Catholic Hotdish

St. George at Seven Dolors in Albany, MN.

April 23 is the feast day of St. George, Martyr.

St. George, Fact and Fiction.  Almost nothing historical is known about St. George.  Shreds of factual data suggest that he was a Christian who lived during the late Third Century when there were fierce persecutions against the Church, and that he was beheaded in Lydda, Palestine, sometime around 303 AD.  Over the ensuing centuries his popularity grew enormously, and in the Twelfth Century a fantastic legend emerged about him as a dragon-slayer.  The story is folklore, not history, but captivating nonetheless.

A Dragon with Halitosis.  The tale begins with George, a Christian knight, attired in armor and mounted on a mighty steed.  In his travels he came upon Sylene, a city in Libya, North Africa.  The city was near a marshy swamp where a fierce dragon prowled about, and it ventured forth from time to time, and it terrorized the countryside.  The local citizens banded together to mount an attack to kill it, but the dragon’s breath was so horrible that they were not able to get close enough to accomplish their mission.

A Devouring Dragon.  The dragon had a ferocious appetite, so to prevent the dragon from entering the city the residents fed it with two sheep each day.  When the supply of sheep ran out, a person was chosen by lot to be given to the dragon to eat.  On one occasion the lot fell to the king’s own daughter, and no one was willing to take her place.  The young princess was marched out to the dragon, dressed as a bride to meet her doom.

St. George to the Rescue.  George arrived at the outskirts of the city at this tragic moment.  He attacked the dragon, and with his lance he speared it, nailing it to the ground, but without killing it.  Then he took the king’s daughter’s girdle and tied it around the dragon’s neck, and the princess, taking hold of the garment, used it to tow the dragon into the city, the beast following tamely behind.

A Bargain to Slay the Dragon.  With the dragon inside the city, the residents were overcome with mortal anguish, and as they were about to flee George told them that they had nothing to fear, and declared, “If you believe in Jesus Christ, and if you will consent to baptism, then I will kill the dragon.”  The king and his subjects quickly agreed, so St. George squared off with the dragon and courageously slayed it.  Next, fifteen thousand were baptized.  The king offered George great treasure, but he refused it and instructed the king to give it to the poor.  As George departed, he made four requests of the king:  keep the churches in good repair; honor the priests; attend church services regularly yourself; and show special concern for the poor.

Patronage.  St. George was the patron saint of the Crusades, knights and soldiers.  Currently he is revered as the patron saint of England and Georgia in Russia, as well as horse-back riders, soldiers in the cavalry, and the Boy Scouts.

Altar of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Photo/david_shane Licensed under Creative Commons

Last week I said that none of the most popular superheroes could defeat the devil.  But one woman martyr did crush him in a vision–the day before she and her companions died gloriously for the faith in North Africa in the year 203.

In my opinion, St. Perpetua had as much valor as a Navy Seal and so did St. Felicity, both of whom share a feast day this week. They were among the most well-known and venerated martyrs of the early Church.

Besides their bravery in facing a savage death for professing to be Christians, these women show us their great faith, hope and trust in God. They also teach us something about parenting under extreme stress.

Perpetua was a noblewoman from the  city of Carthage, near the modern city of Tunis in Tunisia. Felicity was a slave. They and three others were arrested for their faith, and for refusing to pay tribute to the Roman gods. Perpetua had an infant son; Felicity was eight months pregnant.

The women were sentenced to be torn apart by beasts as part of the emperor’s birthday celebration. They were baptized before being led away to prison.

It seems ironic that they were arrested for being Christians before they were actually baptized into the faith but it was common at that time for believers to wait for baptism until they were near death. They understood that baptism was for the forgiveness of sins and thus it was held with such value that many waited to receive the sacrament until right before dying.

Perpetua’s father visited her in prison with her son to convince her to abandon her faith. Eventually she was allowed to keep her son in prison with her.

Felicity worried that she wouldn’t be martyred with Perpetua and the others because Roman law forbade executing pregnant women. Two days before she and the others were thrown into the arena, she gave birth and her baby was adopted by a Christian couple.

Perpetua and Felicity’s Christian witness in prison resulted in the conversion of one of the jailers.

Perpetua’s vision of her battle with the devil was one of several she had while in prison. The day before her execution, she dreamed she was brought into the amphitheater but instead of beasts, she saw an Egyptian. Then a man taller than the top of the arena appeared holding a rod used by gladiators and a branch of golden apples. She was to fight the Egyptian and either he would kill her with a sword or she would conquer him and receive the branch.

She told of the gladiator battle in The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, one of the earliest pieces of writing by a Christian woman:

And we came nigh to each other, and began to buffet one another. He tried to trip up my feet, but I with my heels smote upon his face. And I rose up into the air and began so to smite him as though I trod not the earth. But when I saw that there was yet delay, I joined my hands, setting finger against finger of them. And I caugth his head, and he fell upon his face; and  I trod upon his head. … And I went up to the master of gladiators and received  the branch. And he kissed me and said to me:  ’Daughter, peace be with you.’ And I began to go with glory to the gate called the Gate of Life. And I awoke; and I understood that I should fight, not with beasts but against the devil, but I knew that mine was the victory.

When Perpetua and Felicity actually were martyred on March 7, they were first whipped and then thrown into the arena where they were mauled by a wild cow. They exchanged the kiss of peace and were killed by a sword.

Before her martyrdom, St. Perpetua professed her faith:

For this cause came we willingly unto this, that our liberty might not be obscured. For this cause have we devoted our lives.

St. Andrew with X shaped cross at St. Jude of the Lake in Mahtomedi

An Apostle’s Feast Day. November 30 is the feast of St. Andrew.  All three Synoptic gospels as well as Acts list him as one of the original Twelve (Mt 10:2; Mk 3:18; Lk 6:14; Acts 1:13).

Gospel Information on Andrew. Andrew was born and raised in Bethsaida (Jn 1:44), a fishing village on the north side of the Sea of Galilee, only a short distance from Capernaum, another town about a mile to the west.  He had a least one brother, Peter, and they were both fisherman (Mt 4:18; Mk 1:16).   At some point they acquired a home in Capernaum where they lived together (Mk 1:29).  Andrew was a Jew, and from the context of Mark’s gospel, it is presumed that he worshiped in the synagogue in Capernaum (see Mk 1:16-31).

Two Versions of Andrew’s Call. When John the Baptist began his prophetic ministry in the desert, Andrew became one of his disciples (Jn 1:35).  On one occasion Jesus walked by and the Baptizer pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” and when Andrew heard this he transferred allegiance and became Jesus’ follower (Jn 1:36-37).  According to the Fourth Gospel Andrew received his call to become a disciple not from Jesus but from the Baptist, and was the first person to become a follower, and it is for this reason that the Eastern Church calls Andrew the “Protoclete” or “the first called.”  Andrew, in turn, went to his brother Simon Peter and called him to follow Jesus (Jn 1:41-42).  Matthew and Mark tell Andrew’s call story differently.  They report that Peter and Andrew were fishing, and that as Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee, he beckoned, “Come, follow me,” and they left their nets immediately and followed him (Mt 4:18-20; Mk 1:16-18).

Andrew’s Faith. Andrew came to faith very quickly, almost instantly, due to Jesus’ compelling presence.  After Andrew met Jesus and stayed with him for only a day, he declared to his brother Simon, “We have found the Messiah” (Jn 1:51).

Additional New Testament Information on Andrew. Jesus had a special core group of disciples who were his closest partners, Peter, James, and John, but there were two occasions when Andrew was a fourth:  when Jesus cured Peter’s mother-in-law and when Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple (Mk 1:29; 13:3).  Andrew is mentioned in three other instances:  when Jesus fed the five thousand, it was Andrew who identified the boy with the five barley loaves and the two fish (Jn 6:8-9); when some Greeks came to Jerusalem for an audience with Jesus, it was Andrew who approached Jesus on their behalf (Jn 12:20,22); and when the apostles were gathered in the upper room before Pentecost, Andrew was there (Acts 1:13).

Early Church History. The rest of St. Andrew’s story is provided by historians, not Scripture.  After Pentecost Andrew became a missionary and probably traveled to Bithynia, south of the Black Sea, now northern Turkey; and Scythia, much further east between the Black and Caspian Seas, modern Georgia of the USSR.  There are legends that Andrew went to Poland, northern Europe, and Scotland; and general agreement that he went to Macedonia, northern Greece, and Achaia, southern Greece, where he was martyred in Patras in 60 AD on an X-shaped cross.

St. Andrew’s Intercession. St. Andrew is the patron saint of Russia, Scotland, and Greece, as well as fishermen, fish merchants, sailors, and spinsters or old maids.

St. Andrew’s Symbols. Andrew is represented by an X-shaped cross, the instrument of his crucifixion; a single fish or a fishing net, signs of his profession; a pair of crisscrossed fish which recall both his vocation as a fisher of people and the manner of his death; a carpenter’s square because he helped to build the Church; and a palm branch because he was a martyr.

St. Catherine of Alexandria - Window at St. Bridget in DeGraf

St. Catherine of Alexandria is a saint of great interest locally because she is the patron saint of St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota.  November 25 was her feast day for many years.  She was dropped from the liturgical calendar in 1969, but recently her memorial was reinstated in the revised Roman Missal.  There is little reliable historical data about her life, but her legendary story is inspiring.

Youthful beginnings. St. Catherine lived in Alexandria, Egypt, during the fourth century AD.  She was born into an upper class pagan Roman family.  She was blessed with intellectual genius and a fierce hunger for learning, as well as striking beauty, but as attractive as she was, she preferred learning and philosophy to marriage.

Her conversion story. There are two main legends about Catherine’s conversion to Christianity.  According to the first, the Blessed Mother appeared to a hermit in the Egyptian desert.  The hermit went to Catherine and showed her an image of the Madonna and Christ child which led to her immediate conversion at the age of eighteen.  Not only that, she was “mystically married” to Christ, and the Christ child placed a ring on her finger.  According to another version, the Christ child and the Blessed Mother appeared to her directly.

Incredible bravery. Subsequently Catherine preached about Jesus and the gospel throughout Alexandria at a time when the emperor Maxentius was conducting a persecution against Christians.  In a bold and daring move, Catherine approached the emperor, scolded him for his persecution, and voiced strong arguments against the pagan Roman gods.  The emperor could not withstand her wisdom so he assembled fifty leading pagan philosophers to debate with her.  Not only did Catherine win the debate, they all converted to Christianity.  Incensed, the emperor had all fifty burned to death, but he spared Catherine because he lusted for her.

A mystical marriage untainted. Maxentius was enthralled with Catherine’s beauty, and he tried to seduce her, even though he was a married man with a queen.  He went so far as to promise Catherine that he would crown her his new queen.  Catherine flatly denied his advances.  Rejected and mortified, the enraged emperor had Catherine beaten and thrown into prison.

A curious twist. Intrigued by Catherine, both the queen and an army general went secretly to visit Catherine in prison.  Because of her remarkable faith, both the empress, the general, and two hundred prison guards converted.  Maxentius went berserk and had them all executed.

Catherine’s martyrdom. The emperor decided to torture Catherine’s chaste body by stretching it over a large spiked wheel with tall points on the surface and a sharp blade on the side.  Miraculously, before the torture could begin, her shackles were loosened and the wheel shattered, reportedly by angels.  She was finally beheaded.  Then, according to the legend, her body was flown by the angels to Mount Sinai where she was buried.

A strong advocate. St. Catherine of Alexandria is the patron saint of philosophers, librarians, university students, young women, preachers, apologists, lawyers, notaries, and wheelwrights.    She is also revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, a group of saints thought to have special intercessory power.