From living with his parents and financial hardship to married with a toddler and a business, God used a subscription box business to expand Patrick’s heart and his family in an unexpected way.
Note: This article is part of a series highlighting Catholic families in various stages of building a business. It is designed to inspire all families to start the wheels turning and be creative when it comes to finding a way to provide for themselves outside of traditional means. For more family based business content, follow Euphrosyne Corner on Instagram.
From the time he was little, Patrick Pulis was always on the lookout for big miracles. He was drawn to the famous stories of the exceptional saints and longed for the time that God would give him his own shooting star of personal glory. Don’t we all! Instead, God inspired him by showing the deeper side of the saints and teaching Patrick the right way to love.
Patrick never set out to start a subscription box company. When he offered to help his sister with her book based subscription box, she suggested he start his own instead. The saints were a natural fit. Unmarried at the time, Saint of the Month got off the ground with the mentorship of his sister and help and support of his parents for their nine subscribers.
While selling at a Steubenville Conference, Patrick was introduced to a woman named Rebecca. They didn’t even exchange contact information at the time but reconnected later on Catholic Match. The best part of the story? Unbeknownst to Patrick, prior to that conference Rebecca had prayed a novena to St. Raphael asking for a husband. She never told him until…Patrick chose the feast of the Archangels to propose!
Maxing out around 300 subscribers and with fluctuating numbers, Patrick and Rebecca have not been able to make Saint of the Month a full time gig…yet. Patrick is still working part time and Rebecca full time outside the home. They dream of a day when the business can sustain their family and allow her to stay home with their young daughter. Patrick’s advice to other families? Both partners need to communicate and find ways to come together with boundaries for business and family, but don’t forget to dream together too. Give thanks together. He adds, “Running a business is integral to everything you do and always keep in mind the bigger and deeper and allow God to penetrate all of the running and moving parts.”
One thing that really stuck out to me in the Saint of the Month story is the way God used all of it in a deeply personal and intimate way for Patrick, continually deepening his own faith walk and understanding. While I would use different words for our Euphrosyne Corner story, it continues to be more and more clear that our farm business is less about what we do and more about how God wants to use our farm to bless us by deepening our relationship with Christ and his church.
Aligning our vision with God’s vision has been something we have had to work on and did not come naturally for me. We continue to trust that when God is ready for us to take the next step he will let us know,-as I’m sure he will for Patrick and Rebecca as they dream big and help all of us grow closer to God through his Saints!