By Ann Fontaine
As I have remarked before in my essays, I grew up in a very low Episcopal Church, even too many candles were suspect. The result of this has been a lack of education in the “saints.” I knew about the ones like Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul from the readings in church. We heard the words “according to St. John” or whoever each week as the gospel or epistle was introduced. But it never occurred to me what that even meant, much less that there was a whole world of saints that were missing from my life. Now I find them helpful and comforting.
First on my list is Anthony. Although he has many things to commend him as a saint, I mostly like him for his ability to help find things that are lost. One time my address book was lost. This was before I was using a computer to keep information for me or to find people. It was long before Facebook and its ability to find long lost friends. The loss of my address book meant losing track of most of the people who are important to me. I searched and searched but it was nowhere to be found. I decided that I would try St. Anthony and offered a quick prayer:
St. Anthony, St. Anthony
Please come down
Something is lost
And can’t be found
Shortly thereafter I was sitting on our sofa, talking to my husband about some unrelated matter, and there, sitting on the end table – in plain sight, where I had looked many times – was my address book!
Another helpful saint, according to friends, is Joseph. Of course we remember him as the man who stood by his wife, Mary, and helped raise Jesus but I am interested in him also as the one who helps you sell your house. St. Joseph house selling kits have become big business. I have not tried this as we have lived in the same house for over 30 years but friends swear by it. One friend tried for several years to sell her house. Finally in desperation she buried Joseph, upside down as directed, and the house sold in a couple of weeks. You are supposed to dig him up and take him with you – but she could never find him again.
St. Christopher is a saint I did know about as a child and although he has been debunked as probably not really existing – I still like him. For some reason the image of him carrying the child to safety is comforting. I doubt I will put his statue in my car but I think I will find my old silver medal of him and resurrect him in my life.
Finally I like to think about St. Christina the Astonishing. I had never heard of her until I was very ill and a friend sent me her story.
During her funeral Mass, she suddenly recovered, and levitated to the roof of the church. Ordered down by the priest, she landed on the altar and stated that she had been to hell, purgatory, and heaven, and had been returned to earth with a ministry to pray for souls in purgatory.
Her life from that point became a series of strange incidents cataloged by a Thomas de Cantimpré, Dominican professor of theology at Louvain who was a contemporary who recorded his information by interviewing witnesses, and by Cardinal Jacques de Vitny who knew her personally.
People who knew her were divided in their opinions: she was a holy woman, touched of God, and that her actions and torments were simulations of the experiences of the souls in purgatory; she was suffering the torments of devils – or she was flatly insane.
There is something about her that encourages me when I am ailing. Maybe it is just that my friend found her and sent her to me when I was feeling very isolated by my illness. The church had not seemed to care – no clergy nor any other church friends even called. My non-Christian friends were much more present. The gift of Christina was, she made me laugh again. The laughter came from the connection of friend and church, not at the antics of Christina. Proof for me – laughter is healing and a gift from God. Another friend calls laughter, “carbonated prayer.”
Saints, of course, have their sainted-ness from their commitment to God not to my needs and me. However, they speak to me in the daily-ness of life. They reassure me that it is in the moments of sorrow and joy, pain and loss, God is present. Even when the result is not what I had hoped for, they have given me companionship along the way. I don’t even need the internet to stay connected!!
Who is your favorite saint?
The Rev. Ann Fontaine, Diocese of Wyoming, keeps what the tide brings in. She is the author of Streams of Mercy: a meditative commentary on the Bible.