Blessed are the Rabbits

To all of the Catholic mothers and fathers who have been faithful to the teachings of Holy Mother Church and taken on the sweet labor of bearing and rearing all the children with which God has seen fit to bless them, and who are perhaps troubled by the Pope's recent comments to the effect that we shouldn't "breed like rabbits," I offer you the following bouquet of consolation:

St. Catherine of Genoa, a fifth child

St. Thomas Aquinas, a sixth child

St. Therese of Lisieux, a ninth child

St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother, an eleventh child

Notable Mentions:

• St. Joan of Arc, one of five children.
• St. Bernadette of Lourdes, one of six children.
• St. Francis de Sales, one of six children.
• St. Charles Borromeo, one of six children.
• St. Hedwig, one of eight children.
• Pope St. Pius X, one of eleven children.
• St. Casimir of Poland, one of thirteen children.
• St. Louis de Montfort, one of eighteen children.

***UPDATE***

In the interest of fairness, it should be noted that the Holy Father has tempered somewhat the talk of "breeding like rabbits:" in his Wednesday audience, he praised "families who receive children as a real gift of God [who] know that every child is a benediction." Msgr. Anthony Figueiredo noted that the "breed like rabbits" remark was made by Pope Francis, Private Pastor - and not Pope Francis, Universal Pastor. I wonder which one is writing the upcoming encyclical....