Furthermore…

I was reading in Multiply Catholic Friends a presentation about Saint Padre Pio’s body being incorrupt a couple of days ago when the news bucked was full of stories about Michael Jackson’s untimely death, and I thought the story of the incorrupt saint was far more noteworthy than the story of the pop star passing. But of course. millions of people’s heads are full of news and commentary about Michael but relatively few are now or ever have been all agog about St. Pio’s body being preserved from decay, no more than the media millions have ever been agog about any of the many saints’ bodies similarly preserved. What an explosion of headlines, commentary, analysis, science writing and flocking to the site would ensue. Maybe even a little recognition and glory would be given to God.

When I woke up I heard on my radio the Saint of the Day feature from AmericanCatholic.org . Being a William, I was pleased. I don’t know if William of York is the St. William I was named after, but in lieu of knowing for sure, I’ll throw in with him, although I’d like it better if he were Irish instead of English. At age 72, I should have figured this out long ago. I was thinking just the other day that I know little to nothing about my name saint, so I am glad to have a real person to identify with. I went to a St. Boniface School as a kid, and I have a vague tendency to think of St. William as a kind of St. Boniface, about whom I learned a fair amount. Probably just sloppy thinking. The Saint of the Day item, as received in my email box, reads

“St. William of York
(d. 1154)

A disputed election as archbishop of York and a mysterious death. Those are the headlines from the tragic life of today’s saint.
Born into a powerful family in 12th-century England, William seemed destined for great things. His uncle was next in line for the English throne—though a nasty dynastic struggle complicated things. William himself faced an internal Church feud.

Despite these roadblocks, he was nominated as archbishop of York in 1140. Local clergymen were less enthusiastic, however, and the archbishop of Canterbury refused to consecrate William. Three years later a neighboring bishop performed the consecration, but it lacked the approval of Pope Innocent II, whose successors likewise withheld approval. William was deposed and a new election was ordered.

It was not until 1154—14 years after he was first nominated—that William became archbishop of York. When he entered the city that spring after years of exile, he received an enthusiastic welcome. Within two months he was dead, probably from poisoning. His administrative assistant was a suspect, though no formal ruling was ever made.

Despite all that happened to him, William did not show resentment toward his opponents. Following his death, many miracles were attributed to him. He was canonized 73 years later.”

Saint William, pray for me. Name saints of other people, pray for them.

This is remarkable! Today at our Catholic discussion group a couple, Bob and Gloria, who call themselves “Roamin’ Catholics” because they travel extensively in an RV, mentioned the Loretto chapel and miraculous staircase they had visited in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As the story goes, when the chapel was completed in the nineteenth century the nuns realized that no provision had been made to allow access to an upper level.
They prayed about the matter for nine days to St. Joseph, known by Catholics to have been a builder and carpenter. On the last day a stranger knocked on their door and said he could build their staircase. He completed the job using no nails or glue and left, taking no pay. Subsequently, observers of the finished work puzzled over how such a structure such as this remarkable staircase could stand by itself, seeming to lack adequate support.
Oddly, after I got home and checked my messages I discovered that one of the Multiply Catholic Friends group, a lady in Poland, had posted a video about this very chapel and staircase, adding “I wonder if any of our American Catholic Friends has ever been to this place.” The address of the video she posted is
http://catholicfriends.multiply.com/video/item/208/_The_Myst erious_Staircase

St. Thomas wrote something about almost any subject you can name. He spoke of beauty as “id quod visum placet” in Latin, meaning in English “that which being seen, pleases (the observer).” Beauty, of course, is one of the Trancendentals, and is one of the attributes of God. The saints and angels are priviledged to “see” God. They do not see as we see, however. God is Pure Spirit, so the seeing is a spiritual or intuitive experience, the Beatific Vision. All things were created by God, and the beauty we perceive in creatures derives from God, the source of all beauty. The inspirations which allow artists and musicians to create things of beauty come from God, Who is entitled to glorified by human creations, the products of His children, and by the beauty of humanity itself, and of all nature.

My nephew’s daughter just graduated from university and is going to spend a year in Peru working in an orphanage as Christian service. I wrote her that I have a devotion to St. Teresa of the Andes from that part of the world, and that she might try to learn a bit more about her while she was in the region. I think Teresa de los Andes actually was from Chile, though, and I should have mentioned St. Rose of Lima instead, although she is not so much of the modern age as was Teresa, and probably less likely to inspire my lovely relative, far from home.