All Saints Day
It was early in my freshman year (a long time ago) at a Christian Brothers’ high school back east that Brother Francis – in our religion class – gave us a research assignment. We had to select some saint and do up a brief summary presentation of his or her life before the class. For some reason I chose Saint Anthony of Padua – maybe because there was always a statue of Saint Anthony in our parishes. I did lots of research and wrote up several pages of information – in biographical style – memorized them and on the morning of my turn to make my presentation – before heading for school – I placed my mother in a chair by the kitchen table, then placed another chair in front of her. Upon this chair I climbed and began to recite my life of Saint Anthony from memory – faithful to every word.
Later at religion class, once my classmates were settled and with Brother Francis observing from the back of the room, I made my presentation formal. Forty-five minutes later I finished my talk – even as the class bell rang. It was the first time I had ever done anything like that – and I was so occupied with my topic that I felt no nervousness at all. Finally Brother Francis came up to me with an appreciative face and said, “You know, I only wanted a 5 minute presentation. But I didn’t have the heart to stop you.”
Of course it was not hard to hold the attention of my classmates (and maybe even Brother Francis) during my talk because Saint Anthony’s story is full of odd miracles. For instance, a horse that had not eaten for three days refused the oats placed before him in order to pause and kneel down before the Blessed Sacrament carried through the streets by Anthony. Then there was the time when Anthony and his companion sought nourishment from a poor woman only to discover that she had failed to turn off the tap to her wine-barrel – and what’s more Anthony’s companion had broken his wine glass. But thanks to Anthony’s prayers, the glass became whole AND the barrel became filled anew with wine. (And possibly the person who recalled that event??)
Nor need I tell you about the man who chopped off his foot. You guessed it: Saint Anthony replaced it without a stitch visible. And then there was his famous sermon preached to the fishes in the river near Padua – their big eyes and pursed lips raised attentively above the surface of the water. With such a repertory I could have gone on for two hours and spared my classmates the boring stuff they would have to listen to in their other classes. And I haven’t even mentioned how, if you lose something, St. Anthony is the one to dial in.
But why Saint Anthony, why saints at all? I’m told that once the early Church theologians began to talk about Jesus in highly philosophical terms, elevating him to the Second Person of the Trinity, consubstantial with the Father, possessing two natures, human and divine, the merciful Jesus of the Gospels (born in a stable) became more remote: the healer became the Judge of the living and the dead. And wherever we have a Judge we’re going to need advocates, insiders to plead for us, to use their influence with the powers above, and (not to be ignored) to keep our imaginations alive with wonders – like getting fish to listen to a sermon even if we won’t.
However, thanks to modern biblical theology, revived way back in 1943 by Pope Pius XII, Jesus can be brought out of the clouds and back to earth again in every now transparent episode of the Gospels – to retake his place as the Saint of all saints, our ultimate Healer once more.