The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has designated today as a National Day of Prayer for the Protection of the Unborn.

People of all faiths—including Notre Dame faculty, staff, students, and alumni—customarily gather in Washington, D.C. to participate in the March for Life on this day. Thousands will gather to witness to what it means to walk with a woman who is pregnant and vulnerable.

Several saints are patrons for the Right to Life movement. St. Maximilian Kolbe is one of them—he was a Polish Franciscan priest who was imprisoned in 1941 and sent to a concentration camp for speaking out against the Nazis. When a fellow prisoner—a husband and father—was selected for execution in the camp, Maximilian stepped forward to take his place. With nine other prisoners, he was locked in a starvation chamber and eventually executed.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is another patron of the Right to Life movement. In 1531, she appeared to Juan Diego, an indigenous Indian living near what is now Mexico City. She appeared to him as an indigenous woman herself and spoke to him in his native language. She left him a miraculous sign—her image imprinted on his cloak. In the image, she appears with a black band around her waist—a custom symbolizing her pregnancy.

Patron saints of the Right to Life movement, pray for us that we might build a culture of life!