Saints Behaving Badly...

Even the birds know he's a saint!

When I was a little girl, I attended my catechism religiously.  Since I was born after Vatican II, Catholic saints took a back seat to other practices, but I still found myself learning about St. Patrick who brought Christianity to Ireland, St. Francis who gave everything he had to the poor and the Virgin Mary who willingly gave birth to God's son.

The purpose of saints, I was taught, was to show Catholics that anyone could live a life of faith.  Unlike Jesus, who was divine, saints were human and subject to the same human flaws we all have.  If they could give everything to the poor and remain faithful when persecuted for their faith, we should be able to as well.  This seemed logical when I was ten, but as I grew older, the more inadequate saints made me feel.

Take the example of St. Francis, who was born into a wealthy family and gave up everything to live like a poor man.  He started the Franciscan order and gained the attention of the future St. Claire, founder of the poor Claire's.  St. Francis and his friars preached the gospel to the common people and sinners of their day.  Unlike other monastic houses of the time, the Franciscans didn't rely on the sale of crops or donations to support their community.  They begged for their bread and relied on God's providence wherever they went.

St. Francis' life was commendable, but how could a person like me ever live up to that standard?  I'm materialistic, like good food, am sickly and while I'm generous with my money, I could never give it all away.  Until college I never felt that being saintly was an option, because the bar had been set to high.

"Theresa, I would like to introduce you to my friend St. Augustine."~quote from my college professor

That's until I met St. Augustine.  Before taking a Medieval history class, I had never heard of the man before, but instantly took a strong interest in him.  Born during the waning years of the Roman Empire, Augustine was born in present day Tunisia.  While his mother St. Monica was a devote Christian, his father was a pagan.  For much of his youth, Augustine had a typical Roman upbringing.  He studied Latin, philosophy and rhetoric, went to the bath houses, picked up women and even had a mistress and illegitimate child.  Now, how's that for saintly behavior?  While St. Augustine eventually converted and lived a more pious life, this shows that saints began just like us.

Unsaintly behavior, however, can occur at any point in a saint's life, as demonstrated in my previous post, "Behave or Santa Will Slap You?"  St. Nicholas was the bishop of Myra and attend the famous Council of Nicaea.  Ordered by the first Christian Emperor Constantine, the consul was to settle the doctrinal disputes of the day and create a uniform Christian creed.  A man named Arius promoted the belief that Jesus wasn't God, which enraged good old St. Nick.  Out of a fit of passion, St. Nicholas slapped Arius (very unsaintly behavior) and was removed from the council by Emperor Constantine.

"I want to suck...the puss from that wound."~pretend quote from Catherine of Sienna

Not only did saints behave poorly, some even had mental problems.  Catherine of Sienna, born in 1347 in Italy, advised kings and popes, cared for the sick and ate the lice and sucked the pus from leapers.  Yea...that last part is a little weird.  Obviously Catherine didn't suffer from an obsessive-compulsive disorder, but something much more troubling.  What ever her illness, the Medieval world viewed it as another aspect of her saintliness.

Much like other historical figures, such as Anne Boleyn, Mary, Queen of Scots and the Puritans, saints were multidimensional people showing great devotion to God and the poor, but quick to sin like the rest of us.  Knowing that saints had violent tempers, sexual desires and metal illnesses makes them more real and accessible.  It seems to me, that some of the greatest sinners, make the best saints.