ice while skating on a pond.)
  St. Dominic of Silos, the founder of the Order of Preachers, is one of many patron saints of pregnant women. He was born to peasant parents in La Rioja, Spain in 1000.
  St. Dominic of Silos worked as a shepherd then became a Benedictine monk. He founded a monastery which because a place for charity, book design, and gold and silver work.
  St. Dominic of Silos died on Dec. 20, 1073. His feast day is Dec. 20.

(R.I.P. Norman:  Dec. 8, 1930 to Dec. 10, 1968)