Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Catherine of Sienna
If I were to convert to Catholicism, or Orthodoxy -- not likely -- would I get to pick my own saint?If so, it'd be Catherine of Sienna. I think she is cool for many, many reasons.
Mystic? Check.
Strong-willed woman? Check.
Thought of the poor first? Check?
Probably a redhead.
So, really. Any Catholics in the house? Do y'all get to pick your own personal saints? I ask with all due respect. What about Orthodox? Hmm?
Who else in Christendom takes saints seriously? Scoffing at such notions is one of the things I abandoned when I abandoned fundamentalism.
Read about St. Catherine here.
And here.
And here.
--ER
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At our church, we canonize our own saints when the whim hits us.
St Wendell of Berry
St Bruce of Springsteen
St Dorothy of Day (who actually might make it as saint one day, but who said, "Don't make me a saint. I don't want to be dismissed so easily.")
St Wendell of Berry
St Bruce of Springsteen
St Dorothy of Day (who actually might make it as saint one day, but who said, "Don't make me a saint. I don't want to be dismissed so easily.")
My Catholic Saint is St. Jude.
Of course I'm not Catholic but they were the ones with Saints and I needed one so I took St. Jude. He is the Patron Saint of Lost Causes. I have a garden dedicated to him complete with icons, and markers of the numerous lost causes in which I have participated.
If you define "Saints" as those once human who have special access to God's ear, thus can interceed for you when you pray, then there are Jewish Saints, Eastern Orthodox Saints, Nestorian Saints, Zoroastrian Saints, and Nasrani Saints at the very least.
Also there are a lot of non-Christians in New Orleans who've been known to pray to the Saints for victory.
Of course I'm not Catholic but they were the ones with Saints and I needed one so I took St. Jude. He is the Patron Saint of Lost Causes. I have a garden dedicated to him complete with icons, and markers of the numerous lost causes in which I have participated.
If you define "Saints" as those once human who have special access to God's ear, thus can interceed for you when you pray, then there are Jewish Saints, Eastern Orthodox Saints, Nestorian Saints, Zoroastrian Saints, and Nasrani Saints at the very least.
Also there are a lot of non-Christians in New Orleans who've been known to pray to the Saints for victory.
# posted by 
: 1:26 PM
: 1:26 PM
The saints are living icons, exemplars of the redemptive power of Christ poured out on us when we are in union with Him. As we struggle to live holy lives, to "walk worthy of the calling with which [we] were called" (Ephesians 4:1), the saints are an encouragement, inasmuch as we see in them the potential for radical transformation and genuine sanctification that is available to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
The saints are also faithful intercessors for us as we carry on our journey of faith. We know that the "fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16), and accordingly request the prayerful intercession of the saints in our behalf.
In the Orthodox Church, a child is given a saint's name, either when he is born, or when he is baptized. Thus, the horrifying incongruity of the Soviet oppressors of the Church bearing the names of traditional Orthodox saints, such as Vladimir Lenin, Lavrenty Beria and Iosif Dzhugashvili (Josef Stalin).
The saints are also faithful intercessors for us as we carry on our journey of faith. We know that the "fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16), and accordingly request the prayerful intercession of the saints in our behalf.
In the Orthodox Church, a child is given a saint's name, either when he is born, or when he is baptized. Thus, the horrifying incongruity of the Soviet oppressors of the Church bearing the names of traditional Orthodox saints, such as Vladimir Lenin, Lavrenty Beria and Iosif Dzhugashvili (Josef Stalin).
# posted by : 1:48 PM
: 1:48 PM
Why do protestants generally not *do* the saint thing? Is there some Scripture used to justify nonbelief in saintly intercession?
Hey, ER.
Mine would be St. Francis of Assisi, because of this prayer:
"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console,
not so much to be understood as to understand,
not so much to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we awake to eternal life."
Mine would be St. Francis of Assisi, because of this prayer:
"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console,
not so much to be understood as to understand,
not so much to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we awake to eternal life."
# posted by : 2:23 PM
: 2:23 PM
...Though the prayer carries his name, he apparently did not author it.
I also love St. Francis' concern for the poor, the environment and animals.
But it is that prayer that REALLY speaks to me.
I also love St. Francis' concern for the poor, the environment and animals.
But it is that prayer that REALLY speaks to me.
# posted by : 2:37 PM
: 2:37 PM
My understanding of why protostants don't "do the saint thing" is that we/they believe that all christians are saints, so there is nothing special.
Either that or they are Bears fans.
Either that or they are Bears fans.
Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement and nutty radical Christian chick.
http://www.catholicworker.com/ddaybio.htm
The Catholic Worker Movement has a commitment to simple living, solidarity with the poor and oppressed, and peacemaking, unless I'm remembering incorrectly. So she's a convenient Icon for us anabaptists in the audience.
Learn about her, if you like St. Catherine, you'll love Dorothy Day.
http://www.catholicworker.com/ddaybio.htm
The Catholic Worker Movement has a commitment to simple living, solidarity with the poor and oppressed, and peacemaking, unless I'm remembering incorrectly. So she's a convenient Icon for us anabaptists in the audience.
Learn about her, if you like St. Catherine, you'll love Dorothy Day.
Ha.
But I think it has to do with the idea that Jesus is supposed be our only intercessor. But I like the idea of a heavenly cheering section, myself.
Hmmm.
But I think it has to do with the idea that Jesus is supposed be our only intercessor. But I like the idea of a heavenly cheering section, myself.
Hmmm.
ER, not ALL of Protestantism is at odds with the heavenly cheering section. Among the beliefs spelled out in The Apostle's Creed -- recited in many a mainline church -- is "the communion of saints."
Whenever we have a deacon/elder ordination at my church -- the traditional laying on of hands -- there is an older gentleman who always notes that he "feels the presence of the old saints."
Whenever we have a deacon/elder ordination at my church -- the traditional laying on of hands -- there is an older gentleman who always notes that he "feels the presence of the old saints."
# posted by : 4:19 PM
: 4:19 PM
Wow! Just read the Dorothy Day article. Awe. Some.
Re: she grew to feel "that journalism was a meager response to a world at war."
I increasingly resemble that remark.
Re: she grew to feel "that journalism was a meager response to a world at war."
I increasingly resemble that remark.
As a former cab driver, I gotta give it up for St. Fiacre. He-unlike a lot of the other saints- actually existed. He was an innkeeper in France who seems to have come up with the idea of coaches for hire. So he's the patron saint of cabbies. For some reason, he is also the patron saint of syphillitics.
As to whether or not other Christians have the saint thing or not, among the Finnish cannery workers that make up a lot of my family, there is St. Urho. He is the patron saint of fishery workers, and is said to have run the crickets out of Finland.
Most Finns tend toward Lutheranism, which is about as far from Catholic as you get.
As to whether or not other Christians have the saint thing or not, among the Finnish cannery workers that make up a lot of my family, there is St. Urho. He is the patron saint of fishery workers, and is said to have run the crickets out of Finland.
Most Finns tend toward Lutheranism, which is about as far from Catholic as you get.
LOL
"Grasshopper, grasshopper, go to hell" Urho is reported to have said.
Hey, I wonder if there is a patron saint of journalists???
"Grasshopper, grasshopper, go to hell" Urho is reported to have said.
Hey, I wonder if there is a patron saint of journalists???
D'oh! I knew this. Just forgot.
St. Francis de Sales
Feastday: January 24
Patron Saint of Journalists
b: 1567 d: 1622
I still prefer St. Catherine.
St. Francis de Sales
Feastday: January 24
Patron Saint of Journalists
b: 1567 d: 1622
I still prefer St. Catherine.
ER said: "But I think it has to do with the idea that Jesus is supposed be our only intercessor."
The Protestant etc. concept that precludes "Saints" is the "Priesthood of the Believer". We need not an intercessor such as a Saint of otherwise. We speak directly with God in any and all of his three persons.
With all due respect to my Catholic friends many of the Catholic Saints, especially the earliest ones, were made over local dieties or demi-gods, which were incorporated into the Church as it spread across the world. Many of these Saints have now been decannonized or downgraded to local celabratories.
Following the edict that what is bound on earth is bound in heaven makes me wonder what St. Chistopher thought when he awakened one heavenly morning and discovered he was again a pagan. What happend after that?
The Protestant etc. concept that precludes "Saints" is the "Priesthood of the Believer". We need not an intercessor such as a Saint of otherwise. We speak directly with God in any and all of his three persons.
With all due respect to my Catholic friends many of the Catholic Saints, especially the earliest ones, were made over local dieties or demi-gods, which were incorporated into the Church as it spread across the world. Many of these Saints have now been decannonized or downgraded to local celabratories.
Following the edict that what is bound on earth is bound in heaven makes me wonder what St. Chistopher thought when he awakened one heavenly morning and discovered he was again a pagan. What happend after that?
# posted by : 6:26 PM
: 6:26 PM
In the protestant circles I frequent/frequented "the communion of saints" always referred to the communion of believers. My church family, other church families.
When a Catholic is confirmed (in the early teens if you're born a Catholic), they pick a Confirmation name, typically the name of their favorite saint.
I picked Lucy, because I admired the heroine of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" but she turned out to be a saint, too, burned at the stake for something. And of course CS Lewis' books are just Christian allegory, anyway, so it wasn't wholly inappropriate. I mean, I could have picked St. Scarlett after another favorite book.
(This was a good 17 years ago so please don't think I liked the movie. I liked the book.)
(And thanks for your blog - I lurk often at Bitch PHD and heard about your site there. )
I picked Lucy, because I admired the heroine of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" but she turned out to be a saint, too, burned at the stake for something. And of course CS Lewis' books are just Christian allegory, anyway, so it wasn't wholly inappropriate. I mean, I could have picked St. Scarlett after another favorite book.
(This was a good 17 years ago so please don't think I liked the movie. I liked the book.)
(And thanks for your blog - I lurk often at Bitch PHD and heard about your site there. )
# posted by : 3:19 PM
: 3:19 PM
I had to pcik a patron saint when I got confimred, but to be honest I don't remember who I picked.
# posted by : 4:24 PM
: 4:24 PM
ER said: "Catherine of Sienna. I think she is cool for many, many reasons."
Based on her recent head shot I can see how one might be enamoured with her.
http://www.international.ucla.edu/eap/studentsites/TravelEurope/italy.htm
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Based on her recent head shot I can see how one might be enamoured with her.
http://www.international.ucla.edu/eap/studentsites/TravelEurope/italy.htm
# posted by : 12:05 AM
: 12:05 AM << Home
