The Saint Louis Tribune was not alone in casting doubt as to whether Dorothy Day could become a saint: They asked, "Could a bohemian journalist, who had a failed marriage and an abortion, be a candidate for Catholic canonization?"
This, it seems to me, is a bit of a strange question because in reality aren't all saints unlikely?
I did a little research and came up with a few saints that jumped out at me as some of the most unlikely.
1) Moses the Black - Besides having one of the coolest and most ominous sounding names in the history of Christianity his story has to be one of the unlikeliest saint stories.
Moses the Black (I just love saying his name) was a slave of a government official in Egypt who fired him for pure badassery. Think about that for a second. Dude was so bad he got fired from being a slave. Internalize that for a moment, would you? Turns out that his owner suspected him of nothing short of thievery and murder. And knowing that he himself was human and was required to close his eyes for 6-8 hours a night and Moses probably didn't have any such weakness like sleeping, he thought it best to simply fire him. Politely.
But it doesn't end there. Moses the Black quickly joined a gang of bandits and was almost immediately made their leader and probably not just because he had the most awesome name. Catholic.org recounts a story that would make Chuck Norris uneasy and PETA would most assuredly file lawsuits:
On one occasion, a barking sheep dog prevented Moses from executing a planned robbery, so he swore vengeance on the owner. Carrying out his threat, he approached the hut of his victim from the opposite side of the Nile and, placing his weapons between his teeth, swam the river. The owner of the dog heard the approach, so he hid along the river bank, thus escaping disaster, Moses, not finding the shepherd, took four rams from the flock, towed them back across the river, flayed them, sold the skins for wine, cooked the best parts, and feasted before walking back 50 miles to his camp.
When the law seemed to be catching up with Moses the Black for assorted mayhem he decided to hide from the authorities in a monastery in the desert. And that's where MtB found Christ. So then, Moses the Black became a humble servant of God, right? He did experience a true conversion but he was still Moses the freakin' Black. Proving that you can be both Catholic and hardcore, Moses performed one of the most amazing conversion stories
Four of the stupidest robbers in the world decided to rob the monastery where Moses lived. This is one of the stupidest decisions in the history of the world for two reasons:
1) Monasteries are typically the poorest places in the world.
2) Moses the Black was living there.
Moses completely overpowered them, tied them up and dragged them to the chapel. He announced that he didn't think it would be Christian to beat them into gruel which so moved the robbers that they reportedly repented and became monks as well.
He was later martyred as an old priest, allowing himself to be martyred by bandits after sending many of the other monks away.
2) Wilgefortis and her Dad didn't get along all that well. While the acrimony likely stemmed from her father actually naming her Wilgerfortis, it only got worse when her father promised the Catholic teen to a pagan king.
Wilgerfortis, however, had taken a vow of virginity so she did what every teenager with a vow of virginity who had been promised to a pagan king does. She prayed that God would make her unattractive to the pagan king. Well, we all know that God sometimes answers prayers in funny ways but this one takes the cake.
In answer to her prayers she sprouted a beard, which pretty much ended the engagement. For this, her father crucified her which is also an effective (and permanent) way to ensure you're not reluctantly married to a pagan king.
3) We are all guilty of piercing our Lord and Savior in some sense. But only one saint actually pierced the side of our Lord and Savior. St. Longinus is the centurion who pierced the side of Our Lord while He was hanging on the Cross. That's a pretty bad moment in life when you put a spear into God. You'd think some pretty nasty eternal comeuppance would be coming his way.
But no.
Longinus, who reportedly had some bad peepers, was healed when some of the blood and water from Jesus fell into his eyes. It was then he exclaimed "Indeed, this was the Son of God!"
Longinus then converted, went AWOL from his gig as a centurion, took instruction from the apostles, and became a monk.
He was later arrested for the crime of being a Christian. They pulled out his teeth and cut out his tongue. (Hey, but his eyes were still 20/20.) But none of that stopped Longinus who miraculously continued to speak and destroy several idols in the presence of the governor. The governor immediately went blind only to have his sight restored when St. Longinus blood sprayed all over him when he was beheaded. (How awesome is that?)
And while becoming a saint is pretty much the bomb, you know Longinus must have thought it was pretty awesome when he was portrayed by John Wayne in The Greatest Ever Story Told.
You know Pope Julius II brags sometimes about Rex Harrison played him in the movies but Longinus totally has the trump card. "John Wayne played me." Yeah, that probably keeps everyone quiet.
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awesome!
Dorothy Day would make a fine saint.
How about Camillus de Lellis? He was a soldier for hire who spent most of his downtime fornicating with the camp followers and fleecing his fellow soldiers out of their pay (he was a cardsharp). After his conversion, he started an order of nursing monks - the Camillans and opened a number of hospitals.
Great post! I’ve heard The Duke died a Catholic too! Are great movies cause for Beatification? Lol.
And that line that John Wayne delivers as Longinus is *awesome*. In his ordinary, matter-of-fact drawl: “surrely that man was the son of God.”
I have always LOVED the story of St. Moses the Black! Pure awesomeness! Maybe we need a Catholic version of the website “Badass of the Week”... oh , wait. We have the Roman Martyrology! Zing!
Or St. Benedict Joseph Labre? He looked like a Skid Row bum & had lice & other vermin. He was so offensive in odor & appearance that he was not admitted into some churches.
(My kids always enjoyed dressing up as him for All Saints Day-minus the vermin.)
I love my copy of Saints Behaving Badly!!! It’s a great read and would be enjoyed by rebellious teens everywhere. Makes a nice Christmas gift from a godparent or confirmation sponsor. And it’s out on kindle.
http://www.amazon.com/Saints-Behaving-Badly-Cutthroats-Devil-Worshippers/dp/0385517203
P.S. If you give the book to young people, be sure they know you don’t have to be bad before you become a saint. ;)
One of the biggest casualties of Vatican 2 was the neutering and sabotaging of the canonization process. Since 1983 the canonization process was rendered nearly meaningless by the abolition of the office of Promoter of Faith. For 500 years, the office of Promoter of Faith served as a check and balance system, by examining evidence against the canonization of candidates, to make sure that Sainthood was not usurped by agendas. That office went out the window in time for Escriva’s “canonization’. Now days, anyone can become a “saint”. One only needs to hire one of the firms specialized in the mater in Rome, for $1 million. “Holiness” is now a commodity for sale, where various groups push their “holy” person along with their agendas. It’s becoming a form of idolatry. Until the office of Promoter of Faith is restored, the hope is that the canonization is placed on hold. This is not to say that Dorothy Day, Mother Theresa etc…are not blessed or saints. It’s that the current process does not distinguish between true Saints and the “holy employee of the month to advance an agenda club”.
Excellent article! Being named Theodore, I found this little tidbit on Theodore Stratelates of interest, especially the part where he burns down a pagan temple—a man after my own heart:
Roman general (stratelates) and covert Christian during a time of persecution. Exposed as a Christian, a military tribunal decided he was a good soldier who had made a mistake, told him to reconsider, and set him free; he promptly burned down a pagan temple. Arrested again, he was ordered to apostatize, then tortured by having his flesh torn off; he responded by reciting the Psalms. Martyr.
There’s hope for us yet. Just wondering - do we have to have funny names like these three to qualify?
We got some awesome saints. There is one, whose name I can’t remember, who seduced a boat-full of monks then had a conversion experience and went and lived in the desert for the rest of her life.
And wasn’t there a warrior viking saint - yes St Olaf!
Christina is thinking of Saint Mary of Egypt. She joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with the intention of seducing the weak. She didn’t seduce a boat full of monks as far as I remember. Her angel barred her, by an invisible force, from entering the Church of either the Nativity or the Holy Sepulcher. That experience was enough to convert her. She went to the deserts of Egypt and there did penance for the rest of her life.
Great article. I didn’t know about these saints. Thanks for shaving. Loved Moses the Black’s story.
With Dorothy Day, the difficulty would lie in authoritatively showing that all of her mortal sins and theological errors occurred before her conversion rather than after.
Michael Elohim hits the nail on the head. The favorable comments on Dorothy Day assume that she changed her leftist Marxist views after becoming Catholic. She called herself a propagandist and agitator after her conversion, and she continued to admire and associate with her Communist friends, as she sought to create a “Catholic Communism,” claiming that such existed in the early Church and in religious orders. She led a life of celibacy after her conversion, but her earlier embrace of sexual immorality and license seems to have distorted her judgment, for even her coworkers noted repeatedly the sexual immorality that plagued the Catholic Worker Farms. She did not take effective action to stop these abuses, which her colleagues informed her of. These and many other little known facts are documented in Dr. Carol Byrne’s 2010 book “The Catholic Worker Movement (1933-1980): A Critical Analysis” and on the blog “Dorothy Day Another Way,” whose author visited the CW Tivoli Farm in the 1960s-1970s.
I agree with Tom AKA on this. I think the Church needs to go back to the pre 1983 rules involving Sainthood because they were more rigorous. They had a Devil’s advocate in the Process, but they changed that (among other things) so that only a person’s good traits are the criteria. But I think it has backfired with not only Mother Teresa but also John Paul II, because of the continuing scandals involving abuse and other things. Even with the Pope it was rushed through too fast it was a secret file, the miracle was dubious and now it has been slowed down. I also agree a person should be a saint by their saintly lives NOT BECAUSE of politics or personality cults etc. The same applies to John Hardon and Dorothy Day. Also more time must pass, no waiving of the the time or letting 6 years pass. A saint should be able to stand the test of time I believe.
How about St Christopher the Dog-head? Yes, Egyptian. He belonged to a tribe of dog-headed people who lived in the desert. One day they attacked a caravan. They killed and ate a few of the caravaners until St Mercurius something made the sign of the Cross over them and they all converted and became Christians.
Unlikely? I think The Penitent Thief, certainly in his own mind, would have been considered an unlikely candidate for sainthood when he was sentenced to death for whatever crimes he may have committed.
Canonised by Christ Himself - it doesn’t get more awesome than that.
Dorothy Day would probably be like The Penitent Thief and leave any assessment of her heroic virtue to her One True Master.
I don’t know her views on the canonisation process but from what I know of her personal history I don’t think she would have spent much time following who was in and who was out in The Sanctity Stakes.
No, Joseph, You would most likely be surprised at the details she could come up with when such saints’ lives could be contorted to conform to her political beliefs. Her attempt to do this with those who attempt to follow the charism of Charles de Foucauld failed. Day left the Benedictine Oblates (who welcomed her back) to consider joining the Secular Fraternity of Jesu Caritas, but dropped out when she found the superiors unfriendly to her, and when she objected to how they ran their meetings. Notifying a friend that she had decided to return to the Benedictines, Day wrote: “The Fraternity is just not for me. ... I can still attend meetings of the Secular Fraternity in Brooklyn, and be close to all of you, even closer…. This decision of mine will probably be a relief to both Margot and Fr. Voillaume,” the founder of the Little Brothers of Jesus. (“All the Way to Heaven, Selected Letters of Dorothy Day,” 2010, p. 264)
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