You're listening to Catholic Sprouts, the daily podcast for Catholic kids that strives to plant seeds of faith.

Hey there, sprouts. Today is Friday, April 16th, 2021.

I hope that you have been enjoying hearing all of these remarkable saint stories.

I also hope that you have made some new friends in heaven, saints that you can learn about,

but also ask for their intercession for the needs that you have in your life.

Remember, these are real people in heaven willing to intercede for us.

Before we close out this week, Meg Hunter Kilmer is back with one more story to inspire you to be a saint yourself. St. Albert Hmyelofsky from Poland lived from 1845 to 1916. His memorial

is December 25th. St. Albert Hmielovsky was full of surprises.

When he was an 18-year-old soldier fighting for Polish independence and was shot in the leg, enemy soldiers discovered Albert and told him his injured leg would have to be amputated with no medicine to take

the pain away. They didn't expect him to be so brave, but Albert just said, give me a cigar,

and he smoked that cigar to pass the time while they cut off his leg. After his amputation,

they took him to a hospital. They should have known that Albert was no average teenager,

but they sure didn't expect him to sneak out of their hospital in a coffin and escape to Belgium.

And when he got there, I bet nobody expected the tough-as-nails soldiers with a wooden leg to learn to paint.

But that's just what Albert did,

becoming a painter whose art was famous all over Europe. Eventually, he returned home and became

friends with the most important artists and actors and writers in Poland. But Albert wasn't happy.

Once, he was so sad, he even had to go to the hospital.

The doctors helped him a lot, but Albert's life needed to change, too.

He had money and fame and friends, but he still felt empty.

So he began searching for God's will, and soon he founded an order of Franciscan friars.

Well, nobody expected that!

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