Loading...I confess to a love of arcane information. Much of the time I keep it decently hidden, but it has found unashamed public expression in the list of saints that appears in this newsletter each month.
I began modestly, with 5 or 10 of the major saints, those whose names and reputations most Christians ought to know. But the list has expanded in recent months (this month there are 23) to include many who are more obscure. Has anyone ever heard of a church named in honor of Saint Serapion of Algiers?
What I find most appealing about them is the improbable variety of things that have been entrusted to their patronage by the faithful over the centuries.
Hairdressers have Saint Martin de Porres and Saint Mary Magdalene. Those in fear of ants have Saint Saturninus of Toulouse. Those with cranky in-laws have (tellingly) several choices, including Marguerite d’Youville, Saint Monica, and Saint Jane Valois.
Even animals – geese, wolves, pigs – have patrons. And there is no stage of life, medical problem, or crisis that does not have a saint’s “coverage.” Nothing that moves the human heart lacks a saint whose intercession can be prayed for.
Devotion of this sort would have made our 19th Century Anglican ancestors – to say nothing of our 17th Century Anglican ancestors – very uneasy. They saw the Medieval proliferation of saints and their cults (the proper term, in use long before it was appropriated to describe odd, sometimes dangerous, new religious groups in the 20th Century) as a distraction from the true worship of God. Or worse, as a parceling out of the power of God, a step onto the slippery slope toward polytheism.
I would like to think, though, that there is a middle way, not discarding all but the saints mentioned by name in the New Testament, and not wandering so far from the God made known in Jesus that we cease to have any claim to the salvation that only He can deliver.
We might begin by reminding ourselves that the saints were not self-made men and women. Their halos are not gold watches for what they accomplished. The Christian concept of sainthood begins with God and what God wills, and finds expression in the action of God through His saints. If Saint Serverus of Avranches is the patron of hat makers, it is only because God began and continued a good work in him. To celebrate the saints is to honor the will and action of God.
We might continue by recalling that everything belongs to God. There is nothing that we can’t pray for or about, since the will of God guides and guards all of creation. But going to God can feel like a heavy lift. Does the mover of the stars have concern to spare for basket makers (Anthony the Abbot) or our fear in a storm (Urban of Langres)? The answer, of course, is yes, but human nature being what it is, it can stiffen our courage if we recruit a friend to go with us. If we imagine the saints praying with us more than for us, we may begin to realize how big our team is.
And we might end by recalling that to God, day and night, Jew and Greek, life and death are all alike. The saints on earth and the saints in heaven are separated only by our lack of vision. Someone down the street who is the patron saint of those left broken hearted by a failed Internet romance labors right next to the patrons of linguists (Godescalc) and those seeking protection against oversleeping (Vitus). If we are all in this together, then the saints can come down off their pedestals and we can all get on with the work of God.
I will keep expanding my lists. Keep watching – a saint for you is coming soon.
Blessings
Howie+
