Max Lindenman (filling in for Elizabeth Scalia as she, lucky lucky lucky duck, is in Rome for the Catholic blogging conference) asks “What saints can’t you stand?” The responses are pretty interesting: There are some saints that no one likes, because they were unpleasant weirdos. Then there are some that inspire and enchant some people, while repelling and disgusting others. For me, St. John Vianney is one of these repellant types. Every time I hear a saint quote that makes me go, “WHAT?!?!” it turns out to be St. John Vianney. Oh, well—there are plenty of other saints.
Catholics are, of course, discussing sainthood lately because of the approaching beatification of John Paul II. All of my favorite people are overjoyed that this holy man will be honored, but some Catholics are dubious, even snotty. Some simply don’t like him (how??), while others have serious doubts about his worthiness. It occurs to me that, when people react differently to the saints, there are three lessons to be drawn.
First is that even saints are a product of their times. Sincere spirituality takes different forms according to fads and culture—that’s just the human condition. And so when Padre Pio threw the lady out of his confessional and refused to speak to her until she stopped selling pants to women—well, he was a man of his times. At the time, selling women’s pants truly was an assault against gender distinction as it existed in that time. The woman in question probably was doing something wrong, just as a woman from the Middle Ages would have been doing something wrong by showing her bare knees: It’s not because knees or pants are intrinsically evil, but because it’s all about context and intention.
Now, it’s very possible that a Padre Pio alive in 2011 would be just as furious at a female pants-seller of 2011. And there’s our second lesson, which is: Saints can be jerks, too. Saints are not infallible; saint are not flawless. Saints sin. They may say or do things which are false, silly or harmful. If a priest today threw a woman out of confession for selling pants, he’d be sinning. He might still be a saint: He’d just have to go to confession for that particular sin.
And the third lesson we can learn is that this variety in saintliness is a feature, not a bug. When I adore Saint Fonofrius, but you think he’s a drippy bore, that’s part of God’s plan. It’s one of those “Catholic with a small c” ideas: The Church is here for everybody. While there are certain things that every single living soul is called to, there is always a matter of proportion. For some saints, generosity is their talent. For others, it’s great physical courage. For some saints, their entire lives tell a story of incredible singlemindedness and purity of intention; for others, God used them as the finest living example of someone who kept screwing up, repenting and trying again.
God is the light, and the saints are various types of lamps: Some produce a lovely glow; some produce a brilliant beam. Some make more heat; others are better for atmosphere. Some are for ballrooms, some are for bedsides, some are for keeping traffic orderly. The light inside is the same, but different styles show that light in different ways. A surgeon wouldn’t use a Tiffany lamp in the operating room—but that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with the Tiffany lamp. It’s just not the right one for that particular job.
So, you wish John Paul II had been a better administrator? Me too. But it wasn’t his particular talent. You wish John Paul II had been more canny, more suspicious of Maciel? Me too, and can you even imagine how much he must have wished it himself. But that wasn’t his particular talent.
When he trusted Maciel, it was a mistake committed because he was a product of his times (nearly everyone trusted Maciel; the Legionaries were apparently bearing wonderful fruit; and false accusations of pedophilia were a common tactic in his home country). It’s also possible that he committed this mistake because of personal flaw: He was Pope, and should have been more careful. (That is absolutely not for me to say—but this is a man who went to confession daily, so HE clearly thought he was a sinner.)
But let’s not forget the third lesson: A saint is someone who does the most he can with his particular gifts from God. John Paul’s particular talents were an incredible strength and courage, a contagious joy, a spectacularly original mind, and an unprecedented ability to reach out and draw people to Christ. All of his works were works of love. And that’s why he will, God willing, someday be declared a saint: He used what God gave him.
The light of his works illuminated and glorified and showed the way. It did not uncover every hidden crime. But he was a holy man.
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An interesting perspective, Simcha. Thanks. It also illuminates/applies to many other things in our faith—devotions, for instance; all of them are not for everyone.
Well said, Simcha. The Church doesn’t make saints so we can put them on pedestals but because they are meant to be models for us to emulate to show us how it’s done. Sainthood is something we are all supposed to attain to. We’re all meant to be to be saints. That means there are an awful lot of sinners who will one day become saints. John Paul II isn’t being canonized for his papacy, his effectiveness as an administrator; but because of his personal holiness. He lived a life of prayer, he showed many how to courageously follow Christ and how to suffer too.
This is a terrific definition: “A saint is someone who does the most he can with his particular gifts from God.”
Simcha -I think a lot of the people who aren’t thrilled about the beatification are not so much Anti-Pope-St. JP2TG, but Anti-Santo-Subito.
As in, why break the rules and speed things up just because he’s popular?
I do have my own answer to that - My own philosophy is “Count no man Holy until he’s dead.” If JP2 had died when the assasin shot him, I doubt we’d be having this discussion today. Instead, he died after purgatory on earth, by suffering through Parkinsons and living out his last years with a faith and dignity that showed to the world that ALL lives have value, even, old, sick lives past their peak of strength.
And while we don’t really need a “world leader who defied communism and was adored by all” saint right now, I can see how we might need a “old people deserve love and respect even when they embarrass us by being feeble and…old….” saint.
But most of the Catholics I’ve met who are anti-beatification-right-away aren’t saying that he should NEVER be beatified… they’re just arguing that we should slow down and not give him “special treatment” over other saints-in-waiting.
-Katherine- not all devotions are for everyone- so true! Can you imagine if you tried to do all the devotions in the Pieta prayer book! Even a cloistered nun wouldn’t have the time
Simcha- is it wrong that I get frustrated with Saint Bernadette that she suffered her disease in silence and didn’t get medical care?
I love your point about the catholic community being big enough for us all to have our own devotions. I was just thinking yesterday how annoyed I get when people are all “You MUST pray to this favorite saint of mine and get all warm fuzzy feelings about them; it’s a sure fire way to be happy and holy.” It’s like people saying you just HAVE to watch The Wire/Veronica Mars/Friday Night Lights/whatever show is the best thing on TV. Don’t hassle me, I’d like to come to appreciate such things on my terms when it feels right.
I’m glad Max wrote that post. Some saints are hard to understand or relate to. When someone told me about Gianna Molla and Maria Goretti in RCIA I found it very discomfiting. I was an academic steeped in feminist rhetoric taking my first tenative steps towards understanding the faith, and hearing about a woman whose canonization was because she was killed for not submitting to rape made me angry. What about all of those terrified young girls who did submit to their rapists? Were they somehow less holy because of it? Similarly, Gianna Molla’s canonization for her willingness to leave her other children motherless rather than have a hysterectomy and lose her unborn child, made me wonder if there wasn’t some truth to that feminist chestnut about the Church choosing the unborn baby over the mother and considering women as “lesser” somehow.
While I admired JPII, I’m was and am not as fanatical as most. He was elected when I was in grade school and I remember one of my teachers, a Polish sister, was extremely excited to have a fellow countryman hold the see of Peter. I just could never get all ga-ga about him. I found his writings, for the most part, vague and wordy. I prefer reading the pre-JPII encyclicals since I find the style more direct, unambiguous and beautifully written.
St. Therese of Liseaux was a big turn off to Dorothy Day for many years because of the way she was represented by many Catholics (soft, simpering, French flower girl). Then Dorothy Day read St. Therese’s biography and found that she was completely different from what she had heard and St. Therese became a favorite saint. For a long time, I did not like the Divine Mercy devotion mostly because of the terrible, simpering Jesus artwork (I’ve heard Eastern rite Catholics refer to it as “the bearded lady”). Then I came across a beautiful, icon-like representation of the Divine Mercy and now it is one of my favorite devotions. For my husband, a convert, the Lady of Fatima statues give him the willies. It probably isn’t a big deal for non-artistic, non-visual types; but for us, the visual makes a strong connection or repulsion. You know - the good, the true and the beautiful thing.
Oh, Katherine, I can totally relate. It still gives me the heebie-jeebies sometimes randomly tuning in to Catholic Radio—the majority of the programming is super, but every once in a while there will be some very breathy, soft-spoken woman reading very slowly and ponderously from the writings of St. Therese. GAH!!! There are NO MARSHMALLOW SAINTS!!!
I’m so glad you blogged about this. I’ve felt bad in the past for being weirded out or scared off of some saints. Now I know that that’s okay, and it doesn’t make them less holy. It just means that that particular devotion doesn’t resonate with me at this time in my life.
So true, so true. A saint is a human being who allows God to really be Lord, throughout the course of his/her life. A saint is God’s work, not humanity’s. And that, ultimately, is why sainthood is for everyone!! Who can attain to the mystical heights of John of the Cross or one of the Desert Fathers? Who can pour himself out for the poor as did some of those medieval princesses who founded hospices and soup kitchens? No one at all! Only God, being allowed to work, can do this for a person, and He can do it for any person, even me.
The saint who gives me the willies is St Francis of Assisi. A wonderful nature loving man, but kind of extreme and almost crazy, in my opinion.
To think Saints were flawless is such an error; to think everyone is going to love and venerate a saint with love and fervor is ridiculous. You make excellent points and clarify why, of the thousands of saints canonized by the Church, not all of them are known or loved by everyone in the same way, yet they are all canonized saints. Looking forward to—but have my concerns about the rapid pace at which his cause progressed—the beatification of JPII.
This helps so much. I had a friend who posted such a negative review on PJPII. It made me so sad and unfortunatley put a little bug in my head- was he not that good? So thank you for the reminder that saints aren’t going to be perfect; they’re not God.
And you know, I have to agree with one of the above posters: Dear Maria Goretti is a beautiful saint but very recently it had bothered me that the reason some saints describe her as saintly was as “preserving her purity.” It’s not like rape victims are giving their purity away. It has set poorly with me. If we are to emulate saints, are we to do the same? Now I realize that saints are made saints in the sense that they lived with heroic virtue in their state of life. That was heroic virtue. I think it’s more other people’s evaluation of their lives and biographies of them (i.e. she’s holy because she didn’t let herself get rapes- nope because she was living out virtue heroically) that affect our view of the saints.
Anyway, this was so jumbled but I get a pass right, I’m pregnant, tired, and slightly nauseas. Sorry!.
Love there are no Marshmellow saints line Margaret. Will keep it for future use.
Simcha, I so get this. There are saints we find call us more because their gifts and struggles echo our own. And we also have seasons for when different saints speak to us more than others. As a mom, I have Saint Anthony on speed dial. St. Anthony can you help me find my keys, my daughter’s shoe, the check my inlaws gave us for Easter that I already wrote a thank you for and now will look like a sap if it’s gone, a way to get these guys to school on time when we left ten minutes late, my peace of mind, sleep, and that’s all just from this past week!
Thanks for this thoughtful post. To those questioning “Sancto Subito”—I heard an excellent point made by George Weigel (sp?) on this: namely, that the *only* thing different about JPII’s process vs. most other saints is the waiver of the 5-year waiting period. It should be noted that this waiting period was also waived for Blessed Mother Theresa, but nobody seemed too upset about that. JPII was beatified a mere few days quicker than Blessed Theresa, so I have a hard time saying the waiting period shouldn’t have been waived for either of these two godly servents. They were both incredible witnesses to the Christian life and are examples worthy of imitation, IMHO. There are other saints throughout history who were beatified/canonized in record time—I believe St. Anthony may have been one of them, but my memory fails me on this. (If anyone else knows the answer, please post.)
Boy, did I ever need to read this post and these comments today! Thanks!
Seek what is good, shun what is evil.
Immaculate Conception, pray for us!
Pope Benedict himself phrased it very nicely. He said that most of us think of St. Peter, denier of Christ, and St. Peter after Pentecost as two different men, but they are the same man. Pope Benedict says our popes (catholic leaders, priests, saints) will be at times a rock of faith and at other times a stumbling block, and that this paradox will humiliate us time and time again. St. Paul spoke of God storing His treasure into cracked clay pots (frail humans) and I suppose many people of his time thought he was a crackpot.
I love the Catholic Church. We are a huge community in heaven and earth. I don’t get along with everyone. Some people leave me cold and I leave some people cold. I’m made differently. But all together we compliment and accomplish the work of God. Cool huh?
I would love to See Pope Pius IX and Pope Pius XII canonized. They were truly holy men who fought against error in every way.
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