Butler's Lives of the Saints

by Bernard Bangley

  Using attic space above his church, Philip gathered with groups of laity and a few clergy for evenings of prayer and meditation. These groups were called the Oratorians, and each time they met one of the group would talk about a religious subject and then the others would ask questions and make comments. For modern Christians, familiar with discussion groups of all kinds, Philip’s ministry seems comfortable, but in the sixteenth century, it was a radical venture. Asking lay people to speak before a church group seemed rather more Protestant than Catholic. The Inquisition actually investigated Neri, but they found him harmless and the pope endorsed his work.

  Philip Neri was a Christian mystic with numerous miracles attributed to him. He often experienced religious ecstasy when he participated in communion. People began to declare him a saint, and Philip coped by becoming a clown. He would shave only one side of his face or wear odd clothing. Practical jokes and roaring laughter were a part of his playful routine. He did not want to be “saintly.” But his good-natured fun was nothing more than a reflection of his religious joy.

  On May 25, 1595, Philip Neri conducted business as usual, hearing confessions and chatting with visitors. On his way to bed he said, “Last of all, we must die.” He did not wake the next morning.

  MAY 27

  Augustine of Canterbury (d. 604)

  Ministry among pagans

  We must be careful not to confuse this sixth-century bishop of Canterbury with the great Christian theologian of the fourth century. Augustine of Canterbury came to England with a large delegation of monks from a monastery in Rome. Alarming tales of rough seas in the English Channel and wild, savage people on the islands tested their courage. The missionaries arrived in 597.

  King Ethelbert, a pagan, welcomed them. In 601, the king asked for baptism. Later, Augustine consulted with King Ethelbert when he drafted the oldest, surviving Anglo-Saxon laws. By the time Augustine died, England was well on its way to Christianization.

  MAY 28

  Germanus of Paris (ca. 496–576)

  Christian influence

  Germanus was a priest in Autun (Burgundy), France, in the early part of the sixth century. He moved to Paris where he became the bishop and royal chaplain in 555. The royal family had a reputation for being rather profane, and Germanus guided them toward a more dignified life. King Childebert I founded an abbey for him which came to be known as Saint-Germain-des-Pres.

  Germanus had a deep interest in the lives of the saints and had a reputation for the gift of healing blindness, paralysis, epilepsy, and demon possession. Significantly, many of the people Germanus helped were prisoners or slaves of various races.

  Germanus died in Paris. His relics did not survive the French Revolution.

  MAY 29

  Richard Thirkeld (d. 1583)

  Martyred for faith

  Richard Thirkeld was a “late bloomer” who was ordained as an old man in 1579. He had studied at Queen’s College, Oxford, as well as at Douai and Rheims in France. Four years after his ordination, when he visited a Catholic prisoner, he aroused the suspicion of the authorities. They arrested him for the crime of being a priest. After two months in a prison in York, he was sentenced to death in 1583. His execution on May 29 was not a public event because of concern about a popular outcry. Richard Thirkeld, like so many of the era in England, was hanged, drawn, and quartered. Samuel Pepys describes this astonishingly barbaric form of public execution in his diary in the entry under October 13, 1660.

  MAY 30

  Joan of Arc (1412–31)

  Dinner voices

  Joan of Arc is unique among the saints. The same church that declared her a heretic and burned her at the stake in 1431, canonized her in 1920. Her role in making history has made her the subject of literature and popular entertainment. She has been loved and hated, scrutinized and diagnosed.

  Joan of Arc heard voices. These were not the “voices” that schizophrenics hear, but those of the Archangel Michael and a pair of unknown women Joan called saints. These mystical voices told her to assist her native France by restoring the dauphin to his throne and driving the English back across the channel. She received these instructions at a time when the situation looked hopeless for the French, so the dauphin accepted her offer to become the commander of his wavering army. The military tactics she conceived reversed the fortunes of the French army, who broke a siege on Orléans. Wearing a soldier’s armor and carrying a banner reading Jesu et Maria, Joan inspired and led French troops in a series of stunning military victories. In 1429, the dauphin became King Charles VII, and the uneducated peasant’s daughter lived as part of the royal entourage.

  Her good fortune did not continue. In a later conflict, troops from rebellious Burgundy took Joan hostage and sold her to the English. They kept her in prison for a year during which time an ecclesiastical court interrogated her endlessly, looking for a way to accuse her of witchcraft or heresy. Joan’s answers demonstrated her solid faith, morality, and intelligence. The court condemned her to death. Dishonest power overwhelmed simple purity, but Joan had stood up against it, refusing to compromise.

  On May 30, 1431, nineteen-year-old Joan was burned at the stake in the market place at Rouen. Her remains were thrown into the Seine River. At her family’s request, the court opened Joan’s case for retrial less than two decades later and pronounced Joan innocent.

  In the preface to his play Saint Joan, George Bernard Shaw held that Joan was actually the first Protestant martyr. “She was also one of the first apostles of Nationalism, and the first French practitioner of Napoleonic realism in warfare as distinguished from the sporting ransom gambling chivalry of her time. . . . She refused to accept the specific woman’s lot, and dressed and fought and lived as men did.” Shaw goes on to observe, “If she had been old enough to know the effect she was producing on the men whom she humiliated by being right when they were wrong, and had learned to flatter and manage them, she might have lived as long as Queen Elizabeth.

  MAY 31

  James Salomone (1231–1314)

  Sacrificial faith

  Venice, Italy’s “The Father of the Poor” had no brothers or sisters and lost his parents early. Reared by his grandmother and taught by a Cistercian monk, James Salomone became a Dominican at Santa Maria Celeste. As he walked toward the monastery to begin his life as a Dominican, he began to hand out his money to poor people he met along the way. His intention was to reserve enough cash to purchase some books, but at the gate, he spotted a man who needed clothes. Turning over the remainder of his money, he entered the monastery with an empty purse. For the next sixty-six years, James Salomone lived an exemplary Christian life. People loved him and flocked to him for spiritual direction and healing. He died of cancer.

  JUNE 1

  Hannibal Di Francia (1851–1927)

  Caring in depth

  Hannibal was born in Messina, Italy. His aristocratic father died when Hannibal was less than a year and a half old. A gifted and intelligent child, Hannibal gained a strong sense of ministry for the poor people living in the slum district of his hometown. Working with what he called a “spirit of twofold charity,” Hannibal both cared for the poor and evangelized them. As he ministered to orphans in his own community, he began to express concern for orphans worldwide. Not only were they without families, they seemed like sheep without a shepherd.

  It became clear to Hannibal that the training of priests must include spiritual formation. Without prayer and spiritual training the seminaries would only turn out “artificial priests.” He worked with great energy behind the scenes to improve the method and content of theological education.

  In 1908 a powerful earthquake hit Messina and left eighty thousand dead. Hannibal immediately began a steadying ministry to help the community “start again from nothing.”

  Though Hannibal Di Francia died on June 1, 1927, the ministry he organized for the poor and for professional religious leaders continues on all the earth’s continents.

  JUNE 2

/>   Marcellinus and Peter (d. 304)

  Persecuted faith

  Here are two Roman Christians whose faith resulted in their martyrdom early in the fourth century. A priest, Marcellinus, and Peter, a low-ranking “exorcist,” were arrested during Diocletian’s intense persecution of the Church. Marcellinus went to work in prison, strengthening the faith of other Christians behind bars with him and making new converts, including Arthemius, the jailer, and his family.

  Roman authorities took Marcellinus and Peter into a forested area and killed them secretly. They wanted their burial place to remain a secret in order to prevent them from becoming examples of faith and courage to others. As it turned out, Christians still speak their names today. Arthemius, the jailer, helped spread the story of their martyrdom. Constantine built a church at the site of their tomb.

  JUNE 3

  Juan Grande Roman (1546–1600)

  Agape

  Caring for the poor and the sick is one of the most common saintly ministries. Juan Roman did this with a special twist. This sixteenth-century Spaniard had no financial resources of his own. In his late teen years he began to beg for alms in order to have funds for the care of the elderly poor. He established a makeshift hospital near San Sebastian Church in Jerez for those sick and in great need, the incurables, and people who hesitated to beg for themselves.

  He took the name “John the Sinner,” devoting himself exclusively to the service of God. He petitioned the Jerez town council for greater support of its street people during an epidemic. All the while, Juan engaged in a private life of devotion and prayer.

  Reports of John of God’s work (March 8) in Granada reached Juan in Jerez. In 1574, Juan decided to visit and experience the regimen there for himself. What he gleaned in Granada, along with a version of John of God’s Rule, helped him in his personal life and at his hospital.

  Juan lived in poverty himself as he cared for the poor. He owned few possessions, slept on a mat, and ate a diet of simple food. His ministry expanded to include sick and wounded soldiers. The prostitutes of Jerez also came to him for care. As knowledge of his work spread, others began to help him in his labors.

  The spring of 1600 was particularly deadly in Jerez. The plague was destroying the health of many people. Juan cared for its victims with no concern for himself, ultimately becoming infected. Christ’s comment about laying down one’s life for others indicating the greatest love became very meaningful for him. He lived only a week after contracting the plague, dying on June 3, 1600, in his own hospital. He was buried with a simple ceremony in the hospital’s courtyard.

  JUNE 4

  Francis Caracciolo (1563–1608)

  Active and contemplative

  Born to a wealthy family in southern Italy, he was given the name Ascanio. Ascanio was related to Thomas Aquinas (January 28) through both his mother and his father. He lived the first twentytwo years of his life in the typical sporting way of the children of nobility. Things changed when he contracted an ugly dermatitis that resembled leprosy. Frightened people ostracized and shunned him. During these difficult days as a social outcast, Ascanio vowed that he would give his life to the service of God if he ever recovered. His “leprosy” may have been shingles. Whatever it was, he completely recovered.

  Keeping his vow, Ascanio traveled to Naples to prepare for the priesthood. After working a few years with prisoners and those condemned to death, Ascanio received a letter intended for another person with the same first name. The letter was an invitation to become part of a new order of priests hoping to combine active and contemplative styles of life. This appealed to him, and he responded positively to the writer of the letter, Giovanni Agostino Adorno of Genoa. The two of them made a forty-day retreat, after which they prepared a set of rules for the new order. In 1588, they formally began the order of the Minor Clerks Regular and Ascanio took the name of Francis.

  Adorno did not live beyond forty years. Francis took his place, but would not permit others to treat him as a superior. He continued to work in the kitchen and performed all the usual housekeeping chores. His behavior became an example of selflessness. One of the rules he had prepared for the order was that no one should ever seek office. Holding office was difficult for him. Francis struggled to cope with internal politics and fend off malicious rumors. In 1607, he asked to be relieved of all administrative responsibility in order to consecrate himself to prayer. He died a year later and the age of forty-four.

  JUNE 5

  Boniface (ca. 680–754)

  Christian outreach

  An Anglo-Saxon, Boniface had a strong desire to minister to “those who are of one blood and bone” with him and convert pagan Saxons to Christianity. The Rhineland and Bavaria were already Christian regions, but central Germany had bred some colorful popular religions, and Boniface encountered serious challenges to his missionary activity.

  A remarkable “contest” occurred in 723 when Boniface demonstrated his opposition to the worship of trees and other traditions associated with the old Norse gods. He cut down an oak tree dedicated to the god Thor. In the manner of Elijah taking on the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Boniface chopped down the tree in full public view. The crowd held its collective breath, waiting for fire to come down from heaven and consume the sacrilegious visitor from England. But nothing happened, except that Boniface used the wood of the tree to construct a chapel on the very spot where it had stood. Many conversions to Christianity resulted.

  In his seventy-ninth year, some who were hostile to Christianity attacked and killed Boniface. The monastery at Fulda has the book he was reading when the attacking tribesmen broke into his tent. It bears the marks of sword cuts, and has blood-like stains on its pages.

  JUNE 6

  Marcellin Joseph Benoit Champagnat (1789–1840)

  Gaining and sharing education

  Being born into a family of devout Christians is a special blessing that sometimes does not bear fruit until long after adolescent declarations of independence and the follies of early adult life. But Marcellin Champagnat skipped sowing wild oats, experiencing a call to Christian ministry at the age of fourteen. A traveling priest encountered the young man in his hometown of Marlhes, France. Impressed with the boy’s potential, the priest instilled in Marcellin a desire for formal education and preparation for the priesthood.

  After attending a seminary in Verrieres, where his lack of an educational background made progress difficult, Marcellin blossomed into a role of enthusiastic leadership at the seminary of Lyons. He fulfilled his goal of ordination in 1816 at the age of twenty-seven. While conducting a parish ministry, he organized the Little Brothers of Mary, whose specific assignment was the education of rural young people. He defined the Brothers’ mission in simple terms. “Make Jesus Christ known and loved.”

  He opened and then enlarged schools. Experienced church leaders wondered about the judgment of this new and inexperienced priest. Without serious financial backing and organizational support, his ideas seemed idealistic and destined for the trash heap. Still, neighboring French villages kept asking Marcellin to send his Brothers to them in order to teach their children. By 1825, the Little Brothers of Mary occupied all of his time and attention. He taught his helpers to love and respect children, and to maintain a special concern for the poor, the ungrateful, and the neglected.

  Exhausted and sick, Marcellin died at the age of fifty-one.

  JUNE 7

  Anne of St. Bartholomew (1549–1626)

  Serving

  Teresa of Avila (October 15) often mentions Anne of St. Bartholomew in her writings. From 1575 to 1582 they were close friends and confidants. Their acquaintance resulted from the fact that Anne grew up near Avila. Both of Anne’s parents died when she was ten. Her brothers took care of her until her twentieth birthday. From tending sheep, she went on to enter the Carmelite convent of St. Joseph at Avila in 1570, and became the first lay sister of the newly reformed order. Teresa urged her to become a nun, but she declined because o
f her lack of an education. Teresa died in Anne’s arms. Anne wrote: “The day she died she could not speak. I changed all her linen, headdress, and sleeves. She looked at herself quite satisfied to see herself so clean. Then, turning her eyes on me, she looked at me smilingly, and showed her gratitude by signs.”

  Anne remained at Avila for six more years. In order to establish a new house for Carmelites in Paris, Anne became one of six women who made the adventurous trip. Once in Paris, in a very natural act, she slipped out of the room when the Princess de Longueville greeted them, and went into the kitchen to prepare food.

  JUNE 8

  William of York (d. 1154)

  Iinner strength

  After William Fitzherbert served as York Minster’s treasurer, King Stephen nominated him archbishop of York in 1140. He had a reputation for being kind, likeable, and gentle, though a minority who supported a rival candidate for the position accused him of using religion for gaining wealth, fooling around with women, and meddling in political affairs. The issue concerning William of York became a fiasco that resulted in tensions between England and Rome, sparked vituperative correspondence, and took a long time to resolve, ultimately with William’s deposition.

  William sought privacy in Winchester, where he lived six years as a monk until 1153. When his opponents died, he returned to York to serve as bishop. It was not long before he also died; some say he was the victim of poisoning. They buried him in the cathedral, considering him both a victim of injustice and a saint. There is no doubt that William was unwittingly involved in a power struggle for the English throne. It is to his credit that he never expressed any resentment toward his adversaries.