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“One Jewish soldier expressed the wish to know the Christian Faith and is receiving regular lessons, which will probably end in his Baptism. You may well imagine that he will be called Vincent de Paul.“

French wine

If you try to find some more information on a saintly French bishop by the name of Didier, you will sooner or later stumble across French wine: What about a bottle of a red wine blend including Malbec from Cahors – Château Saint Didier-Parnac? Sounds good?

Turns out, there were, centuries ago, quite a few French bishops named Didier or – in the Latin version – Desiderius. The one I was actually trying to do a research on was not the bishop of Cahors though, who is lending his name to probably quite delicious red wine, but rather the bishop of Vienne, martyred in the year 606 or 612 – different dates are given – and remembered on the 26th May.

But how did it come to my mind to do a research on the bishop of Vienne? Well, it‘s all because of the biography on Blessed Frédéric Ozanam that I have been reading for a while now… So here‘s the third article related to the life of this saintly man.

Sometimes it can be a pleasure to take a dive off the beaten tracks into some obscure side note of collective history. Every individual family history and every biography of a saint readily lends itself to such a detour. Come along.

Queen Brunhilda

Sigebert I, the Merovingian king of the Germanic tribe of the Franks ruling over Austrasia in the 6th century, had a wife by the name of Brunhilda.

This Brunhilda had been raised at the court in Toledo, Spain. She belonged to the heretical sect of the Arians – former Catholics denying essential truths of the Christian faith. But as she married Sigibert and became queen, she converted to the Catholic religion of the Franks who were themselves newcomers to the faith. The Christianization of the Franks was a process taking place in the late 5th and early 6th century.

After the death of her husband, Brunhilda married a second time, a guy called Merowech, son of Chilperich. The peculiar thing about it is that she was Merowech’s aunt.

She reigned as queen over Austrasia and Burgundy from 575 to 583, from 595 to 599, and in the year 613. During those years she got into conflicts with the nobility, parts of the Church, and members of her own dynasty, and was seemingly involved in the murder of Chilperich, her father-in-law, and other murderous intrigues. It is said that in her later years as queen she had a lover and sought to promote him into high office by getting rid of the mayor of the palace of her son Theuderic.

Admittedly though, it feels a bit difficult to get a clear picture on the queen’s personality and her conduct from the historical sources. What is fact, what is fiction?

A source from the 8th century called Liber Historiae Francorum – the Book of the History of the Franks – relates this about the queen‘s temporal end:

“Then the army of the Franks and Burgundians joined into one, all shouted together that death would be most fitting for the very wicked Brunhilda. Then King Clotaire ordered that she be lifted onto a camel and led through the entire army. Then she was tied to the feet of wild horses and torn apart limb from limb. Finally she died. Her final grave was the fire. Her bones were burnt.“

Liber Historiae Francorum

While this source assures us that Brunhilda was “very wicked“ and that “her bones were burnt“, elsewhere one comes across the information that Brunhilda was buried in the abbey of Saint Martin of Tours which she had founded.

We know that Brunhilda, at least in her earlier years, confided in Saint Gregory of Tours, who, by the way, wrote ten books on the history of the Franks, known as Historiae Francorum, covering the period between the lifetime of Saint Martin of Tours and the year 591, and thereby also featuring some of her years as queen.

Yet at the same time she persecuted the bishop of Vienne, Saint Didier, for criticizing her and the immorality of her court. Brunhilda denounced him to the Holy Father – to Saint Gregory the Great – for paganism, and she managed to depose and banish him with the help of the bishop of Lyons and by means of a synod she controlled. Saint Gregory the Great eventually cleared Didier from the false accusations made against him and restored him to his episcopal seat at Vienne.

But just like his grandmother Brunhilda, so also King Theuderic II of Burgundy lacked the virtue of chastity. His four sons were all born of several mistresses. Saint Didier of Vienne rebuked him for his way of life – and died as a martyr for this. He was cruelly murdered by the king‘s soldiers at a place that was then called Saint-Didier-sur-Chalaronne.

Whatever may be the case concerning the life and death of the Frankish queen Brunhilda, we can at least know this: By God‘s grace and providence, good comes out of evil each and every time. In this case the salvation of many souls in the long line of ancestry of one single Jewish family living in the southeast of France. Collective and individual history are intertwined in the most mysterious ways.

Saint Didier of Vienne welcomed at Bouligneux

“Let the charity of the brotherhood abide in you. And hospitality do not forget; for by this some, being not aware of it, have entertained angels.“

Hebrews 13: 1-2

And some have entertained Catholic bishops and have received the grace of Holy Baptism from them…

“(…) Saint Didier, then archbishop of Vienne, fleeing persecution of Queen Brunehaut (whose scandalous life the archbishop had openly criticized), stopped in a place called Bouligneux where he was welcomed in the home of Samuel Hosanham. Didier converted him and his family to Christianity and baptized them in the month of July.“

Rev Ronald Ramson C.M.: Hosanna! Blessed Frédéric Ozanam: Family and friends, WestBow Press 2013 (e-book), p. 7

This Samuel Hosanham, ancestor of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, was a Jewish man descending from “Jeremie Hosanham, a praetor in the Roman troops“ who “served under Julius Caesar in the seventh legion“ (ibid.).

“The story goes that Jeremie was awarded a sizeable tract of land by Caesar in compensation for his military expertise as displayed in the Gallic wars. This provides a plausible reason how a Jewish colony sprang up in the area known as Bouligneux.“

Rev Ronald Ramson C.M.: Hosanna! Blessed Frédéric Ozanam: Family and friends, WestBow Press 2013 (e-book), p. 7

Today, Bouligneux is still nothing but a small village of just a couple of hundreds inhabitants. It is located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France.

“It was Jean-Antoine’s father, Pierre Benoit, born in Bouligneux, the family homestead, who changed the spelling of the family name to what we know today, Ozanam.“

Rev Ronald Ramson C.M.: Hosanna! Blessed Frédéric Ozanam: Family and friends, WestBow Press 2013 (e-book), p. 8

Pierre Benoit was Blessed Frédéric‘s grandfather. The family annals have it that the original spelling of the family name was “Hosanna“ – the Hebrew cry for God‘s salvation: hoshiya na!, which can be translated as “save, we pray!“ or “please save us!“. The verb in hoshiya na comes from the same root as the name Yeshua…

“Son of David, have pity on us!“

About a thousand years later, the Jewish heritage of the Ozanam family was still palpable when Noel Ozanam, obviously a man born during Christmas time, named one of his sons Abraham, as the family tree shows, and even further down the line in the spirituality of Blessed Frédéric in the mid 19th century. Blessed Frédéric Ozanam loved the books of the Old Testament very much, especially the book of Psalms:

“All promises, all eagerness, every holy impatience of the prophet (David) find their purpose in the Saviour who sprang from his race. And such is the link between both Testaments that the Saviour himself has no name dearer to him than Son of David. The two blind men of Jericho called him thus and I myself often cry to him like they did: ‘Son of David, have pity on us.‘“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam in a letter to Alexandre Ferriny-Jérusalemy, a Jewish convert to Catholicism, in the year 1953, shortly before his death, quotation taken from: Austin Fagan: Spirituality and Charism of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, in: Vincentiana, Vol. 56 No. 1 (2012), p. 74

Because of his fragile health and sickness, he had to pass through quite a lot of suffering throughout his lifetime and especially during the final years and months before he died at the young age of 40. During his last stay in Italy that was meant for his recovery – before returning to Marseilles to die on French soil as he wished – his Vincentian confessor gave him this advice:

“The first time I saw him in Antignano, he wanted to know what to do in order to prepare for death. I told him to read the Psalms and to think about the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He was pleased with this advice and put it into practice.“

Father Massuco C.M., quotation taken from: Austin Fagan: Spirituality and Charism of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, in: Vincentiana, Vol. 56 No. 1 (2012), p. 74

While reading the Psalms as a sick man, Blessed Frédéric annotated them, and his wife Amélie later went over his notes until they were published five years after his death, in the year 1858, under the title Le Livre des Malades.

“Almost from infancy, he dedicated himself to the defence of truth, and began studying Hebrew to read, in the original text, the fundamental truths of the Faith. Despite his endless work, each morning found him reading a passage from Scripture.“

Amélie Ozanam about her husband, quotation taken from: Austin Fagan: Spirituality and Charism of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, in: Vincentiana, Vol. 56 No. 1 (2012), p. 75

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, pray for us!

“Ozanam: that type of Christian, as ancient as his religion, as modern as his time.“

This November evening is cold and dark, and so is my cup of coffee. Here we go, at a kitchen table that I found in the streets right when moving into this single-room apartment of mine almost two years ago. A kitchen table in an apartment in that district of the city where antifa groups think that by harassing Christian gatherings they are doing a great service to society and the future of the human race, graffitis claiming that this area still belongs to the working class try to chase away the greedy ghosts of gentrification, without success, and the drug addicts and drunkards gather just a few meters from our doorstep.

Well, in fact, no matter where exactly you find yourself stuck and forlorn in the suffocating and disheartening web and matrix of this great Babylonian harlot, the homeless and the hopeless are always waiting for you just down the road. And each and every winter confronts you with the question what you shall do about it. And all the while, oneself feels kind of homeless and even hopeless at times.

Right now, at my kitchen table, I try my best to not give in to my fatigue after another day of work. I feel that unless I follow through, here and now, with my resolve to attempt to write two rather short articles on this both ancient and modern Catholic saint from 19th century France, the founder of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, I likewise might not succeed therein on another day.

One could compile together so much more than just these two skinny homages to the life and legacy of this man. But rather often, insufficient, raw, and meager sketches of a few pencil strokes are more than enough, at least for those who truly listen and truly glance at every dot with the penetrating eye of spiritual vision. A Catholic brother is always understood by his brothers and sisters.

And even if a saintly man is portrayed in a manner way too scanty to correspond to the eternal weight of his testimony, the same still might be just of the right proportion to fit his outstanding virtue of humility.

“Paris disgusts me…“

At the age of 18, in the year 1831, young Frédéric begins to study law in Paris where he encounters the ugly and challenging reality of a modern metropolis in the midst of the social and political upheavals of the mid 19th century. Reflecting on his new life situation in the big city, he notes:

“Paris disgusts me because there is no life, no faith, no love; it is like a huge corpse to which I, young and alive, am chained, whose coldness chills me and whose putrefaction is killing me.“

“Learning and Catholicism, these are my sole consolations!“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Amin A. de Tarrazi: Frédéric Ozanam. A Lay Saint for Our Times, in: Vincentiana Vol. 41 No. 3 (1997), p. 2

Paris as a rotting “city of death“, and the Catholic faith as harbor and comfort to keep one‘s soul alive…

In later years, Blessed Frédéric Ozanam would teach lessons and write books dealing with the impact of Christianity and the Church on the development of Western civilization – a civilization he saw beginning to crumble. In his view, Catholicism was the one social force making for a truly humane, life-affirming, healthy and just culture and society.

The astonishing thing is that while the 18-year-old Frédéric was deeply shocked and repulsed by the vileness of Paris, the adult man, who had just gotten engaged to his future wife Amélie, voluntarily chose Paris to be the place of residence for himself and his family. He had to decide, together with Amélie, between a well-paid and secure job as a university professor in Lyon, southern France, close to their respective families and friends, and an ill-paid position at the Sorbonne in Paris. The couple, in unison, chose poverty.

From the Conference of History to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul with the help of Blessed Rosalie Rendu: evangelizing sceptic academics and visiting the poor

Some time before “learning and Catholicism“ became his sole consolations as a young student, Blessed Frédéric, in his teenage years, once went through a period of doubts concerning the truth of the Catholic faith and religion. But a priest, Abbé Noirot, accompanied him, assisting in overcoming them.

“In the midst of an age of skepticism, God gave me the grace to be born in the true faith.“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 28

“But I changed very much for the better when I entered the fifth class. (…) It was then that I made my first Communion. O glad and blessed day! May my right hand wither and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I ever forget thee!“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 6

“After constantly listening to unbelievers and to expressions of unbelief, I commenced to ask myself why I believed. I began to entertain doubt.“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 28

“I knew the doubts of the present century, but all my life convinced me that there is no rest for the spirit and the heart except in the faith of the Church and under its authority.“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Amin A. de Tarrazi: Frédéric Ozanam. A Lay Saint for Our Times, in: Vincentiana Vol. 41 No. 3 (1997), p. 1

During his university years in Paris, Blessed Frédéric gathered some companions together who shared his interest in history, philosophy, and religion as well as his Catholic convictions. The Conference of History was born – a meet-up for open discussion, open also to non-Catholics and their questions.

Among the many sceptics of the academic milieu of Paris, Blessed Frédéric became a defender of the Catholic faith, and the hard work of apologetics for the truth of the Catholic religion remained one of his main missions until his death.

“It seemed to me that my days were well filled if, in spite of my scant merit, I was able to keep gathered around my rostrum many young people, and to build up for my listeners the principles of Christian learning, and make them respect all that they despised: the Church, the papacy, monks. I should have liked to gather these same thoughts into books more durable than my lessons, and all my wishes would have been more than satisfied if a few errant souls found in these teachings a reason to abjure their prejudices, to clear up their doubts and to return with God‘s help to Catholic truth.“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Amin A. de Tarrazi: Frédéric Ozanam. A Lay Saint for Our Times, in: Vincentiana Vol. 41 No. 3 (1997), p. 9

The other big pillar of his lay apostolate came to him one evening during another round of discussion with non-Catholics at the Conference of History: A sceptic challenged him and his Catholic friends, asking them what the Church was doing for the poor these days. Maybe Christians have done good in the past – but where is your charity now?

Blessed Frédéric and his companions turned the Conference of History into the Conference of Charity: That very night, he and a friend brought firewood to a poor woman, and soon thereafter their mentor Emmanuel Bailly, a former professor, got them in touch with a Sister of the Vincentian Daughters of Charity: Blessed Rosalie Rendu.

Blessed Rosalie was already serving the poor people of Paris in the spirit of Saint Vincent de Paul. She was experienced in this field of action and sent the young men – Blessed Frédéric was twenty by now – who were eager to do “practical works of charity“, as they said, in pairs of two to the living quarters of poor families for distributing clothes, fuel, and food. Due to her influence and mentoring and Frédéric‘s own devotion to Saint Vincent de Paul, the Conference of Charity finally became the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. The idea of these lay conferences quickly spread all over Europe…

“But be kind and love, for love is your first gift to the poor. They will appreciate your kindness and your love more than all else you bring them.“

Blessed Rosalie Rendu, 1833

“Sons of St. Vincent de Paul, let us learn of him to forget ourselves, to devote ourselves to the service of God and the good of men.“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 14

When the honeymoon of Frédéric and Amélie took them to Italy, to Rome, and to an audience with Pope Gregory XVI some years later, the Societies of Saint Vincent de Paul already were a movement that had not escaped the attention of the Holy Father.

“He spoke to me of France … of my studies. I received his blessing for me, for my family, for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul with which he was acquainted and which he loved.“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Rev Ronald Ramson C.M.: Hosanna! Blessed Frédéric Ozanam: Family and friends, WestBow Press 2013 (e-book), p. 47

“A new Europe will arise…“ – the vision of a Catholic revival

Blessed Frédéric never abandoned the poor. Even later as a renowned professor of literature at the famous Sorbonne University, his alma mater, he sticked with the works of charity he had begun as a young student in the disgusting city of Paris – the city that had challenged him to converse, as an ambassador of Christ and His peace, with all classes, high rank, low rank, for the sake of rekindling the fire of truth and of love without which civilization turns into a “huge corpse“:

“The world has grown cold.
It is for us to rekindle the vital fire that has been extinguished.“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam

“When my eyes turn toward society … the prodigious variety of events excites in me the most different sentiments … joy … bitterness … happiness … desolation … (…) I rejoice at being born at an epoch when perhaps I shall have to do much good and I feel a new ardor for work.“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 17

“Aren‘t we like the Christians of the early times, thrown in the middle of a corrupt civilization and a crumbling society?“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 21

“Society today seems to me to be not unlike the wayfarer described in the parable of the Good Samaritan. For, while journeying along the road mapped out for it by Christ, it has been set upon by thieves of evil human thought. Bad men have despoiled the wayfarer of all his goods, of the treasures of faith and love … The priests and the Levites have passed him by. But this time, being real priests and true Levites, they have approached the suffering, wretched creature and attempted to cure him. But in his delirium he has not recognized them and has driven them away. Then we weak Samaritans, outsiders as we are, have dared to approach this great sick patient. Perhaps he will be less affrighted by us? Let us try to measure the extent of his wounds in order to pour oil into them. Let us make words of peace and consolation ring in his ears. Then, when his eyes are opened, we will hand him over to the tender care of those whom God has chosen to be the guardians and doctors of souls.“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 11

“How much I have desired to surround myself with young men feeling, thinking as myself; now I know that there are many such – but they are scattered abroad as the gold on the dunghill, and difficult is the task of him who would unite the defenders around one flag.“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 17

“This redoubtable crisis will probably be decisive, and on the ruins of the old and broken nations a new Europe will arise. Then Catholicism will be understood; then Europe will be given the task to carry Christianity to the Orient. This will be a magnificent era; we shall not see it.“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Shaun McCarty S.T.: Frederick Ozanam. Lay Evangelizer, in: Vincentian Heritage Journal Vol. 17 Iss. 1 Art. 2 (1996), p. 18

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, pray for us!

Post scriptum: Messages from mid 19th century France

“France has corrupted the universe, one day it will be punished. The faith will die out in France: three quarters of France will not practice religion anymore, or almost no more, the other part will practice it without really practicing it. Then, after (that), nations will convert, the faith will be rekindled everywhere. A great country in the north of Europe, now Protestant, will be converted; by the support of this country all the other nations of the world will be converted.“

Secret of Our Lady of La Salette, 1846, revealed to Maximin Giraud, written down for the Holy Father, Pope Pius IX, in 1851

“It is necessary for man to understand that he is powerless to stay the torrent of public evils and to heal the cruel diseases that endanger the life of society, and that the most efficacious means for bringing about their real cure, is a sincere return to the religious practices of our forefathers, and above all an abundant Participation in the treasures of the merits of the Passion of Jesus Christ.“

Very Reverend J.B. Etienne, spiritual director of Sister Apolline of the Daughters of Charity, who received in an apparition of Jesus Christ in the year 1846 the Red Scapular from Him, approved by the Holy Father, Pope Pius IX

“Ozanam: that type of Christian, as ancient as his religion, as modern as his time.“

For some months I have been reading through biographies on Blessed Frédéric Ozanam (1813-1853), the founder of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. Only slowly do I make progress in this endeavor, as I do not have too much time and leisure left these days. But it fits well to the vast and deep richness of his only forty years of earthly existence that I cannot get done and finished with the story of his life.

Last words

Just a couple of months before dying on his sickbed with “My God, my God, have mercy on me“ on his lips, Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, married to Amélie, the wife he loved very much, and father to a little girl named Marie, born in 1845, wrote this:

“If you call me, I will come; I have no right to complain. You have given forty years of life to a creature who arrived on earth sickly, frail, destined to die ten times, if the tenderness and the intelligence of a father and a mother had not saved him ten times…. Ah! All the prayers which then were addressed to You in my favour were heard. Those made to You today and in much greater numbers, why should they be lost? But perhaps, Lord, You will grant them in another guise. You might give me courage, resignation, peace of soul, and those inexpressible consolations which accompany your actual presence. You might make me find in illness a source of merit and blessings – and have these blessings fall on my wife, my child, on all my relatives, for whom my works had perhaps served less than would my sufferings. If I express the years of my life with bitterness before You, it is because of the sins that have sullied them; but when I consider the graces that have enriched them, I look back upon them, Lord, with gratitude to You. If You should chain me to this sick-bed for the days that I have yet to live, they would be too short to thank You for the days that I have lived. Ah, if these pages be the last I ever write, may they be a hymn to your goodness!“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Kevin Kraft O.P.: Blessed Frederic and Amelia Ozanam, Paulines Publications Africa 2018 (e-book), p. 7-8

Among the gifts of his life that always made him praise God‘s goodness, the graces of marriage and family ranked first.

It seems that back in the 19th century, the sons and daughters of the Church still clearly knew that there are exactly two distinct vocations between which one must choose: the religious vocation, and the vocation of marriage and family, each one being in its own shape and form a way of life that prioritizes communion and relationships. And here is how Blessed Frédéric found his calling…

The question of vocation

For some time, Blessed Frédéric considered, as a young man, becoming a Dominican friar. The Dominican priest Father Henri Lacordaire invited him to join him in reestablishing the Dominican community of Paris.

“I shall see the Abbé Lacordaire on his return from Rome (…) assure myself whether divine providence may not be willing to open to me the doors of the order of Saint Dominic.“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Rev Ronald Ramson C.M.: Hosanna! Blessed Frédéric Ozanam: Family and friends, WestBow Press 2013 (e-book), p. 40

Blessed Frédéric asked his friends for their prayers during his process of discernment. From Abbé Noirot, who had been mentoring him for many years already, he received the answer:

“Get married, mon cher, get married.“

Abbé Noirot, quotation taken from: Rev Ronald Ramson C.M.: Hosanna! Blessed Frédéric Ozanam: Family and friends, WestBow Press 2013 (e-book), p. 40

But why? Abbé Noirot was convinced that Blessed Frédéric, a very sensitive soul, was in need of a tender companion for life.

Blessed Frédéric got engaged to his future wife Amélie at the age of 27. They married some months later, on the 23rd June 1841. Until his death, Blessed Frédéric would always honor their wedding anniversary each and every month – giving Amélie flowers on the 23rd.

The beautiful hymn on marriage which Blessed Frédéric wrote, while being only 20 years of age, in a letter to a friend who was about to get married completely confirms Abbé Noirot‘s knowledge of the true makeup of his soul…

The young Frédéric Ozanam on marriage

“The great action you are contemplating at present will only serve to redouble your zeal and your strength. ‘When two or three are gathered together in my name,’ says the Saviour, ‘there am I in the midst of them.’ It is in that divine name that you will prepare to unite yourself to a wise and pious wife: the promise will be accomplished in you both. In giving your love to someone who will be justifiably dear, you will not withdraw it from the poor and miserable whom you loved first.
Love possesses something of the divine nature, which gives itself without diminishing, which shares itself without division, which multiplies itself, which is present in many places at once, and whose intensity is increased in the measure that it gains in extension. In your wife you will first love God, whose admirable and precious work she is, and then humanity, that race of Adam whose pure and loveable daughter she is. You will draw comfort from her tenderness on bad days, you will find courage in her example in perilous times, you will be her guardian angel, she will be yours.
You will then no longer experience weakness, discouragements and the terrors which have seized upon you at certain times of your life; for you will no longer be alone.
You will never be alone again, your virtue will be shared in legitimate hope, the alliance you are about to contract will be an immortal alliance: what God joins together, what He has insisted no man separate, He will not Himself separate, and in heaven He will invest
with the same glory those who here below were companions in the same exile.“

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Kevin Kraft O.P.: Blessed Frederic and Amelia Ozanam, Paulines Publications Africa 2018 (e-book), p. 18-19

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam and his wife Amélie

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, pray for us!

Post scriptum: Blessed Frédéric, sick and close to death, in his last will…

“My supreme prayer to my wife, my child, my brothers and brothers-in-law, and all those who may be born of them, is to persevere in the faith, in spite of the humiliations, the scandals, and the desertions they will be witness of. To my tender Amélie, who has made the joy of my life, and whose devoted care has consoled my long sufferings, I address a farewell – short, like all earthly things. I thank her, I bless her, I await her. It is only in heaven that I shall be able to give her back all the love she deserves. I give to my child the blessing of the patriarchs, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It grieves me not to be able to carry on further the dear labour of her education, but I confide it without fear to her virtuous mother.”

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, quotation taken from: Kevin Kraft O.P.: Blessed Frederic and Amelia Ozanam, Paulines Publications Africa 2018 (e-book), p. 44

“But the important thing is to sing.“ (Blessed Pier Giorgio‘s response to someone telling him he was out of tune while singing in the town square)

“Catholics, we and you, must bring the breath of goodness that can only spring from faith in Christ.“

“Surely Divine Providence in His marvelous plans sometimes uses us miserable little twigs to do good.“

Today, on the 4th July, we remember and celebrate the life of this unique gentleman – Blessed Pier Giorgio, pray for us! The following article I wrote in February and March 2021.

In need of a revival

During a wave of ice-cold weather in the month of February, the city of Berlin locked up in frost and snow, I enjoyed encountering a kind and vigorous gentleman from northern Italy.

I was fighting with a quite heavy spirit of melancholy when Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati came along to assist me in my own personal revival. I was longing for the good life, indeed for new happiness and hope, in evil times like a deer panting for the “fountains of water“ (Psalm 41 (Vulgate): 2). 

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me? Hope thou in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salvation of my countenance, and my God.“ 

Psalm 41 (Vulgate): 12

Now you will get to know him, too, in the first and most important part of this article. I invite you to also read Post scriptum no. 1: The universal call to holiness according to Lumen Gentium.

The second part, Post scriptum no. 2: “Such as we are, such are the times“, is just the tentative attempt I made in those days in February, and partly in the following weeks in March, in the midst of the paralysis of our current moment, to crossbreed thoughts induced by the flame of his life with the daunting challenge of encouraging ourselves, most of all my own weary and exhausted self.

Read it, if you bring along enough patience for it, and if you do not mind the rough and intense track of the black-and-white reflections it contains.

By now I feel as if my more cheerful, lighthearted and more simple-minded side, which during my darker days is hidden inside of me, almost locked up, undesiredly imprisoned, unless the key to open the door is found, is slowly drawn out of my interior castle again.

How I met this new friend

I ‘met‘ Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati “by chance“ – but, of course, nothing in our lives is a mere blind coincidence. I stumbled over a quote by him, liking it so much that I put it up in my kitchen – without knowing anything about the one who had uttered these words:

“To live without faith, without a heritage to defend, without battling constantly for truth, is not to live but to ‘get along‘; we must never just ‘get along‘.“

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Some days later his name was briefly mentioned in a book I was reading at that time, without getting into any details on his personality or his life. But it was enough to make me wonder whether I should find out more about this man… And so I decided to take a look at some biographical remarks about Pier Giorgio that were published on a website.

When I found out that one of the saints he was devoted to was Saint Catherine of Siena and that he was a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic just like her, I was ‘hooked‘ – because I had just finished the biography on Saint Catherine of Siena. And so I got into a book about him written by Maria di Lorenzo, wondering what Pier Giorgio would teach me by the testimony of his life…

What will I be able to learn from him? What will he show me? And why is it, that I encountered this saint and his life at this very moment of my own life? How come?

Incorrupt charity

“Each of you knows that the foundation of our faith is charity. Without it, our religion would crumble. We will never be truly Catholic unless we conform our entire lives to the two commandments that are the essence of the Catholic faith: to love the Lord, our God, with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves…“

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 119

“In a world gone astray from God there is no peace, but it also lacks charity, which is true and perfect love… Nothing is more beautiful than love. Indeed, faith and hope will end when we die, whereas love, that is, charity, will last for eternity; if anything, I think it will be even more alive in the next life.“

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 117

In 1981, the mortal remains of a man, who had died at the young age of 24 in the summer of 1925 due to a lethal infection caused by the polio virus which he had probably caught in one of the living quarters of the poor, were found completely incorrupt. On his face could still be seen the slight smile with which he had died, and in his hands he still held his Rosary. This man is Pier Giorgio Frassati, beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1990.

The way he died tells us a lot about the way he lived: prayerful, filled with the peace and the joy of Christ, and actively caring for others, both for his brothers and sisters in the faith as for the poor people in the city of Turin, where he lived. His final words were “Will you forgive me, Lord? Oh, Lord, please forgive me!“ (ibid. p. 102)

In his homily at the Beatification, Pope Saint John Paul II told the people of God, among other things, this about this vital young gentleman and his life:

“In his life, faith was fused with charity: firm in faith and active in charity, because without works, faith is dead (cf. Jas 2:20). Certainly, at a superficial glance, Frassati‘s lifestyle, that of a modern young man who was full of life, does not present anything out of the ordinary. This, however, is the originality of his virtue, which invites us to reflect upon it and impels us to imitate it. In him faith and daily events are harmoniously fused, so that adherence to the Gospel is translated into loving care for the poor and the needy in a continual crescendo until the very last days of the sickness which led to his death. His love for beauty and art, his passion for sports and mountains, his attention to society‘s problems did not inhibit his constant relationship with the Absolute. Entirely immersed in the mystery of God and totally dedicated to the constant service of his neighbor – thus we can sum up his earthly life! (…) He died young, at the end of a short life, but one which was extraordinarily filled with spiritual fruits (…). By his example, he proclaims that a life lived in Christ‘s Spirit, the Spirit of the Beatitudes, is ‘blessed‘, and that only the person who becomes a ‘man or woman of the Beatitudes‘ can succeed in communicating love and peace to others. He repeats that it is really worth giving up everything to serve the Lord. He testifies that holiness is possible for everyone, and that only the revolution of charity can enkindle the hope of a better future in the hearts of people.“

Saint John Paul II, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 124-125

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati’s family background

Pier Giorgio was born on the 6th April 1901 as the son of Alfredo Frassati and Adelaide Frassati in Turin. His father was the director of the liberal Italian newspaper La Stampa, a member of the Italian Senate and in the early 1920s the Italian ambassador to Germany, and his mother was an artist, a painter.

As long as their son lived, the two of them had no clue about his activities on behalf of the poor. It became only evident to them when all the poor people Pier Giorgio had secretly served over the years attended his funeral to pay him their respect and show him their love.

Pier Giorgio had to live with the fact that his parents did not really understand him, that they could not fully apprehend who he was, and that their priorities differed from his own. He was never into the “high society life“ his family background offered to him. His mother attended Holy Mass on Sundays, but rarely received Communion, while his father had stopped practicing the Catholic faith, viewing himself as an Agnostic. Even as a little boy, Pier Giorgio was not really fitting in:

“Pier Giorgio prayed each night before going to bed. Dressed in his nightshirt, he would kneel on the mattress at the foot of his bed. With his rosary in hand little Pier Giorgio would pray – until he fell fast asleep, tumbling off the bed! (…) given the situation at the Frassati home, when it came to matters of faith Pier Giorgio was always self-educated. Pier Giorgio loved to pray, curled up with his small prayer book in hand, to meditate in silence, and to sit in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament where he found his very best friend and the Teacher who spoke to his heart. No one taught this to Pier Giorgio; he learned it from God, as we read in the prophet Jeremiah: ‘I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.‘ (31: 33).“

Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 11-12

The marriage of Alfredo and Adelaide was not a happy one, and they were close to separating shortly before Pier Giorgio‘s death. Pier Giorgio was always worried about his parent‘s state of heart and salvation.

But his sudden death, bringing to light the man he was and the way he lived, was a moment of conversion for his parents. They decided to mend their broken marriage, and Alfredo Frassati returned to God.

“Outside the church stood a multitude of the nameless faces, the have-nots whom Pier Giorgio had helped and loved in the name of Christ. Only then did the Frassatis begin to truly realize who Pier Giorgio really was, the son they had never understood, the strange boy they often described as good-for-nothing, (…). Struck with grief and remorse, the family realized they had been living with a saint – a painful but important lesson for them. (…) After Pier Giorgio‘s death, Alfredo and Adelaide Frassati resolved to make their marriage work. Alfredo returned to the practice of his faith and always attributed this grace to Pier Giorgio, and, in 1961, Alfredo died at the age of ninety-three after receiving the sacraments.“

Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 104-105

From childhood on, Pier Giorgio enjoyed a very close relationship with his sister Luciana, who was one year younger than him. This is what Luciana had to say about their final earthly moment together:

“Stunned by the enormity of what was happening, I wandered through the house, unable to rest… A life of barely twenty-four years, marked by such noble and secret works, and summarized by the silent agony of those six days, this young life was disappearing before our very eyes. The large clock rang seven o‘clock. Mother held Pier Giorgio‘s head in her hands, while someone uttered a prayer. As I knelt by his bedside, with his hand and his rosary in mine, I felt one last squeeze, a final good-bye. He was gone.“

Luciana Frassati, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 102-103

What Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati enjoyed doing

During the early 1920s, Pier Giorgio studied mechanical engeneering at the Polytechnic University of Turin, specializing in mining engeneering, hoping to one day work as an engineer with the hard pressed working class of miners.

He was still a student, close to finishing his degree, when he caught the infection that caused his death. Studying with books was sometimes hard for him, as his intellect was of a more practical, activist nature. He was a bundle of energy and enthusiasm, always on the move. It is kind of peculiar that his final suffering included the paralysis of his body that comes with a polio infection.

Pier Giorgio enjoyed being together with others a lot. He was a man of company, community, friendship and comraderie. Besides seeking out the company of the poor in his city, he had a circle of close Catholic friends, and was engaged in the meetings and activities of many different Catholic groups and associations.

He was interested in the social and political life of his time, witnessing the rise of Mussolini‘s fascism in Italy, opposing it with this Catholic convictions. He couldn‘t understand why some Catholics were supporting the Fascist movement, or at least not resisting its dark allure. From the beginning, he clearly saw the truth that their ideas were anti-Catholic and could not be reconciled with the commandments of the faith. In a letter in 1922, Pier Giorgio spoke of Italy as “our poor country that has fallen into the hands of a bunch of scoundrels“ (ibid. p. 34).

“It is better to stand alone, but with a clean conscience, than to stand with all the rest, but with a giant stain on our conscience.“

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 41

One thing he especially loved were hiking trips in the mountains, by himself or together with his friends. This enjoyment of mountaineering is something he had in common with Pope Pius XI, who became pope in 1922.

Pier Giorgio‘s love for climbing to the heights of the mountains began in his childhood, when his mother took him on a trip. The mountains bore a spiritual reference and significance for Pier Giorgio. He loved to contemplate the beauty of God‘s creation, and tried to capture this beauty in the photographs he took.

A hiking trip with its difficulties resembles the pathway of life on which one ascends to God – “strewn with thorns“ but “happy even through suffering“ (ibid. p. 122).

“Every day that passes I fall more and more in love with the mountains; if it weren‘t for my studies, I would spend entire days up in the pure mountain air, contemplating the greatness of the Creator.“

Pier Giorgio Frassati, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 80-81

“So he organized trips to the mountains and invited his closest friends to accompany him. Just as the sun began to rise, he and his companions would set out, ropes and ice axes in hand and a slack of food slung over their shoulders. Pier Giorgio was hardly still for a moment on a trip up a mountain, encouraging his companions, entertaining them with jokes, and taking care of their every need. (…) Pier Giorgio also insisted on singing, though he was usually terribly out of tune. He sang with a powerful voice that made everyone laugh. (…) At night, after an exhausting climb, the party would lodge in a room so cold that everything – even their clothes – was frozen. Pier Giorgio‘s companions would retire immediately, without even undressing, while he would kneel on the icy floor to pray the Rosary.“

Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 78-81

Pier Giorgio undertook his last mountain trip about one month before his death. A picture was taken of him. In his own handwriting he signed this picture with the words “verso l‘alto“ – meaning “to the heights“, or “toward heaven“…

On one of those mountain trips, Pier Giorgio fell in love with the daughter of a Spanish government official, Laura. But he always kept his love for her a secret. This is Laura remembering her friend:

“Now we know because we have mourned him so much, because we still feel him with us even after two years, which seem like two hundred since he left us. We know because the trips we took with him were the happiest, because never before or since did nature itself seem to us as majestic and as pure as when we admired it together with him; because his practical jokes had a special scent of youthful happiness. He always placed God as the tie that bound us all together, and in God‘s name, he blessed our friendship, our joy, our every feeling, and every moment of life.“

Laura Hidalgo, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 84

The marks of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati‘s piety

In Maria di Lorenzo‘s biography of Pier Giorgio we are told that he started attending a school run by Jesuits at the age of 12, where the Jesuit priest Father Lombardi contributed a great deal to his spiritual formation.

“Father Lombardi introduced Pier Giorgio to the beauty of the daily reception of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, and Pier Giorgio became immediately enthused. (…) From that day until the very last of his life, Pier Giorgio always received Communion. Thus, the Eucharist became the focus of his day: He fasted from midnight and got up early every morning to keep his ‘appointment‘ with the Lord.“

Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 17-18

“His experience with the Jesuit fathers refined Pier Giorgio‘s religious sensibility, leading him toward deeper prayer and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, as well as a growing spirit of service and of love of neighbor, in whom he saw the very image of God.“

Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 23

“Every morning, while the rest of the family was still asleep, Pier Giorgio quietly slipped out of the house to walk to the nearby church to receive Communion. (…) he nourished this faith day to day with his tireless reading of Sacred Scripture and with the Eucharist. Thanks to the formation he received from the Jesuits, Pier Giorgio developed a Christ-centered and sacramental spirituality, which meant he availed himself of the sacrament of Reconciliation frequently (at least three times a week), and daily reception of the Eucharist. Pier Giorgio belonged to a group of young people devoted to participating in all-night adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, choosing to spend the precious few hours they had for much needed sleep in prayer.“

Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 58-59

This is how the man made holy by the grace of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit speaks to us in passing on the ‘secrets‘ of his way with and to God:

“When you are totally consumed by the Eucharistic fire, then you will be able more consciously to thank God, who has called you to become part of his family.“

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 121-122

“I urge you with all the strenght of my soul to approach the Eucharistic table as often as possible. Feed on this Bread of the Angels from which you will draw the strength to fight inner struggles.“

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

The Jesuit priests of the school Pier Giorgio attended also promoted devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Besides daily Communion and Eucharistic adoration, the second strong pillar of Pier Giorgio’s life with God were praying the Rosary and being devoted to Mary.

Maybe one can say, that the drifts and emphases of Jesuit and of Dominican spirituality got fused together in the daily religious practices that were nurturing, strengthening and forming his soul. In May of 1922, Pier Giorgio joined the Third Order, or Lay Fraternity, of Saint Dominic.

“The faith that infused every aspect of Pier Giorgio‘s life was generous and clear, nurtured and strengthened by a fervent devotion to the Virgin Mary. He prayed the Rosary every day – and not just at home before retiring. He would pray it while riding on streetcars or trains and while walking the city‘s streets.“

Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 50

“A devout follower of Saint Dominic, Pier Giorgio carried the rosary in his jacket pocket and would take it out at any place, any time, to pray. (…) Pier Giorgio made a point of praying at the many churches in Turin dedicated to the Virgin Mary. (…) Deeply attached to his friends, Pier Giorgio always remembered them in his prayers at the feet of the Madonna of Oropa. (…) Pier Giorgio made rosaries out of the seeds of a plant that grew in the family‘s garden in Pollone, and he gave these rosaries away as gifts to his friends. It was his way of reminding them of the necessity to pray and of devotion to the Virgin Mary.“

Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 53-55

And so his love for Jesus and Mary, and most of all the love and grace he received from them in his hours spent in devotion and adoration, always included the love of his brothers and sisters, of his neighbors with their various needs. His acts of mercy and almsgiving toward the poor had their roots in the unyielding power of divine love.

“Pier Giorgio‘s love and care for ‘the poor‘ was not directed toward a general group; he loved and cared for the individuals he met, seeing in each person the very face of Christ. He said, ‘I see a special light around the sick, the poor, the less fortunate, a light that we do not possess.‘ Pier Giorgio‘s life is a concrete expression of unity between faith and actions, a unity difficult even for practicing Christians to achieve.

Pier Giorgio never looked upon another as a stranger, but as a person to identify with to the point of taking on his or her burdens. He never delegated the care of the poor to others, and he never simply opened his wallet to help those in need. Instead, he gave of himself. His charitable actions were not a handout, but an act of true solidarity; not a performance of false piety, but the love of God in action. He used to say, ‘Jesus comes to me every day in Communion, and I return the visit by going to serve the poor.‘

Indeed, Pier Giorgio‘s love of neighbor, created in the image of God, sprang from the Eucharist. For Pier Giorgio, faith was not a personal possession or interior refuge, but a dynamic and concrete force that impelled him to do for others in the name of Love. This force was born of prayer and the Eucharist. Eucharistic adoration refined Pier Giorgio‘s heart and made it possible for him to give his heart to others. In fact, charity without prayer would not be true charity, but mere philanthropy or generic kindness.“

Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 73

Something that according to the available biographical accounts always stood out to people who knew Pier Giorgio were his joyfulness and happiness. For him, the true Catholic faith – the faith in God’s salvation – was a happy faith. Not of a superficial but of a deep and paradox happiness.

“A Catholic cannot help but be happy; sadness should be banished from their souls. Suffering is not sadness, which is the worst disease.“

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 122

“As long as faith gives me strenght, I will always be joyful.“

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Luciana remembered her brother as “peaceful and happy not only by nature, but also because he achieved this state through his interior life“ (ibid. p. 63).

When God‘s grace becomes our second nature, everything flowing from this grace is lived out in the most natural way, and piety becomes truly beautiful, as beautiful as nature itself, being redeemed and refined nature.

The Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner (1904-1984), who met Pier Giorgio once during the months he spent in Germany due to his father‘s engagement as an Italian ambassador, put it like this:

“Frassati represented the pure, happy, handsome Catholic youth, devoted to prayer, enthusiastic about everything that is free and beautiful, interested in social problems, who had the Church and its future at heart, and a serene and manly spontaneity. … Here we have someone who lived his Christianity with a naturalness that is almost awe-inspiring, surprisingly unproblematic and inviting. In fact, his problems, often bathed in silent tears, were immersed in the grace of his faith: in prayer, Holy Communion, and in loving his neighbor.“

Karl Rahner S.J., quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 128-129

The feast day of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

As you can imagine after having read this brief sketch of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati‘s life, I am glad that I inquired more deeply into the very person of the tender-hearted man behind the feisty quote on my kitchen wall. I was and still am delighted to have, without any merit on my part, gained such a friend as him – truly, the saints are extraordinary friends.

His life stands as a testimony to truth, goodness, and beauty for itself. It needs no further exegesis. His body that was found incorrupt decades after his death witnessed to the eternal and timeless truth of the way he lived. Let us learn from him as much as we can.

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati‘s feast day is the 4th July, which is the day on which he died. To him was assigned the patronage of students, young Catholics, mountaineers, and Dominican tertiaries.

Traditionally, the month of July is dedicated to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, and according to the present-day Roman liturgical calendar, other saints venerated during the month of July include Saint Thomas the Apostle, Saint Mary Magdalene, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saints Joachim and Anne, Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and finally Saint Ignatius of Loyola, as well as the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, pray for us!

Post scriptum no. 1: The call to universal holiness according to Lumen Gentium

“(…) The followers of Christ are called by God, not because of their works, but according to His own purpose and grace. They are justified in the Lord Jesus, because in the baptism of faith they truly become sons of God and sharers in the divine nature. In this way they are really made holy. Then too, by God’s gift, they must hold on to and complete in their lives this holiness they have received. They are warned by the Apostle to live ‘as becomes saints‘, and to put on ‘as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience‘, and to possess the fruit of the Spirit in holiness. Since truly we all offend in many things we all need God’s mercies continually and we all must daily pray: ‘Forgive us our debts‘.

Thus it is evident to everyone, that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity; by this holiness as such a more human manner of living is promoted in this earthly society. In order that the faithful may reach this perfection, they must use their strength accordingly as they have received it, as a gift from Christ. They must follow in His footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor. In this way, the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many saints in Church history.

The classes and duties of life are many, but holiness is one—that sanctity which is cultivated by all who are moved by the Spirit of God, and who obey the voice of the Father and worship God the Father in spirit and in truth. These people follow the poor Christ, the humble and cross-bearing Christ in order to be worthy of being sharers in His glory. Every person must walk unhesitatingly according to his own personal gifts and duties in the path of living faith, which arouses hope and works through charity. (…) Finally all Christ’s faithful, whatever be the conditions, duties and circumstances of their lives—and indeed through all these, will daily increase in holiness, if they receive all things with faith from the hand of their heavenly Father and if they cooperate with the divine will. In this temporal service, they will manifest to all men the love with which God loved the world.“

Lumen Gentium, Document of the Second Vatican Council, Chapter V: The Universal Call to Holiness in the Church, paragraphs 40-41

Post scriptum no. 2: “Such as we are, such are the times“

Can nostalgia be cured?

At times, we get nostalgic. If only one could somehow be a contemporary of Saint Dominic de Guzmán, Saint Thomas Aquinas, or Saint Francis of Assisi! If only one could live in the Christian culture of the high Middle Ages!

Did Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati ever face moments of nostalgia, too? He lived in a world very akin to our world, a world that already knew of almost all of the most influential technological inventions of modernity with its upsides and downsides, of the meaningless killing and destruction of world wars, of democratic republics in crisis turning into authoritarian or even totalitarian regimes, of social problems very similar to the ones still around, of a self-confident and violent secularism with increasing attacks on the Church, and of the struggle to hold on to truth, goodness, and beauty in the midst of a social reality denying anything transcendent, and enticing people to worship all sorts of idols in total immanence, thereby degrading themselves in their worth and dignity.

“With every day that passes, I grow more and more convinced of how ugly the world is, of how much suffering there is, and, unfortunately, of how it is the good who suffer the most.“

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 119

We forget, of course, so easily, that all the saints of the past mentioned above would call the people of their own day and age to repentance and to a more fervent Christian life. The times were evil, always. And we tend to forget that we ourselves are often enough part of the disease.

As Bishop Augustine of Hippo, a saint Pier Giorgio was fond of, once said:

“Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying, but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times.“

Saint Augustine of Hippo

If you want to cure a case of acute nostalgia, do two things: study the lives of the more ancient saints, which will teach you that their day and age is not to be envied, and study the lives of the most recent saints, which will teach you that responding to God‘s call in order to be sanctified by the power of His grace while living in between the cultural ruins of a post-Christian epoch is still possible.

If one is aware that Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was a witness to the First World War, lasting four long years, to the “exploitation (of the working class) at the hands of men with no conscience“ (ibid. p. 41), as he himself expressed it, and to the rise of the Fascist regime in Italy, a prelude to what was yet to come, then one is aware that he was a witness to the first dark poisonous fruits of the “culture of death“ born from the verdict of the intellectual avantgarde and ruling elite of modernity declaring that “God is dead“ decades, centuries before.

“Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil (…).“

Deuteronomy 30: 15

“But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death.“

James 1: 15

He did, indeed, encounter a world similar to ours, yet in some respects, of course, more violent, volatile, and dangerous than our present-day ennui, than today‘s existential boredom which either druggedly “amuses“ or anxiously retains itself “to death“, in each of both cases oblivious to the gift of life that is meant to be given, that is called to spend itself like a jug of oil for flames.

“I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?“

Luke 12: 49

“One loving heart sets another on fire.“

Saint Augustine of Hippo

“Bad times, hard times … but let us live well, and times shall be good“ – teach us, then, Saint Augustine: How does one live well, how does one live for real in times like these?

As for Saint Augustine, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and every other blessed soul, the answer they found for themselves to the timeless question of “What is the good life (in evil times)?“ sounded something like this:

“I want to follow the straight and narrow path, but with every step I trip and fall; that is why I ask you to pray for me whenever you can, until, God willing, I reach the end of the difficult but straight and narrow path.“

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 61

Living in “continual preparation“, and receiving good medicine

“As far as I know, Pier Giorgio never worked a miracle during his lifetimes. He never founded a religious order or started a new reform movement. But he had his priorities straight. He said, ‘In this trying time that our country is going through, we Catholics and especially we students have a serious duty to fulfill: our self-formation.‘ These words ring true for laypeople in this country today. God calls each of us who have been baptized to a continual preparation to serve him so that when he gives us the opportunity we are ready. Pier Giorgio lived his life on this model. He simply set Jesus Christ as his first priority, and sought him in every situation, in every person, in every task set before him. And it was there, in the everyday business of life, that he found his God and the fullness of life.“

Brother R. F. King OP, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 130

In a certain sense, we must simply accept the times as they are. We can only try to continually return to the difficult task and work of “reforming“ ourselves, preparing ourselves “so that when (God) gives us the opportunity we are ready“.

“And why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: Let me cast the mote out of thy eye; and behold a beam is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.“

Matthew 7: 3-5

So maybe in our present times, this task of basic self-formation – of forming a resilient, and faithful, and loving and sensitive self standing in resistance against the onslaught of the “culture of death“ – already is an extraordinary thing to accomplish.

So that such self-formation may be even possible, we cannot afford a tepid form of spirituality. We cannot fight the good fight half-heartedly. We cannot just “get along“, as Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati reminds us.

We must return, over and over again, to the roots and the essence of the one true faith, the only faith able to keep us from despair, the only faith of actual power effective against the forces of darkness lurking in the shadows, ready to overwhelm us and to drag us down into the vacuum sealed abyss of isolation.

What, again, is the simple and powerful “essence of the Catholic faith“ in practice Blessed Pier Giorgio points us to?

“Hear, O Israel, and observe to do the things which the Lord hath commanded thee, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst be greatly multiplied, as the Lord the God of thy fathers hath promised thee a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.“

Deuteronomy 6: 3-5

“And one of them, a doctor of the law, asking him, tempting him: Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.“

Matthew 22: 35-40

Like Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati did, we need to take refuge in very strong medicines, medicines like the graces of the Eucharist, of Marian devotion, and of contemplating the beauty, grandeur and simplicity of God‘s creation. These antidotes will overcome the toxic effects of the thousand daily snake bites through which various crippling poisons enter our bodies and souls.

The Divine Physician and the Blessed Virgin are always ready and willing to bind and heal our various wounds. Can we fully believe and trust in that? We were marked with these wounds by our own sins when we sold our birthright for a dish of lentils, when we denied the magnanimous calling of our baptism to belong, body and soul, to the living Son of the Most High who bought us for His own at the price of His most precious blood; and we were marked with them by the attacks of the enemy of our salvation when, while being on our way to Jerusalem, we fell among the thieves and robbers, unable to defend ourselves.

And whenever the ugliness of life stings us, we can seek refuge in some quiet and spacious place where no apartment block stands in our way of feeling “the heavens rejoice“ (Psalm 95 (Vulgate): 11) before the Lord.

“(…) let the earth be glad, let the sea be moved, and the fulness thereof: The fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful. Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice before the face of the Lord, because he cometh: because he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with his truth.“

Psalm 95 (Vulgate): 11-13

“The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands. Day to day uttereth speech, and night to night sheweth knowledge. There are no speeches nor languages, where their voices are not heard. Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the world.
He hath set his tabernacle in the sun: and he, as a bridegroom coming out of his bride chamber, hath rejoiced as a giant to run the way: His going out is from the end of heaven, and his circuit even to the end thereof: and there is no one that can hide himself from his heat. The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls: the testimony of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones. The justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts: the commandment of the Lord is lightsome, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever: the judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves. More to be desired than gold and many precious stones: and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.“

Psalm 18 (Vulgate): 1-11

“Bless the Lord, O my soul: O Lord my God, thou art exceedingly great. Thou hast put on praise and beauty: And art clothed with light as with a garment. Who stretchest out the heaven like a pavilion: Who coverest the higher rooms thereof with water. Who makest the clouds thy chariot: who walkest upon the wings of the winds. Who makest thy angels spirits: and thy ministers a burning fire. Who hast founded the earth upon its own bases: it shall not be moved for ever and ever.
The deep like a garment is its clothing: above the mountains shall the waters stand. At thy rebuke they shall flee: at the voice of thy thunder they shall fear. The mountains ascend, and the plains descend into the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound which they shall not pass over; neither shall they return to cover the earth. Thou sendest forth springs in the vales: between the midst of the hills the waters shall pass.
All the beasts of the field shall drink: the wild asses shall expect in their thirst. Over them the birds of the air shall dwell: from the midst of the rocks they shall give forth their voices. Thou waterest the hills from thy upper rooms: the earth shall be filled with the fruit of thy works: Bringing forth grass for cattle, and herb for the service of men. That thou mayst bring bread out of the earth: And that wine may cheer the heart of man. That he may make the face cheerful with oil: and that bread may strengthen man’s heart.
The trees of the field shall be filled, and the cedars of Libanus which he hath planted: There the sparrows shall make their nests. The highest of them is the house of the heron. The high hills are a refuge for the harts, the rock for the irchins. He hath made the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. Thou hast appointed darkness, and it is night: in it shall all the beasts of the woods go about:
The young lions roaring after their prey, and seeking their meat from God. The sun ariseth, and they are gathered together: and they shall lie down in their dens. Man shall go forth to his work, and to his labour until the evening. How great are thy works, O Lord? thou hast made all things in wisdom: the earth is filled with thy riches. So is this great sea, which stretcheth wide its arms: there are creeping things without number: creatures little and great.
There the ships shall go. This sea dragon which thou hast formed to play therein. All expect of thee that thou give them food in season. What thou givest to them they shall gather up: when thou openest thy hand, they shall all be filled with good. But if thou turnest away thy face, they shall be troubled: thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall fail, and shall return to their dust. Thou shalt send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
May the glory of the Lord endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works. He looketh upon the earth, and maketh it tremble: he toucheth the mountains, and they smoke. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. Let my speech be acceptable to him: but I will take delight in the Lord. Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, and the unjust, so that they be no more: O my soul, bless thou the Lord.“ 

Psalm 103 (Vulgate)

The good medicine of the Eucharist, of Marian devotion and of enjoying the beauty of God‘s creation will strengthen our hearts and cure our ailments. In and through nature – through all that He has wonderfully made – we can be reminded of the God who is strong, faithful, and gentle, our Creator and our Father in heaven. Everything is from Him and belongs to Him and is supposed to return to Him.

At times, maybe all that is asked of us as a basic precondition for sanctification is to simply muster the last crumbs of strength left in ourselves to decide against selling out our souls, though doing so were the most opportune. Then we are free to give our souls to God who is their rightful owner and their careful potter.

“For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?“

Mark 8: 36-37

“And now, O Lord, thou art our father, and we are clay: and thou art our maker, and we all are the works of thy hands.“

Isaiah 64: 8

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God hath prepared that we should walk in them.“

Ephesians 2: 10

On remaining human, and holding on to love and to our salvation, and being filled with the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit

All young people have the desire to accomplish something great with their lives. But isn‘t this a day and age that seems to have it easy with nullifying the potential fruits of our efforts, picking like raven of death even at the very seeds as soon as they have been sown and before they have had any chance to grow?

It might be comforting to know that Blessed Pier Giorgio studied for years at the university, which was hard work for him – only to never be able to “do something useful with it“, and that he fell in love with a woman – only to never be able to marry her.

In both cases, by the way, it was not only his premature death that prevented these things from happening, but also his father: His father wanted him to become the administrative director of La Stampa after finishing his studies, and he would not have approved of Pier Giorgio marrying Laura. Maybe as the practicing Catholic his father later became, he would have thought differently about these things, encouraging Pier Giorgio to follow his dreams and not hindering him. Suffice it to say, that here‘s the example of a man who died young without seeing much tangible fruit of his efforts while he was still alive.

Yet “making it by the standards and metrics of this world“ is not quite exactly the tenet of the Beatitudes, is it?

“And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set down, his disciples came unto him. And opening his mouth, he taught them, saying: 
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land. 
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill. 
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 
Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God. 
Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you. 
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men. You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.“ 

Matthew 5: 1-16

Some of the Church’s most recent saints like Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, the children of Fatima, Saints Jacinta and Francesco, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati may show and teach us how to walk “the little way“, how to bring our tiny, seemingly insignificant sacrifices and acts of kindness, our hidden sufferings and lonely tears, and most of all our hearts and our love to the altar of grace.

All of them died at a very young age, from tuberculosis, the Spanish flu, or polio, having accomplished “nothing“ in their lives except for loving God with all their hearts and strength, and their neighbor as themselves, staying true to themselves, thus entering the kingdom of heaven, and in fact accomplishing more in just a couple of years than most people throughout lives of 80, 90 years of age.

Christianity is not at all “heroic“ these days, yet it is never meant to be something “heroic“. It is not a cold and lofty ideal waiting to be realized by cold and lofty people. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is a burning and blazing reality waiting to consume our hearts in the crucible of His love so that He may turn them from hardened bricks of stone into sensitive hearts of flesh, that are willing and able to “rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep“ (Romans 12: 15), like Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati did.

“And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in the midst of you: and I will cause you to walk in my commandments, and to keep my judgments, and do them. And you shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.“

Ezekiel 36: 25-28

Maybe these saints were given to us at the turn of the 20th century because we need them greatly as our model for sanctity in an age of so much vain sophistry and inertial idealism. They are able to remind us of the fullness of life that is found in the simplicity of the straight and narrow path entrusted to everyone baptized in Christ as a precious gift, which leads to abundant and everlasting life, peace and joy.

“You are rewarded not according to your work or your time but according to the measure of your love.“

Saint Catherine of Siena

Tradition relates how Saint Mary Magdalene, the woman who had seven demons cast out by Jesus and was a witness to His resurrection, spent the final years of her life as a hermit in southern France doing penance, continually weeping. It is humbling to contemplate this story.

All of us tend to look at our own and other people’s lives with temporal lenses, so often not comprehending with our hardened hearts that in Christ our very tears are precious and efficacious, weighty, and at times even the very task entrusted to us, while without Him our biggest achievements, our most impressive track records “art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting“ (Daniel 5: 27). 

There‘s no place for penance as a gift of love within a secular, ultimately godless, view of things, and there‘s no understanding of the correlations of what counts as a “treasure in heaven“ without a conversion that turns our hearts upside down.

“Amen, I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.“ 

Matthew 18: 3

“At that time Jesus answered and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to the little ones.“

Matthew 11: 25

Why are we called to “become as little children“? Children, I guess, simply understand that little things matter. Children understand that little things are serious business, and they know that besides little things they have nothing to offer.

One must only recall the earnestness with which children play their games, even if nobody is watching, and one must only re-envision how children will give little gifts to their mother or father or to anyone they love, as if it were the whole world they have conquered to give it away out of love.

They have merely conquered a piece of white paper on which they have drawn, with thick wax crayons in tiny hands, a wonky sketch of the one they love, but we admire their dedication, how they devoted themselves to the task, and not the supposed “value“ the result of their efforts would hit at an art auction. If a child takes heart and dares to try, we always esteem it.

“And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he reach him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?“

Luke 11: 9-13

Besides, whatever children do, they do with a lot of joy. Or have you ever seen a child doing one of those little things which are “serious business“, which are stuff that really matters and that the grown-ups just won‘t understand, without joy?

Why did the Blessed Virgin Mary appear to three children at the village of Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, during the First World War? Why did these children receive her message, and not grown-up men or women? Why was Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati by the example of his life and his death converting his father’s heart, when it is usually supposed to be the other way around, namely that the parents educate their children in the faith?

While the adult world was entrenched in waging a global war that employed the latest technological advancements, special graces to see through and beyond the ugliness surrounding them and to behold the kingdom of God in all its sublime beauty were given to their children, to the next generation. While the adult world reveled in its vices, the tender shoots of the future, even of a future the adults were ready and willing to quench and extinguish, exemplified the virtues.

“Not one of the men of this wicked generation shall see the good land, which I promised with an oath to your fathers (…) your sons who know not this day the difference of good and evil, they shall go in: and to them I will give the land, and they shall possess it.“

Deuteronomy 1: 35-39

What if, in our modern times, grown-up men and women are in most cases not simple enough any more in their hearts to fully comprehend the message of divine love? What if, in case they want to discover a blissful simplicity again – which opens their eyes and hearts to the infinite significance of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, and discloses to them the finite insignificance of their own vague philosophical ponderings and doubts, and which then also turns their very tears, that have all felt wasted, into costly pearls, that have all been counted – they must learn it from the testimony of little children?

Once we all were children, but now that we are adults, faith is often so mixed with doubt, that we are “like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind“, “double minded“ and “inconstant in all (our) ways“ (James 1: 6-8). But children – whole-heartedly they love or hate, whole-heartedly they give or withhold, whole-heartedly they believe or reject. Whole-heartedly like the children of Fatima, they pray their Rosaries and offer up their little penances and sufferings – for the salvation of souls.

“And so, young people, learn from our Lord Jesus Christ the meaning of sacrifice.“

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 121

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati‘s faith was simple enough to take such delight in Saint Paul the Apostle‘s hymn on charity and receive such direction from it that “he kept it on his desk so that it was always before his eyes“ (ibid. p. 61).

“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never falleth away: whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child. We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know even as I am known. And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.“ 

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

Our age is not the age of zealous martyrs, or of lion-hearted crusades. It is, it feels, an age of charity grown cold, of fervor become sluggish, of the human spirit turned timid.

“And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold.“

Matthew 24: 12

Just to dare to believe, to hope, and to love, just to dare to work for the building up of a “civilization of life and love“ (Saint John Paul II) against all odds is already an extraordinary thing in times like these.

I guess if we just dare or desire to dare to live into a vocation of love, either of marriage or of the consecrated life, and strive to live out the given calling to the fullest, to the brim of the chalice, drinking our very own cup of blessing and of suffering to the very last drop, much is done, or all is done that is truly needed, and demanded of us.

Because all that there ever is to accomplish, has already been accomplished in Christ, accomplished by his finished work on the cross.

“But thanks be to God, who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast and unmoveable; always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.“ 

1 Corinthians 15: 57-58

“What is clear is that faith is the only anchor of salvation and we must hold tightly to it: without it, what would our lives be? Nothing, or rather, wasted, because in life there is only suffering, and suffering without faith is unbearable. But suffering that is nourished by the flame of faith becomes something beautiful, because it tempers the soul to deal with suffering.“

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 121

Salvation is real, and we must hold on to it strongly in times of a numbing and ghostly unreality, that wishes nothing more but to “cancel“ life and love; we must hold on to it as if biting our teeth into a piece of flesh when on the edge of starvation.

Living in the age that surrounds us means living in a world that has gradually been losing touch with reality, and this modern-day delirium is affecting everyone of us. And so we must take care to keep in touch with the Holy One of God who is the Real One, “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature“ (Colossians 1: 15) – “all things were created by him and in him“ (Colossians 1: 16).

Dare we think that Saint Thomas the Apostle’s desire to touch the wounds of Christ in His glorified body could be something like a special demand for us today? To desire to be this close to the reality of the Risen One… There is no one else but Him who could save us, who could reclaim us daily for life in abundance from the grasp of the clasping and choking hands of sin and death, of frustration, raising us to life daily like Lazarus was raised.

Are we not at times, in days dipped into the fog of this present surreality, in some way or another living amidst caves and ruins, “dwelling in the tombs“, like the mad man in the country of the Gerasenes who was possessed by a whole legion of demons, “crying and cutting himself with stones“ (Mark 5: 3-5)?

“Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: Peace be to you. Then he saith to Thomas: Put in thy finger hither, and see my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered, and said to him: My Lord, and my God.“

John 20: 24-28

“Jesus therefore again groaning in himself, cometh to the sepulchre. Now it was a cave; and a stone was laid over it. Jesus saith: Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith to him: Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he is now of four days. Jesus saith to her: Did not I say to thee, that if thou believe, thou shalt see the glory of God? They took therefore the stone away. And Jesus lifting up his eyes said: Father, I give thee thanks that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always; but because of the people who stand about have I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. When he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth. And presently he that had been dead came forth, bound feet and hands with winding bands; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them: Loose him, and let him go.“ 

John 11: 38-44

“And they came to Jesus, and they see him that was troubled with the devil, sitting, clothed, and well in his wits, and they were afraid.“

Mark 5: 15

It was the living Messiah in the daily Eucharist who sanctified Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, compelling him to act out the very essence of his faith in sharing love and handing on mercy. It was Him, who is the new Adam, who formed Pier Giorgio into a fully human man, ready to live with confidence in God and in his fellow men, to climb mountains and to wander through valleys, to laugh and to weep. The new Adam is the bezoar to every dehumanizing spirit among the manifold legion of secularism‘s cold and gothic heart.

How could we ever even hope to remain human, with tender and hopeful hearts and lively and creative minds, and to live naturally and virtuously in these emerging factitious phantom towns of an ice-cold technocratic vertigo, as they are mounting up as high in our sight as the tower of Babel, unless feeding on the humanity of the Son of God, on his victory over sin and death, and on the wellspring of living water that is in Him?

“And each one said to his neighbour: Come, let us make brick, and bake them with fire. And they had brick instead of stones, and slime instead of mortar. And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven: and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.“

Genesis 11: 3-4

“‘Alas! alas! that great city Babylon, that mighty city: for in one hour is thy judgment come.‘ And the merchants of the earth shall weep, and mourn over her: for no man shall buy their merchandise any more. Merchandise of gold and silver, and precious stones; and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner of vessels of ivory, and all manner of vessels of precious stone, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.“

Revelation 18: 10-13

“And I John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying: Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people; and God himself with them shall be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat on the throne, said: Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me: Write, for these words are most faithful and true. And he said to me: It is done. I am Alpha and Omega; the beginning and the end. To him that thirsteth, I will give of the fountain of the water of life, freely. He that shall overcome shall possess these things, and I will be his God; and he shall be my son.“

Revelation 21: 2-7

There is the cold fire of an absentminded and unbound technological science that bakes bricks for a Prometheusian civilization of towers, of endless “progress“ without telos except for making both God and the human soul be buried in oblivion – towers that will eventually hem us in from all sides, imprison us in the mundane and in a sterile pseudo-catastrophic present, making us lose sight of the salvific arm of God Almighty who, in His mercy, reached down from above and entered into our mess to save and deliver us from slavery; and there is the warm fire of the Spirit of God descending from on high that forges hearts of gold and flesh for the commonwealth of the holy city that is His bride.

“It is easy for me to imagine that the next great division of the world will be between people who wish to live as creatures and people who wish to live as machines.“

Wendell Berry: Life is a Miracle. An Essay against Modern Superstition, Counterpoint 2001 e-book, p. 92

There is one true fire that can never be drowned, neither by the tears wrung from our sadness and mourning nor by the swamps of our sins nor by the floods of disorienting times, and that is the fire of divine love upon which our whole existence rests and on which every human heart depends.

“I indeed baptize you in the water unto penance, but he that shall come after me, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire.“

Matthew 3: 11

“Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames. Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it: if a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing.“

Canticles 8:

In ice-cold and dark times we stand in need of the power of the true fire that is of our God – the God speaking “from the midst of the fire“ (Dt 4: 12) on “the mount, which burned even unto heaven“ (Dt 4: 11).

What if living well in our times requires something like advanced martial arts, of the kind for which there is no playbook yet? How shall we know what to do unless the Holy Spirit leads us and grants us his gifts? We do not have a ready-made strategy for counteracting the current “culture of death“ and for the good life in evil times, but we do have the living Spirit of God, who is the very best strategist.

“Who went before you in the way, and marked out the place, wherein you should pitch your tents, in the night shewing you the way by fire (…).“

Deuteronomy 1: 33

“(…) the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness.“ 

Isaiah 11: 2

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power, and of love, and of sobriety.“ 

2 Timothy 1: 7

“(…) tribulation worketh patience; and patience trial; and trial hope; and hope confoundeth not: because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us.“

Romans 5: 3-5

“For whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba (Father).“

Romans 8: 14-15

And the bravery of today‘s battlefield is staying on the holy nation’s sinking ship, with the flood already on deck, trusting that the raging storms will, despite all appearances, never sink it.

“We are living through difficult days because the persecution against the Church is raging more than ever, but this should not frighten you, brave and good young people. Always remember that the Church is a divine institution and it cannot come to an end.“

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, quotation taken from: Maria di Lorenzo, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. An Ordinary Christian, Pauline Books and Media 2004, p. 120

Or as Saint Catherine of Siena, this forerunner of Dominican laity to whom Pier Giorgio was devoted, used to say during her day and age of crisis in the Church and of political cabal in the crumbling world of the late Middle Ages, already not the “Golden Age“ any more:

“Start being brave about everything, driving out darkness and spreading light as well.“

Saint Catherine of Siena

If we dare to believe that “every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration“ (James 1: 17), dare to believe that “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world“ (1 John 4: 4), and dare to “have known, and have believed the charity, which God hath to us“ (1 John 4: 16), then, surely, according to the testimony of every blessed soul that ever lived during evil times of this or that or yet another kind, life will be good, simple, beautiful and as real as flesh and blood after all, and filled with more blessings than we can count. Until the end of time, all who are baptized in Christ are always called to the blessing of living as

“sincere children of God, without reproof, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world.“

Philippians 2: 15

Yet these children of God called to be salt and light are not invincible giants or superheroes, but frail human flesh, and this is the exact description of our human dignity: our dependence on God‘s mercy.

“The Lord is compassionate and merciful: longsuffering and plenteous in mercy. He will not always be angry: nor will he threaten for ever. He hath not dealt with us according to our sins: nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For according to the height of the heaven above the earth: he hath strengthened his mercy towards them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our iniquities from us. As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him: For he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust: Man’s days are as grass, as the flower of the field so shall he flourish.
For the spirit shall pass in him, and he shall not be: and he shall know his place no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from eternity and unto eternity upon them that fear him: and his justice unto children’s children, to such as keep his covenant, and are mindful of his commandments to do them.“ 

Psalm 102 (Vulgate): 8-18

“With every step“ the children of God “trip and fall“, in need of the prayers, love, friendship and mercy of their companions if they ever were to reach the mountain top, and the land of milk and honey.

“And I commanded you at that time, saying: The Lord your God giveth you this land for an inheritance, go ye well appointed before your brethren the children of Israel, all the strong men of you (…) until the Lord give rest to your brethren, as he hath given to you: and they also possess the land, which he will give them beyond the Jordan: then shall every man return to his possession, which I have given you.“

Deuteronomy 3: 18-20

This communal procession in the trail of the Word “made flesh“ that “dwelt among us“, “full of grace and truth“ (John 1: 14), of whose “fulness we all have received, and grace for grace“ (John 1: 16), is the antithesis and life-giving alternative to all the various forms of “transhumanism“ around these days.

The pharaos of our times with their entourage of frightened followers may disregard our lonely tears, calling upon us to stand tall and strong in the wars they decided to wage and to simply soldier on, but we are in convenant with a God who collects and counts our tears, who hears “the children of Israel groaning“, as “their cry went up unto God from the works“ (Exodus 2: 23).

“And he heard their groaning, and remembered the covenant which he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And the Lord looked upon the children of Israel, and he knew them.“ 

Exodus 2: 24-25

“But the Lord hath taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace of Egypt, to make you his people of inheritance, as it is this present day.“

Deuteronomy 4: 20

“Fr. Kolbe did not come directly to Auschwitz following his arrest that February day. First the Gestapo drove him to Warsaw where he was locked in the dreaded Pawiak Prison. There he was cruelly beaten by a guard who had a special hatred for priests. As a result of the beating, which weakened him, Fr. Kolbe came down with pneumonia. He was put in the prison hospital, more a sentence of death than a place of treatment. Sick patients were allowed only half their regular rations.
Learning of the beloved leader‘s illness, twenty friars of Niepokalanow offered themselves as hostages in exchange for his release. Instead the Gestapo leaders were so furious that they ordered Fr. Kolbe transferred to Auschwitz. Once in the infamous death camp, Fr. Kolbe was given no quarter. Weak and ill and having only one healthy lung, he was forced to do the same heavy labor as all the others.
Every day Fr. Kolbe marched with hundreds of prisoners to work in the fields outside the camp. Carrying hoes and rakes, they bent over the rows of stalks from early morning until dusk. Their pitiful rations were barely enough to sustain a child, much less men at hard labor. They were given one cup of imitation coffee in the morning, and weak soup and half a loaf of bread after work.
At night Fr. Kolbe would not lie down to rest. His bunk was on the second floor, near the door. He moved from bunk to bunk, saying, ‘I am a Catholic priest. Can I do anything for you?‘ Many were tormented by the thought of imminent death and he offered to hear their confessions.
There were strict rules in the camp against any kind of prayer, but Fr. Kolbe took his chances. He made the sign of the cross before eating his meager meals. At night he knelt on the floor beside his bunk to pray for others. When he was beaten by a guard, he never cried out. Instead, he prayed for his tormentor.
(…)

Everyone from Bunker 14A had gone to work in the fields that day. Suddenly, there was a commotion among the guards. One prisoner was missing from the group. There had been no response although his identifying number had been called several times. Each prisoner‘s heart began pounding with fear. They knew what had happened before. For every person who escaped, several men in his bunker would pay with their lives. The cruel camp commander ordered ten men put to death until the escapee was found. The innocent hostages were locked into starvation cells to die of hunger and thirst. No one had ever survived this punishment. (…)
‘This man!‘ shouted the commandant, pointing to a prisoner in the front row. ‘Step forward. State your number!‘ ‘And you over there.‘ Two choices had been made. The men stood together knowing their fate was sealed. No one had ever come out of the starvation bunker alive. As the fourth man was ordered out of the lineup, a frantic voice rose from a few rows in front of Fr. Kolbe. ‘No, Commandant, please, not me.‘ A man with a thick peasant accent was sobbing loudly. It was Francis Gajowniczek, imprisoned for helping the Polish Resistance. The icy-faced commandant stared unmoved, as Francis cried again. ‘Please, I have a wife and two children. I‘ll never see them again.‘
Suddenly a frail figure broke ranks and moved toward the commandant. The guards lifted their guns ready to shoot. Speaking in German, Fr. Kolbe said calmly, ‘I wish to make a request.‘ No one had ever approached the sadistic commandant before. ‘What do you want?‘ he growled.
‘I wish to take this man‘s place,‘ said Fr. Kolbe, pointing toward the sobbing Gajowniczek. The priest, looking far older than his forty-seven years, explained, ‘I have no family. I am old and sick. He can do more work.‘
The puzzled commandant asked him, ‘Who are you?‘
Without blinking, Kolbe replied, ‘I am a Catholic priest.‘
Standing silent for a few minutes, Commandant Fritsch stared at the strange prisoner who was willing to die for another.
‘Request granted,‘ he mumbled.
(…)

Little is known of Fr. Kolbe‘s final days. We offer here the report of Bruno Borgowiec whose job it was to enter the cells each day and remove the dead.
He recalled, ‘Each time I went to the underground cell of Fr. Kolbe and his companions, I was greeted by fervent prayers and hymns to the Holy Virgin. Fr. Maximilian would start to pray out loud. Then the others would join him. By the sixth day even Fr. Kolbe was too weak to sing anymore. The others lay motionless on the cement floor, but not this priest who still went from one sufferer to the next praying in a whisper. Yet a look of serenity still lit his face. The prisoners were dying fast. I had to remove a corpse each day.‘
On August 14, two weeks after the hostages were locked in Cell 3 of the starvation bunker, only four remained alive. Commandant Fritsch needed the cell for the next group of condemned prisoners. He sent the camp doctor to inject the dying men with carbolic acid to speed up their deaths.
As he testified at the inquiry, Dr. Bock entered the dark cell carrying the deadly syringe. In the dim light he made out three men unconscious on the floor. He placed a rubber thermostat around their arms and then plunged in the syringe. In seconds, all three were dead.
Fr. Kolbe, however, was still conscious, seated, leaning against the wall. The courageous priest looked into the face of his murderer. He smiled sweetly, as though giving the doctor his benediction and forgiveness. Then he held out his emaciated arm for the injection. That day he would wear the promised crown of martyrdom. His wait was over.
Fr. Kolbe‘s body was removed and on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption, his remains were dumped into the fiery oven of Auschwitz‘s crematorium.“

In 1982, Father Maximilian Kolbe was canonized as a saint and declared a martyr by Saint John Paul II, the Polish Pontiff.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe, holy martyr, pray for us!

Tomorrow, on the 9th August, we remember Saint Edith Stein, the Carmelite nun, who died a martyr‘s death in Auschwitz-Birkenau in the year 1942, along with her sister Rosa Stein.

Edith Stein grew up in Breslow as the youngest child of a Jewish merchant. She was a very intelligent woman, studying psychology, philosophy, history, and German philology at university, writing both a doctoral thesis and a habilitation treatise, which was declined because she was a woman, and for some years assisting the philosopher Edmund Husserl in his work.

Then, in her late twenties, she came to faith in Jesus Christ through reading the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila. She was baptized and received into the Catholic Church on the 1st January 1922. Before entering the Carmelite order in October 1933, just a couple of months after the rise and implementation of the Nazi regime, she worked as a teacher at Catholic schools for girls. Remembering the saintly woman and spiritual mother to which she owed the road to her conversion, she chose Teresia Benedicta a Cruce as her religious name.

Many things could be said about Saint Edith Stein, her life, and her martyrdom and would be noteworthy, yet let us, in honor of her, simply look at some of her remarks concerning the marks of “feminine singularity“, of women‘s unique approach to life and the world around them – remarks from almost a hundred years ago, during the period of her life as a school teacher, when she gave a talk at the Bavarian Catholic Women Teachers Association on Woman‘s Intrinsic Value in National Life.

The first misogynist

What does it mean to be a woman?

Some time during 2019, I read a book by Carrie Gress that opens with the following observations on the present-day disorientiation in regards to masculinity and femininity in its introduction chapter:

“Women have been a mystery since Adam encountered Eve. But sometime over the last fifty years, a dark change has taken place in the lives of women and the men who love them. There is much confusion today about what it means to be a woman and even more confusion about how to treat them. The definitions of womanhood seem as numerous as there are people, with each woman trying to work out for herself who she is and how she ought to live her life. Meanwhile, men live in a constant state of shadowboxing, trying to stay in sync with the new progressive demands of womanhood. (…) The changes that we have seen over the last half-century go well beyond effective teaching, psychology, politics, and fancy marketing. Yes, all of these have played a role in influencing our culture, but there is most certainly another actor involved in the deconstruction of the family. (…) The attack has been directed at the very areas where women are able to reflect the love, goodness, and likeness of the Virgin Mary: in their virginity and motherhood.“

Carrie Gress, The Anti-Mary Exposed. Rescuing the Culture from Toxic Femininity, TAN Books, p. ix-xv

This destructive “actor“ in the background Carrie Gress talks about is, as she clarifies later on, the enemy of all mankind and of the well-being of our souls, Satan, who ardently hates the Blessed Virgin, as she is the one who gave birth to the King of Kings defeating him once and for all…

While it is definitely not easy to be a woman in our day and age, it maybe never was – beginning with Eve, the mother of all the living… Satan is a misogynist from the very start. He knows that women are “the weaker vessel“ (1 Peter 3: 7), and as the story of Genesis 3 depicts, he knows how to exploit their fragility to his advantage. That there is one “weak“ woman in human history who is actually stronger than him – the Blessed Virgin Mary, the New Eve “full of grace“ undoing Eve‘s fall from grace – is as humiliating to him as can be. In her, the curse of Eve is reversed. In her, the most blessed of all women, all women are blessed.

Yet they are attacked in their womanhood, in the feminine nature they share with both the Old and the New Eve, on account of Satan‘s hatred for the Blessed Virgin and for all the graces she has been mediating for all of mankind, on account of his hostility toward the one woman who never gave him the slightest little chance to gain any foothold over her most pure soul.

Companionship and motherliness as feminine singularity

Saint Edith Stein would have agreed with Carrie Gress in stating that motherhood, or motherliness, is the supreme and unique vocation of women, something absolutely intrinsic to our specific feminine human nature. We find this notion firmly expressed in her talk on Woman‘s Intrinsic Value in National Life.

“To be a companion, that means to be support and mainstay, and to be able to be so, a woman herself must stand firmly; however, this is possible only if inwardly everything is in right order and rests in equilibrium. To be a mother is to nourish and protect true humanity and bring it to development. But again, this necessitates that she possess true humanity herself, and that she is clear as to what it means; otherwise, she cannot lead others to it. (…) These are mothers who have a firm philosophy of life, who know to what purpose they should rear their children, who have an open vision of the developmental possibilities of their children. But also they have an incorruptible perspective of the dangerous drives in them which must be curtailed and which must be seized with a powerful hand at the right moment. And these also must be mothers who know their place, who do not think that they are able to do everything themselves but, on the contrary, are able to let go of their children and place them in God‘s hand when the time comes, when the children have outgrown them. Such mothers are probably the most important agents for the recovery of the nation. (…) Everywhere the need exists for maternal sympathy and help, and thus we are able to recapitulate in the one word motherliness that which we have developed as the characteristic value of woman. Only, the motherliness must be that which does not remain within the narrow circle of blood relations or of personal friends; but in accordance with the model of the Mother of Mercy, it must have its root in universal divine love for all who are there, belabored and burdened.“

Edith Stein: Essential Writings, Orbis Books, p. 99-108

We see that the Blessed Virgin Mary, the “Mother of Mercy“, is the supreme model of true motherliness and that every woman is called to develop this quality in herself and become more like Mary throughout her life.

Interestingly enough, Saint Edith Stein hints at the necessity of a woman standing on firm ground before she can live up to her true calling in a healthy and fruitful way. This firm ground is a “firm philosophy of life“ lived out, empowering a woman to true self-realization. Yet this orienting and ordering philosophy can only come to a woman through the graces of the ultimate firm ground that is the man and Son of God Jesus Christ, not, as promised by the first misogynist, through the means of isolating herself from both God and Adam and eating from the tree of the “knowledge of good and evil“ on her own, following the misogynist‘s alluring lead. The daughters of Eve, who was tailored by God out of the very side of Adam to be his unique helpmate, can only truly find themselves in relation to both God and Adam. To be united with Jesus Christ, the “New Adam“, is a woman‘s true “autonomy“ and “self-sufficiency“ enabling her to fully give herself to others as a companion and a mother.

Two main tendencies of our feminine human nature

Let‘s get a bit more into what Saint Edith Stein has to say about women‘s singularity, about certain natural – God-given – tendencies of our feminine human nature in contrast to a man‘s God-given abilities.

“1. Man appears more objective: it is natural for him to dedicate his faculties to a discipline (be it mathematics or technology, a trade or business management) and thereby to subject himself to the precepts of this discipline. Woman‘s attitude is personal; and this has several meanings: in one instance she is happily involved with her total being in what she does; then, she has particular interest for the living, concrete person, and, indeed, as much for her own personal life and personal affairs as for those of other persons. 2. Through submission to a discipline, man easily experiences a one-sided development. In woman, there lives a natural drive toward totality and self-containment. And, again, this drive has a twofold direction: she herself would like to become a complete human being, one who is fully developed in every way; and she would like to help others to become so, and by all means, she would like to do justice to the complete human being whenever she has to deal with persons. Both of these characteristic impulses as they emerge from nature do no demonstrate yet any initial value; indeed, they can be harmful. But, correctly handled, they can become most valuable.“

Edith Stein: Essential Writings, Orbis Books, p. 99-108

While making clear that these natural impulses of women can go astray and must be developed as virtues, not vices, Saint Edith Stein identifies two main aspects of being a woman: Women tend to take a “personal attitude“, and they tend to yield to “totality“ and “completeness“. They are interested in persons, not things, in concrete beings and situations, not abstract ponderings, and in a complete assessment of someone or something.

It has become a well-known and almost threadbare fact disseminated by popular science that in women‘s brains there is much more neuronal connection between the right and the left hemisphere than in those of men, and that men‘s ability to focus on only one thing, and to “compartmentalize“ their brains and their activities is much higher. Women just can‘t stop sensing, feeling, thinking, and at times talking about “everything“ “all the time“. They can‘t stop seeing and making connections and joining the dots. They always crave the “whole picture“.

This must be why women have the potential to develop into good and wise mothers who reach levels of a deep and complete understanding of concrete human beings – a wisdom men tend to admire, as they themselves hardly ever get there.

We women, in turn, tend to admire in men this unique ability to “simplify“ things, to boil things down to their essence, and to thereby solve almost any problems that keep plagueing us. Because in our heads, each and every problem can become so complex and complicated, that it feels almost always quite “unsolvable“. That can be just one of various downsides, then, of our tendency toward “completeness“…

Remedies for the vices of “hyper-femininity“

Finally, Saint Edith Stein gives the advice that every woman should dedicate herself to some sort of “thoroughly objective work“ in order to make her natural impulses virtuous, in order to cure herself of the ailments of a “hyper-feminine nature“:

“Every such work, no matter of what kind, whether housework, a trade, science, or anything else, necessitates submitting to the laws of the matter concerned; the whole person, thoughts just as all moods and dispositions, must be made subordinate to the work. And whoever has learned this, has become objective, has lost something of the hyper-individuality and has attained a definite freedom of self; at the same time she has attained an inner depth – she has attained a basis of self-control. Indeed, every young girl should receive a basic vocational formation for the sake of these great personal gains, quite aside from any economic compulsion; and after this formation, she should hold a position which completely fulfills her. No other environment than the life of the high school girl of the old style and that of the unoccupied woman from affluent circles provides a more fertile soil for the debasement of the feminine singularity and for hysteria, its sickly enhancement.“

Edith Stein: Essential Writings, Orbis Books, p. 100-101

There is, then, also a need for not overdoing the male-female polarity, pushing it into unhealthy realms, but for integrating into one’s own personality and character formation some of the potentials often associated as natural strengths with the opposite sex.

Ultimately, men and women are not only utterly distinct from one another, but they also share one common and indivisible human nature and along with it a common calling towards perfection. This shared human nature stands in need of “objectivity“ – encounter with reality and the fullness of truth – so that toxic versions of our self-realization as both men and women may be curbed.

The absolutely perfect templates of redeemed humanity, the “New Adam“ and the “New Eve“, Jesus and Mary, are able to show us what the fullness of all truth, goodness, and beauty means. Mercy, compassion, kindness, meekness, patience, hospitality, and sensitivity are virtues for men, too, not just for women. And in turn, tradition has often depicted the Blessed Virgin Mary as the strong and powerful co-redemptrix crushing Satan – “she that comes forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army in battle array“ (Canticles 6: 10) – strong, powerful, prudent, and brave like Old Testament Judit with her sword against Holofernes.

Besides “objective work“, which is an encounter with reality, there is another and the most important antidote to a feminine nature obsessed too much with personal affairs and totality, and thus growing vicious instead of virtuous. The most important medicine against all feminine tendency toward “hysteria“ is the encounter with the one who is Truth, the union with the “New Adam“, with Jesus Christ:

“The better we get to know the Savior, the more we are conquered by his sublimity and gentleness, by his kingly freedom which knows no other obligation than submission to the Father‘s will, and by his freedom from all living creatures which is simultaneously the foundation for his compassion toward each living creature. And the deeper this image of God penetrates into us, the more it awakens our love. (…) Through his sacraments, he purifies and strengthens us. And if we turn confidently to him, which is his will, his spirit penetrates us more and more and converts us; through union with him, we learn to dispense with human props and to gain the freedom and strength which we must have in order to be the support and mainstay for others.“

Edith Stein: Essential Writings, Orbis Books, p. 101-102