Keep the Candles Burning

In the old tradition, devotees sent their petitions to a shrine along with a small donation, and real candles were lit for them — real wax, real flame, real prayer. This shrine keeps that tradition alive.

Where Your Gift Goes

Every donation is used openly and honestly, divided among three purposes:

🤲 Helping those in need — the first and highest use of every gift: direct help for people facing urgent need, in the spirit of the saint who answers urgent prayers
🕯️ Keeping the shrine alive — real red candles lit for the petitions left here, fresh flowers before his image, and the domain, hosting, and daily care that keep this site’s doors open day and night
📣 Spreading his name — telling the world about Saint Expedite so that his name may be invoked again and again, as every devotee promises

A simple accounting of gifts received and how they were used will be posted here regularly. No salaries, no mystery.

🍲 Feeding the Favelas

The first and highest use of every gift is helping those in need — and this shrine knows her face. Her name is Inez.

Inez is a dear friend of the family, a social worker serving in the favelas of Brazil, who has devoted herself to putting food directly into hungry hands. On a recent visit, the keeper and his wife walked the lanes with her one evening while a whole village stood in line for pre-packed boxes of food and supplies: rice, beans, and hope, handed from person to person.

A share of every donation keeps this shrine’s candles burning and helps spread Saint Expedite’s name — and the giving portion goes to Inez’s work, where the need is greatest. We check with her each time before sending, so the funds land exactly where they’ll do the most good: keeping those boxes packed and those lines moving. Urgent prayers answered here become urgent hunger answered there — that is Saint Expedite’s work, hodie, today.

Villagers lining up to receive pre-packed boxes of food and supplies in a Brazilian favela — The evening distribution — the whole village in line

Food packages lined up along the road, ready for the families — Hand to hand: food and supplies, packed with care

Volunteers handing food packages to children during the evening distribution — Sharing the evening’s work, hand to hand

A volunteer serving food packages to children seated along the road — Serving the children, one package at a time

How to Give

💳 By Card

Give securely online by debit or credit card:

Donate by Card

Secure card processing — you choose the amount. A small processing fee (~2.9% + 30¢) applies.

⚡ By Zelle

Send your gift straight from your bank’s app with Zelle — no fees, no middleman. Open your banking app, choose Zelle, and send to:

[email protected]

Your banking app will show the recipient name it has on file — take a moment to confirm it before you send.

Zelle works only between U.S. bank accounts — friends giving from outside the U.S., please use the card option above.

The most traditional offering needs no website at all: light a red candle to Saint Expedite in your own home, set a glass of water beside it, and speak your petition aloud. He hears those just as clearly.

And remember the sweetest part of the tradition — when he answers, the pound cake is on you.

Plainly stated: this is a private devotional shrine, not a registered charity, and donations are not tax-deductible. Gifts are divided as described above — help for those in need, the candles and upkeep of the shrine, and spreading word of the saint — and a simple accounting will be posted here. Fulfilling the intentions behind gifts is the personal responsibility of the shrine’s keeper. Gifts are given as devotional offerings, in honor of Saint Expedite.

🕯️ Light a Candle Instead

Questions about giving? Write to [email protected] — we’re glad to help.