I love coming up with fun and creative ways to celebrate the church year with kids, and November is full of fun Saint feast days to celebrate! Some of these feast days include All Saints’ Day, St. Martin de Porres, St. Cecilia, Martinmas, and generally, the beginning of Advent! The month of November is also dedicated to the souls of the faithful departed, and November is black Catholic History awareness month. You can find all of my month to month post on living liturgically here. Now let’s look at these highlights of fun November Saint feast days to celebrate with links to crafts, food, and activities to help you celebrate!
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When you’re starting to teach your kids about the lives of the Saints, I suggest starting with a Saint picture book treasury that includes a lot of short stories you can read together. This will give you a good starting place and then you can add to your library of Saint books over the years. I think this Picture Book Of Saints is a good beginning Saint book for Catholic families. I will mark the Saints below that have stories from this book. You can find all of my favorite Saint books for kids here.
I also recommend having a good children’s Bible available to read from, as it will also include many stories of the Saints. You can see my post with my favorite Catholic children’s bibles here, but my family absolutely loves The Jesus Storybook Bible.
November Home Altar
Having a home altar (aka prayer table) at our house is one of our favorite Catholic family traditions! You can check out what we like to include on our November home altar here.
November Saint Feast Days To Celebrate
This list does not include Saints for every single day of November, but some highlights that are good for kids.
Definitely start by checking out my November liturgical calendar stick ons! These will really help you with your November celebrating and they’re totally free.
November 1- The Feast Of All Saints’ Day
- celebration of all Saints, known and unknown
- this is actually an octave that goes from November 1-8
I have a ton of resources for celebrating the feast of All Saints’ with kids here. You do not want to miss this post!
November 2- The Feast Of All Souls Day
- celebration of all the souls in Purgatory
- actually the whole month is dedicated to the souls of the faithful departed
- Here are ideas for praying for the dead with your children.
- Also check out my post about celebrating the Day of the Dead as a Catholic
November 3- Saint Martin de Porres
- From Lima, Peru
- Grew up in poverty
- Known for loving all God’s creatures, even mice
- Took care of the sick
I have a whole post with tons of resources for celebrating the feast day of St. Martin de Porres including crafts, videos, books, pritnable, and more!
November 4- St. Charles Borromeo’s Feast Day
- patron Saint of seminarians and Catechists
- born in Italy
- lawyer
- helped the sick
- Saint Charles Borromeo’s story is found on page 101 of Picture Book Of Saints
Also November 4- The Weeping Virgin’s Feast Day
There is an icon of the Virgin and child in Pocs, Hungary that started weeping, and the tears from the icon miraculously healed a dying child. It is still on display and has been known to week at various times throughout the years. Read more about the story here.
November 11- St. Martin Of Tour’s Feast Day, or “Martinmas”
- patron Saint of soldiers
- cut his own garment in half and gave half to a beggar
- Saint Martin of Tour’s story is found on page 121 of Picture Book Of Saints
I have a full post on how to celebrate Martinmas with your kids here. This is a great feast day to add to your liturgical celebrations!
November 13- St. Francis Cabrini’s Feast Day
- patron Saint of immigrants
- born in Italy
- helped poor children
- first American citizen to become a canonized Saint
- Saint Francis Cabrini’s story is found on page 12 of Picture Book Of Saints
Also November 13- Our Lady Of The Seven Joys
We so often hear about Our Lady of 7 Sorrows, but how often do you hear about Our Lady of 7 Joys? I love that there is a counterpart! This devotion was started in 1422 by a vision. You can read about the 7 joys of Mary here.
November 16- St. Margaret of Scotland’s Feast Day
November 17- St. Elizabeth of Hungary’s Feast Day
- princess of Hungary
- secretly fed the poor
- the bread she was hiding miraculously appeared as roses
- Saint Elizabeth’s story is found on page 104 of Picture Book Of Saints
You can find my printable St. Elizabeth craft for kids in my All Saint’s Day pack here. She pairs with a bread, which we chose to also display with her miraculous roses!
You can also find a printable St. Elizabeth activity pack for kids here.
November 18- Our Lady Of Chiquinquira
This is a beautiful devotion that is well known and celebrated in Latin America! Her story is every bit as miraculous and captivating as Our Lady of Guadalupe. I have a full post devoted to celebrating Our Lady of Chiquinquira, so be sure to check that out.
November 21- Our Lady, Reconciler Of People And Nations
November 22- St. Cecilia’s Feast Day
- patron Saint of musicians
- lived in Rome
- stayed pure, even in marriage
- converted her husband
- was crowned with roses and lilies by angels
- miraculously survived being steamed
- survived 3 attempts to be beheaded
- received communion before she died
- Saint Cecilia’s story is found on page 105 of Picture Book Of Saints
You can find my printable St. Cecilia craft for kids in my All Saint’s Day pack here. She pairs with a musical food of your choice, of which we chose to lay out cookies and Kit-Kat bars like piano keys!
Also November 22- Feast Day Of Christ The King
I perhaps have a special place in my heart for this feast day as well, as my first church (and the one I was baptized in) was named Christ The King Church.
Try this Christ the King craft for kids– super fun and cute to display when you’re finished. You could also try baking a crown cake for this feast day.
November 23- Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro’s Feast Day
- born in Mexico
- priest
- Saint Miguel Agustin Pro’s story is found on page 127 of Picture Book Of Saints
November 24- St. Andrew Dung-Lac’s Feast Day
- Vietnamese
- priest
- Saint Andrew Dung-Lac’s story is found on page 134 of Picture Book Of Saints
Also November 24- Feast Day Of The Miraculous Black Virgin
A huge avalanche buried several towns, destroying everything, to miraculously stop at the chapel where this statue of Our Lady was located! She became a popular devotion in France. You can read more about her here.
November 28- St. Catherine Laboure’s Feast Day
- born in France
- refused marriage
- had a vision of the miraculous medal
- Saint Catherine Laboure’s story is found on page 107 of Picture Book Of Saints
I fully recommend crafting this super fun oversized miraculous medal to celebrate this feast day! I have step by step directions on how to make your own and I include a free printable to help you out. You can also try crafting actual miraculous medals with older kids.
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Also November 28- Our Lady Of Kibeho, Mother Of The Word
Our Lady of Kibeho appeared to young school girls foretelling them of the 1994 Rwandan gynecide. It is an approved and recognized Marian apparition from Africa by the Catholic church. You can find a history of this apparition here.
November 30- St. Andrew’s Feast Day
- apostle
- patron Saint of fishermen
- Saint Andrew’s story is found on page — of Picture Book Of Saints
It is traditional for Catholic families to do a Christmas novena that begins on his feast day. My Advent Saint ornament pack includes St. Andrew with the Christmas novena. 🙂 Also, because he is the patron of fishermen, serve fish or goldfish crackers to the kids today while reading his story to them.
If you’re trying to plan a Saint feast day celebration with kids and you didn’t see it here, you will want to check out my post about how to celebrate any Saint feast day. It takes you through my process of looking at their lives to choose an activity for kids, and it links to generic resources that will help you to celebrate any Saint. So no more being sad if you can’t find specific resources for your child’s namesake Saint! 🙂
Printable Liturgical Planning Book
I have an all new liturgical living ebook that will help you plan out this entire process and customize the liturgical year for your own family. This is the perfect resource for families that are living the liturgical year at home. You can use this book year after year to organize your liturgical resources, building your library as you go! This is an absolute wealth of printables for Catholic families to organize everything from feast day celebrations, to Sacrament anniversaries, to your home altar. Read more about my Weaving The Faith ebook here.
Holidays In Handprints
I created a printable book that is a special Christmas treasury for Catholic kids, and the pages are illustrated by your child and his or her handprints. This book is simple to put together! Just print the page, then follow the handprint directions to complete the illustrations and make it your own. This book starts with Thanksgiving and runs through Candlemas. Find more details here.
November Monthly Catholic Dedication- The Souls Of The Faithful Departed
Each month has a special Catholic dedication, and the month of November is dedicated to the souls in purgatory. There are so many ways to observe this with kids.
- Here are ideas for praying for the dead with your children.
- Here are some other ways to remember All Souls’ Day.
November- Black Catholic History Month
Since there are so many Saints that naturally fall during this month with African heritage, and since only 1.02% of canonized Saints are black, this month was established as black Catholic History Month in 1990. You can find resources for celebrating this special dedication here.
Thanksgiving
Check out my post on “Liturgical Scrabble” where you can use the letters to arrange all kinds of phrases, including some for November!
I do have a few other Thanksgiving crafts and ideas as well!
- Be thankful turkey craft for kids
- Turkey handprint craft with a FREE printable frame that includes a thankful scripture on it
- Before dinner prayer craft for kids with FREE printable
- Catholic dinner prayer easy table runner DIY
- DIY thankful bunting for Thanksgiving decor
- Drawing on the holiday tablecloth– a family tradition that turns into an heirloom
First Sunday Of Advent
The first Sunday of Advent can fall as early as November 27, or as late as December 3. Although it doesn’t always happen in November, it does need to be planned for in November!
I fully recommend getting a copy of my Advent/Christmas planner, especially designed for Catholic moms. I use mine every year!!!
Getting ready for Advent:
- All of my Advent and Christmas resources here
- My thoughts on celebrating and decorating during Advent
- Advent wreaths
- All about Jesse Trees
Also, you do NOT want to miss my Advent Saints pack! This is the perfect way to have fun and celebrate during Advent while still keeping on theme for the liturgical year, and all of the crafts hang on your tree!
More November Activities For Catholic Kids
You can check out the November Activities for Catholic Families printable on Real Life at Home from Angie (who is also the project manager on Catholic Icing)
Free Printable Saints Coloring Book for November – Real Life at Home
She also has a November Saints and feasts word search for kids.
Fall Fun With Catholic Kids!
Me and my children always enjoy collecting Fall leaves together as we wonder at the beauty of God! We can keep the fall colors naturally around the house for weeks by making these easy fall leaf suncatchers. This is an annual tradition here!
Be sure to check out my book for living liturgically with your family, Weaving The Faith.
You can find all of my resources for living the liturgical year organized month by month here!