Saints who were Royal

Royal fever is in the air as the world gets ready to watch King Charles III officially ascend the throne during his coronation on May 6. While we here in America long ago threw off the chains of monarchical rule, we just can’t help but watch and admire the pageantry and tradition.

Meanwhile, did you know there are many, many saints who were royal? Here’s just a few whose example we can follow (and indeed, should follow rather than any current earthly monarch):

Saint Wenceslaus: More than a Christmas song, Good King Wenceslaus ruled over Bohemia, aka modern day Prague. Born in 907, his life was marked by familial and royal political intrigue. While Wenceslaus himself was a devout Christian, his mother was a pagan with her own supporters, who sought to influence him. Ultimately, Wenceslaus’s own brother, also a non-Christian, killed him, and Wenceslaus is considered a martyr. During his reign, he sought to unify the Bohemian lands. So, he is seen as one seeking harmony in a time of political upheaval - definitely relevant for our time. Fun fact: his grandmother, Ludmila, is also a royal saint.

St. Matilda of Ringelheim: St. Matilda was a Queen of Germany, born around 895. She was known, and criticized by her family, for her excessive generosity. In her final years, after becoming a widow, she devoted herself to the building of many churches, convents and monasteries, and even lived at one at the very end of her life. Given she lived so long ago, there are not many more personal details about her life available, but her generosity and dedication to church-building, in every sense, is notable.

St. Edward the Confessor: St. Edward was a British king, born around the year 1000. His piety gained him the nickname, “The Confessor.” Due to various political circumstances, he spent much of his youth “in exile,” in other words, without the sort of pomp and special treatment one would associate with a royal childhood. This allowed him to grow up without the typical ambition of a young king. Instead, he grew in piety, taking particular joy in assisting in Mass, and upon eventually gaining the throne, was far more interested in his people’s welfare than perhaps he would have been otherwise. His is a lesson for us in humility and charity.

St. Louis IX of France: Born in 1638, St. Louis of France took his role as a Catholic King seriously. On his coronation day, he vowed to truly be his people’s father and to seek peace in his kingdom. He was particularly charitable, founding hospitals, visiting the sick, including, apparently, lepers. One can imagine how how advisors must have reacted to that. According to Franciscan Media, “Every day, Louis had 13 special guests from among the poor to eat with him, and a large number of poor were served meals near his palace. During Advent and Lent, all who presented themselves were given a meal, and Louis often served them in person. He kept lists of needy people, whom he regularly relieved, in every province of his dominion.” He was also married and had 11 children in total.

Stephen I of Hungary: Although born a pagan in 975, St. Stephen was baptized at 10 and used his reign to solidify the presence of the Church in Hungary, including by creating a system of tithes that supported churches, pastors, and the poor. Interestingly, he also decreed everybody had to get married (except for the clergy and religious). Perhaps a patron for our common day societal aversion to marriage? Stephen is also known for putting down various pagan factions seeking power and had a strong devotion to the Virgin Mary. Fun fact: he had one child who survived to childhood, Emeric, who was just as devout and expected to follow him to the throne. Emeric, however, died before Stephen, and was himself canonized.

St. Helena: St. Helena was married to a man named Constantius, who eventually divorced her in order to further his political ambitions by marrying a noblewoman of rank. Their son, Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, made her Empress Dowager in his kingdom after the death of his father, and she is responsible for Constantine’s becoming a Christian. What followed was a relaxation of the persecution of Christians in ancient Rome. She is known for her selflessness, generosity, and charity toward prisoners, the poor, and the church.

This isn’t even an exhaustive list; many rulers in history took their role as defenders of the faith seriously and acted in charity and piety, earning their sainthood. We see how each of these saints put God first in their lives, and their kingdoms, and used their power and resources to serve others and build up the Church.

While you’re watching the coronation, pray for King Charles, Queen Camilla, and the various warring factions amongst their immediate and extended family - they need it. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and all that. Pray also for the British people. While you’re at it, it wouldn’t hurt to pray that the Catholic faith return to England as the majority religion. With God, all things are possible. Pray big, people! It is still the Easter season, after all. St. George, patron of Britain, pray for us!

The gift of Jesus's Mother on Good Friday

I am reminded via an email from Catholic U’s Institute for Human Ecology (seriously, they always send really well-written and thoughtful emails, and I think I’ve only ever attended one of their talks, yet I have not unsubscribed) that Good Friday is the day that Jesus really gifted us his Mother, Mary. Is it that she was always humanity’s Mother, as soon as she conceived? I guess so. But it is in his telling us so that it becomes fact, real, alive.

John 19:25-27:

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”

Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

I have always had a strong Marian devotion - that’s just the way it is. But, I know that others struggle there, to see her role in God’s plan and to understand why she matters.

But if you do struggle: look to Jesus’s own words here. As I talked about earlier this week on Morning Air, Mary gives us a wealth of ways, this week in particular, to learn how to be a disciple with Jesus. She is our Mother, and also our example. She is perfect, but not unrelatable. She is a queen, but not out of reach. And her motherhood extends beyond her very real role as Christ-bearer, to all aspects of our spiritual lives: she is the Mother of Divine Grace, Mother of Good Counsel, Mother of Perpetual Help, Seat of Wisdom, Queen of Peace. If you turn over parts of your life to her, see how she addresses them for the better, or multiplies them for your good. It’s just how it works.

It being Good Friday, today is a day of solemnity, and so I stay in that existence today. Fasting, yes, and of course, watching The Passion of the Christ, as you do. I know that I don’t “get” Good Friday or have a “successful” or “good” one of my own doing. That, like so much else, is a matter of God’s own grace. So, that is my prayer - that I would be open to the grace of what I need to learn, understand, see, and experience, in these last moments before the Resurrection. How good is the faith, that we get to have this strange and powerful time - that He trusted us with it, because He cares that much about us. How good indeed!

Entering Triddum...

This week I joined the Morning Air show to talk about journeying through Holy Week with Mary, which you can listen to here. It is true that the grief Mary felt during that time is basically impossible to conceive or understand (and I hope I never do). But, we learn much from her example, especially her fidelity to Jesus. Staying by his side through it all, through her own fear and questions.

We talked also about how different movie representations of the passion can help our understanding. I, perhaps like you, have a tradition of watching The Passion of the Christ on Good Friday. Think about all that we get to see of Mary during that movie. Remember the scene where Jesus is chained and she knows where he is through the floor, without seeing him, and vice versa? Who are we to say it was not like that?

May your next few days in this holy season be fruitful as we look forward to the Resurrection!