My Name is Not Nicole- Part 2

Back in February, I had written a "brilliant" piece about my frequent experience being miscalled Nicole instead of Natalie. The very day that blog went live I received an email where I needed to complete some new patient paperwork. To whom did they address the email? I kid you not, Nicole. Ignoring the fact that this person had access to all of my identifying information (including my blood type, social security number, etc) I took it as a sign that the message of this two part blog was meant to be.  So without further ado, here is part 2!

     We last left off with me finally Googling to see if there was any Catholic significance to the name of Nicole after being prayed over and called Nicole multiple times during that prayer session. I couldn’t think of any “Catholic famous” Nicoles of the top of my head so I wasn’t too hopeful. Google was quick to inform me (with the help of those concerning little AI bots) that “Nicole” wasn’t directly related to a saint but that it was more widely associated with St. Colette. Having never heard of St. Colette, I did some further research to discover the perfect Saint to ask for intercession with my work as a Creighton Model Practitioner.

     I discovered that St. Colette of Corbie was born Nicolette in the late 1300s. (See? Nicolette just seems like a Frenchy version of Nicole.) She was named after St. Nicholas whose intercession her parents credited to her conception after they struggled with infertility for most of their married lives. It is reported that her parents gave her the nickname of “Colette” which is where the name St. Colette is from. The fact that she herself was a “miracle baby” born to a couple struggling with infertility was enough to keep me interested.

     While there is limited information about her life in general, the miracles associated with her life are quite astounding. On one occasion, it is reported that there was a woman in significant pain with a difficult labor where many feared both the mother and baby would die. When St. Colette prayed for them, both the life of the mother and the baby were saved. On another occasion, a grieving father rushed his stillborn baby to a priest to be baptized. When the priest refused to baptize the baby, the father rushed to the monastery where St. Colette was. St. Colette instructed to father to wrap the baby in her veil and then return to the priest. Upon his return to the priest, the baby was discovered to be alive and well!

     With miracles like these, it is no wonder that St. Colette is the patron saint of couples trying to conceive, stillborn babies, and pregnancy. From the beginning of my time as a Creighton Model Practitioner, I have always had the privilege of working almost exclusively with couples walking the path of infertility. Perhaps St. Colette has always been nudging and guiding me in this work, steadily leading me to her as an intercessor for all of my infertility couples. Maybe that’s why her name has come up so often instead of my own. Since making this connection, I have asked her intercession in prayer prior to meeting with couples for follow-ups.  Having a Saint particularly dedicated to the cause of infertility has helped to bolster my hope for couples struggling with infertility and (I like to think) improve my ability to support these couples on their fertility journey.

St. Colette, pray for us!

Reference:

https://saintoftheday.com/st-colette/