Embracing the saints

California Legates are drawing attention to the saints through a unique ministry . . .

Three days into a family vacation in Ischia, Italy, Amy D’Ambra was spending most of her time at the local Internet café with a collection of electronic devices she had brought along to stay connected to work.

It was only when her husband Anthony kindly asked her to put everything away that she stopped to refocus on him and their three children. Once unplugged, she found herself kneeling in St. Anthony Church before a statue of St. John Joseph, the patron saint of Ischia who inspired children to live a holy life. Instead of saying a memorized prayer, though, the California businesswoman felt inspired to ask the saint, “What can I do for you?”

Blessings, healings and love

An insurance broker and member of Legatus’ South Bay of Los Angeles Chapter, D’Ambra admits to having “kind of a driven personality.” But during her moment of prayer, she said she felt everything go quiet. In her heart, she heard the words, “Share our stories so we can be an inspiration to others. Let us be heroes to the youth.” Saints, she sensed St. John Joseph saying, are not to be idolized as statues on a shelf, but are real people who walked the earth in union with God.

Soon, D’Ambra’s business mind went to work and the name “My Saint My Hero” emerged along with an idea to create religious medals of saints, each with a matching one-word virtue tag. Within seven years, My Saint My Hero was a growing business based in San Pedro, Calif., selling necklaces, bracelets, key chains and rosaries online and in nearly 400 stores across the country.

The company plans to go international, starting with an Internet presence in Italy. “Our prayer is to be internationally recognized, nationally known and regionally the place where people go for Catholic gifts,” D’Ambra said.

Christine Rich, also a member of the South Bay of Los Angeles Chapter, joined D’Ambra as co-owner two years after the start. She says My Saint My Hero is more than a jewelry company: “It’s about blessings, healings and love.”

The staff gathers monthly for Mass and prays the rosary weekly for those who wear, make or sell My Saint My Hero’s products for men, women and children. “Our mission in the beginning was always to start from prayer,” Rich said. “We know when we get off-line and forget that, it becomes very apparent.”

My Saint My Hero also has a spiritual director — Fr. Richard Sunwoo, associate pastor of St. Lawrence Martyr Parish in Redondo Beach, Calif. — and has engaged Fr. John Bartunek, a Legion of Christ priest, to write the text of the blessing cards that accompany each piece of jewelry.

My Saint My Hero started with 16 saints and has added one or two every year. “I feel like all of them are with us when we pray,” D’Ambra said.

In keeping with what D’Ambra heard in prayer in Ischia, Rich said the company’s focus is on honoring the saints in a way that doesn’t put them on a shelf, but shares their stories — especially with young people — and brings them to life. Every saint medal, for example, includes the saint’s story. The point, she said, is that the lives of the saints are not folk tales, but true stories about real people.

Spreading the faith

The women of My Saint My Hero see their products not just as things that look pretty, but as a means of evangelization and catechesis. “We love that the jewelry looks great,” added Legate Suzanne Durnell, a former flight attendant who is one the company’s five sales reps. “We love designing it. We love all that, but more importantly it’s a tool for us to talk about or to share our faith.”

All three women believe that their ministry enables them to put the Legatus mission “to spread the faith” into practice.

“As Legates, we’re supposed to be working in the New Evangelization and spreading Christ’s love,” Rich said. She has been surprised that so many of the stores and clients carrying their products are secular, including boutiques, hotels and spas. “I realize we are really getting Christ’s word out to people who wouldn’t walk into a Catholic or Christian store where we thought we would have to concentrate our business. I know the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Mother are guiding us because this is something we never could have planned.”

My Saint My Hero often gets calls from people with stories to share. For example, a Louisiana vendor which carries their jewelry recently told Rich about two friends who were wearing Benedictine Blessing Bracelets when they ran the April 15 Boston Marathon together. The bracelets are the company’s top-selling product.

At Mile 17, one of the runners had wanted to slow down, but was encouraged to press on. When they crossed the finish line, they were cheered by the vendor and a group of friends who had traveled to Boston to support them. As the group walked away, they heard the first explosion. They were then about a half block past the finish. If the two runners had slowed their pace, everyone in their group would have been within feet of the explosion.

My Saint My Hero has created a Blessings for Boston bracelet in honor of the victims. Proceeds from its sale go to the One Fund Boston, Inc., which was set up to help those affected by the terrorist attack.

D’Ambra designed the original saint medals and virtue tags, which are hand-cast by an artisan in California. My Saint My Hero products are handmade by artisans in the U.S. and Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the Blessed Virgin Mary has reportedly been appearing since 1981.

Although it has an apostolic mission, My Saint My Hero is as much a business as it is a ministry.

“Here’s an organization that, to be successful in evangelization and carrying out its mission, has to have a certain cash flow and profitability,” said Philip de Souza, a Legate and president of Aurora Enterprises, a data-security company that has provided web and consulting services to My Saint My Hero. “The fact that they are profitable and able to run a business efficiently allows them to grow and to spread the word.”

De Souza said he has been impressed with the enthusiasm of their team. “It’s amazing to work with them because they’ve got all this energy, purpose and passion.”

Business owners can get distracted or lose passion, he said, but both D’Ambra and Rich are as energized as they were at the outset. “It’s great to see their sense of purpose and focus on their mission.”

JUDY ROBERTS is Legatus magazine’s staff writer.

For more information, visit: MySaintMyHero.com