4/19 Athanasia of Aegina

Athanasia of Aegina

Eighth  Day of Easter

Year A

I want to tell you about this saint named Athanasia of Aegina.

Athanasia was a very busy woman both before she died and afterwards too!

Before she died, she was born to the nobility and she was a pious girl, as saints often are. There is a story about her enlightenment that when it happened a star suddenly appeared and settled over her heart and, bam, just like that, she was enlightened.

Despite this early evidence of spiritual talent her parents asked her to get married and so she married an army officer who was killed in battle 16 days later. After that she wanted to enter religious life but there was an imperial edict stating that all single women had to get married to soldiers. See, this business of men controlling women’s bodies is really not anything new. Anyway, Athanasia got married again but this guy wanted to be a monk and Anathanasia, thanking her lucky stars, gave away all her stuff and became a nun.

As Athanasia was approaching death she gave orders that the poor be fed in her memory for forty days. The thing is that the other nuns didn’t do it. They only fed the poor for nine days. That is when Athanasia got busy. She came down from heaven and appeared to them. She said:

“It was wrong that you did not fulfill my testament, the forty-day commemoration in church of those who have fallen asleep and the feeding of the poor greatly helps sinful souls, while heavenly mercy is sent down from righteous souls to those who carry out the commemoration.”

Then, she jabbed her staff into the ground, and became invisible. But, the next day the staff had sprouted and become a living sapling.

Forty days after her actual death, Athanasia appeared to two of the other nuns during mass and they saw that Athanasia was at the gates of heaven and two radiant men placed a crown on her head and they gave her a brilliant staff and led her through the gates to the altar. I guess that was to replace the staff that had turned into a sapling. Apparently one needs a staff in heaven.

Also, some people were healed when they went to her grave. One time some people brought a woman who was possessed to her grave and for some reason they thought that it would be helpful to dig up some of the dirt, you know, to get closer to the actual corpse. (Makes you wonder, I know.) So, as they dug they smelled perfume coming from the grave and what they did is they just dug the whole thing up. When they opened her coffin, they found Anathasia had not decomposed and perfume was coming out of her.

So, after that, the other nuns wanted to put her in a better coffin and put some fine silk clothes on her because she had been buried in a hair shirt. This seems to me like another good reason to be cremated:  Some jackass might bury you in a hair shirt. Anyway, as a sign of their poverty and to promote a life of penance a lot of people wore hair shirts in those days and apparently Athanasia liked hers because when the nuns tried to put the new silk clothes on her she developed severe rigor. That is, she went all stiff. But one of the nuns commanded her to obey them and be clothed with the new clothes and she did.

See, I told you she was very busy.

It’s all just stories, of course. That’s what hagiography is, stories that help us reflect on the life of someone who tried to live a life close to God. Here’s what I am thinking, though. I don’t want to be that busy after I die. Once I am gone, ya’ll just carry on without me. I hope to be somewhere else, maybe not in a place at all, maybe just everywhere, or nowhere, or not at all. So, I think I need to start relinquishing control of this life now so that when it’s time, I’m free to move on. So, I am trying to think of some little areas of control I could give up.

Happy Easter Day to those who observe according to the Orthodox calendar. I hope one day we can all celebrate on the same day. I am always happy to change! It’s the others that are the problem. Christos Anesti!

Out and out plagiarism came from here:

“Saint Athanasia of Aegina“. CatholicSaints.Info. 18 April 2017. Web. 19 April 2020. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-athanasia-of-aegina/>

4/14 Lydwina of Schiedam

April 14

Third Day of Easter 2020

Year A

This is the third day of Easter. Whoo-Hoo. 

We have a crazy saint today. So crazy, in fact, that priests were brought in to see if she was possessed. She wasn’t. Her name is Lydwina of Schiedam. Actually, that’s SAINT Lydwina of Schiedam to you and me. (Schiedam is in The Netherlands). At age 16 Lydwina was in a terrible accident that left her paralysed and she suffered a lot over it. She spent her time praying, meditating, and offering her pain to God because that’s about all you could do in the early 15th century. She developed a special devotion to the Eucharist and the hagiography is that the Eucharist is all she ate for the last 19 years of her life. And I was thinking I could probably survive on nothing but bread and wine too, if it came with cheese and sausages. Anyway, Lydwina saw visions in which she was visited by saints. In her final vision she saw Christ giving her last rites. 

She must have been in terrible pain and that can cause people to have visions. And God can cause them to have visions too, I guess. I admire Lydwina because she persevered. Instead of turning in to her pain she looked to God, who must have seemed far off. I hope that was some comfort to her. And I hope that when I find myself in pain I can remember that it’s not all about me, there might be something else going on too.

4/15 The Mercediarians of Africa

15 April 2020

Fourth Day of Easter

Year A

Yesterday we remembered Mercedarian Martyrs of Africa. The Mercediarians were, and are, an interesting lot. It started in sunny Spain. We all want to go to Spain, don’t we? Everybody I know wants to go to Spain because it’s sunny and they have those beaches and the food. Spain is great. But in medieval times Spain was a mess! The Christians and Muslims were duking it out for control of Europe, and there are no winners when Christians and Muslims fight. Anyway, what was happening is that the Muslims would capture Christinas and ship them off to Northern Africa to be slaves. One day a merchant named Peter Nolasco noticed this and it broke his heart. If the Christian slaves converted to Islam they had a pretty good chance of getting off the chain gang and maybe even into polite society and Peter was concerned that they were losing their faith to the allure of freedom. Peter was not a rich man, but he got his money together and started buying the slaves back. Others joined him and with support from the king and the bishop he founded the Mercedarian Order. 

The fourth vow of the order, besides poverty, chastity, and obedience, is to give up your own life to save someone in danger of losing their faith. Peter sent the friars out in small groups to buy back slaves. They were generally mistreated, beaten, stoned, and often killed. But, it is estimated that by 1300 they had freed over 11,000 Christians. 

On April 15 we remember a mission to Africa in which many friars were killed for their efforts. 

Today the Mercedarian order seeks to ransom those who are in all kinds of slavery: Addiction, poverty, sin, and ignorance. They have communities all over the world. 

So, I was wondering what I could do to help people out of their slavery. And from the confines of my little room I think the best I can do today is to be truly free myself. Even though confined, my mind and my heart soar with the thought that I too have been bought and repatriated into the kingdom of light.

4/20 Hildegun of Neuss

Hildegun of Neuss 

Ninth Day of Easter

Year A

When Hildegun of Neuss was born she was destined for life as a mere woman, but things didn’t stay that way for long. Before he took her along on pilgrimage, her father dressed her up as a boy for her protection. When they got home, she kept up the disguise and joined the Cistercian monks at Schönau, Germany. Nobody knew she was really a woman until she was dead and then I guess somebody discovered it. That was in 1188. 

Imagine living your whole life as someone who is not really yourself? Yet, we all have to do it sometimes. And some people make a whole life of it. Some people even harm their bodies with hormones and surgeries to be the opposite sex (Which just perpetuates the binary, btw. It does not fight it.) But, why? Hildegun, of course, had a reason. She wanted to be a monk. But, most of us can have whatever profession we want regardless of sex. So, why can’t we all just be who we want to be? And why can’t we let others dress how they want, wear makeup, or not wear it, wear pants, or dresses, or an abaya, or whatever the hell else they want to do? Or, even have a different kind of haircut, or no hair, or bad hair? Let everybody just be who they want to be. That’s what I say.

The legend about Hildegun is that she was a miracle worker. Well, I guess she’d have to be to not be discovered!

Of all the stories about people living as the opposite sex, hers has the best and most convincing documentation by her own order. 

Blatant plagiarism from here:

“Blessed Hildegun of Schönau“. CatholicSaints.Info. 7 April 2010. Web. 20 April 2020. <https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-hildegun-of-schonau/>

My good friend, Dale McNeil also posted on Hildegun and this is a more complete story.

"Born to a noble family, her father Harper took her on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1182, when she was 12. However, after landing at Tyre, Lebanon, Harper took ill and knew he would die. He entrusted her to the care of his manservant and, realizing the dangers that could meet the girl on her return journey, her father dressed her as a boy.

No sooner was Harper buried, however, when the servant absconded with the money given him for expenses and abandoned Hildegun. Still dressed as a boy, she took the name Joseph for the patron of families and children. Left to beg on the streets, a well-connected German pilgrim saw her and offered to return her home. For several reasons, though, this never happened.

By 1187, Hildegun also discerned a call to the religious life. Thus she entered the Cistercian monastery at Schönau — without mentioning that she was a young woman.

After a year’s novitiate, and three days before she was to take her monastic vows, she took ill, dying on April 20, 1188. Only while bathing her for burial did the monks discover her actual sex."

https://www.ncregister.com/blog/boneel/holy-week

4/16 The Mercedarian Martyers of Africa

16 April 2020
The Mercedarian Martyers of Africa
Year A

Yesterday we learned about the Mercedarian order and how they give their lives to free those who are enslaved, whether in actual chains or the metaphorical chains of addiction, ignorance, or what have you. 

Today we remember Blessed Mariana of Jesus, also known as Lily of Madrid. At age 23 she turned down a marriage proposal and instead became a Discalced Mercedarian nun at Madrid. We know what a Mercedarian is, but if someone is ”Discalced” that just means they don’t wear shoes. A lot of discalced orders now wear sandals or even shoes, though I don’t think they have very fancy shoes. Probably Sketchers or something like that. Definitely not Prada. Not Louboutons either. I am sure. Just so you know, I wear Sketchers. I love ‘em. 

Anyway, like a lot of saints, she was devoted to the Eucharist and she prayed a lot. Her bosses at the convent ordered her to write her spiritual autobiography which is something that lot of people do. Personally, I think it’s very ego-centric and overly self-serving, but people do it. 

It’s something to think about, though. One question we could ask today is whether or not there is something we want to write down. I’ll leave it to you to decide. 

“Blessed Mariana of Jesus“. CatholicSaints.Info. 17 April 2017. Web. 16 April 2020. <https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-mariana-of-jesus/>

Oh, and this is the fifth day of Easter. There are 45 more feast days to go!

4/31 Camilla de Varano

Saint Camilla de Varano (Italy) was born into a princely family in 1548. Her father was the prince of Camerino, Italy and, from the looks of things, he was pretty well off. Like most parents, Camilla's parents hoped she would find a good marriage partner, but Camilla had other ideas becoming a Poor Claire at the tender age of 23. She must have been a good nun because she became abbess. Or, maybe it was just because her father had the money to refurbish the abbey for her. But, it was a successful monastic career. 

In 1505 she was noticed by Pope Julius II who sent her to found a Poor Claire Convent in Fermo, Italy. And in 1521 she brought the rule of The Poor Claires to San Severino Marche, also in Italy. So she had a busy life and seemed to stick with The Poor Claires throughout which is a long way from royal life. You may remember that Saint Claire, who founded The Poor Claires, was a friend of crazy Saint Francis. Sometimes The Poor Clairs are even called The Second Order of Saint Francis. Though the rule is largely benedictine, The Poor Clairs didn't hold any property for a long time. Then it was changed, as rules do. 

There was a time, and not that long ago, when theological knowledge was much harder to come by, especially for women. Women who wanted to know things had the option of joining a convent, and maybe that is what motivated Saint Camilla. But, she would still have been limited to what she was taught by the very few people who might have been willing to teach her at all. But, Camilla had visions... visions of teachers! I ran across this in the reading about Saint Camilla of Varano this morning:

Visionary; the visions of angels helped her understand several theological concepts.

It seems like most of us spend a lot of time trying to understand things. We read, we pray, we think it over, we talk with others who may know more than we do… that’s one of the ways we work out our salvation. It’s good.

But, I often think that, just personally, I want to know too many things. Maybe things that are too high for me. I am not a theologian or a teacher of those high things. I am simple. I can bring joy to the heart of God without understanding so very much. 

Yet, yesterday I spent the better part of my morning trying to find more information about the jailer at Phillipi: Did he have a name, are there any stories or myths about him, what happened after he was baptized? I wanted some information to flesh out the very little we know from scripture, because this is an important passage about conversion and initiation. I didn’t find anything, by the way. My guess is that his household joined Lydia’s household, probably doubling the ASA of that early church. And I hope that he learned things and grew in grace. But, there are no stories about him, at least not that I could find. But, what does it matter? 

At an ashram I used to frequent it was often said that when the student is ready the teacher appears. It seems that God will go to almost any length, including sending actual angels, to help us understand what we need to know. 

I will probably not become any more discerning about the knowledge I seek. When it comes to God’s workings on this small planet, our island home, I want to know everything. But, I can relax a little knowing that if it’s really important God will send an angel… or something. ­­­­

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Catholicsaints.info. CatholicSaints.Info: notes about your extended family in heaven. (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2022, from https://catholicsaints.info/saint-camilla-battista-varano/