St. Sarah

The Old Testament tells of Sarah the matriarch. She was the wife of Abraham the patriarch. They lived as nomads in the desert of Canaan. Sarah was long saddened that she could bare no children to Abraham. According to the custom of the times, she gave him her maid as a concubine, so that the maid's children would be considered her own. The Lord and his angels visited Abraham in human guise and told him that Sarah would have a son, although she was now ninety years old and Abraham was a hundred. Sarah laughed at this news, for she could not believe it. When her son was born, she named him Isaac, which means laughter in Hebrew. Sarah died at the age of 127 and Abraham buried her at Hebron. The story of Sarah and Abraham is found in the book of Genesis. Sarah the matriarch is honored on August 19. There have also been some saints in Christian times named Sarah. St. Sarah of Scete was a consecrated virgin and an Abbess who lived in Libya in the early centuries of the Christian era; not much is known of her, but her feast is celebrated July 13.