Afterlives of the Saints

Botuid

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 09:04:46 -0700

Swedish missionary, murdered by a slave he had set free.

Seven Sleepers

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:51:28 -0700

These 7 men were walled up in a cave in 250 AD; their relics discovered in 479.

James

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:16:04 -0700

Apostle, patron of equestrians & veterinarians. Spain reinvented him as a Moor-slayer.

Mary Magdalene

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 19:03:49 -0700

Often pictured with a skull, as in this Life Magazine photo, 1944.

Life magazine, May 22, 1944, “Photo of the Week,” by Ralph Crane: Her hair is perfectly styled, pinned up behind her with a huge flower. She wears a blazer, rests her chin on her left hand while her right hand holds a poised pen. In a perfectly proportioned composition, her head and right hand make two points of a triangle; the third, connected by the diagonal of her left arm, sits on the table in front of her: a human skull.

Subtitled “Arizona war worker writes her Navy boyfriend a thank-you note for the Jap skull he sent her,” the photograph seems to offer yet one more instance of man’s inhumanity to man from a war notable for its unparalleled destruction and brutality. The underlying rhetoric of racism that determined World War II (on all sides) is well known, including the differing American attitudes toward the Japanese and the Germans. As one marine told John Hersey in 1943, “I wish we were fighting against Germans. They are humans like us. … But the Japs are animals.” It is in this culture of pervasive racism and dehumanization that the problem of Japanese war trophies arises. As James Weingartner puts it, “If as a Marine Corps general noted, ‘Killing a Japanese was like killing a rattlesnake,’ then it might not seem inappropriate to detach something comparable to the reptile’s skin or rattles for the pleasure of the victorious combatant and entertainment of his friends and relatives back home.” The collection of Japanese war trophies—which included various body parts, including skulls—was, by all accounts, endemic and uncontrollable. Charles Lindbergh noted numerous such instances in the diaries of his travels to the Pacific theater: “It is the same everywhere I go,” he wrote. The problem was so widespread that when Lindbergh returned to the States, he was asked by customs officers—almost as a matter of course—if he was carrying any “human bones” in his luggage. Crane’s photo, appearing in one of the most popular magazines of the day, was only the most visible instance of a much deeper problem, one that was rooted in a long-standing program of propaganda that stretched back over a decade.

But Crane’s photo stands out in its composition, which evokes the tableau of the memento mori, particularly Georges de La Tour’s Penitent Magdalen. De La Tour painted this subject at least four times, each painting composed slightly differently, but always the silent, contemplative woman gazing at a human skull.

Astius

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 10:13:45 -0700

Martyred; covered in honey & left to be attacked by bees & hornets.

Maria Goretti

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 09:02:58 -0700

Virgin-martyr who wouldn’t submit to her rapist; he later attended her canonization.

Anthony Zaccaria

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 10:46:59 -0700

Penance weakened him & he died of fever; afterward his body was incorruptible.

Elizabeth of Portugal

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 10:46:06 -0700

Formerly a double feast, in 1962 her day was lowered to “third-class.”

Thomas

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 05:58:08 -0700

Finger-in-the-wound Apostle, patron of builders & architects

Bernardino Realino

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 11:00:39 -0700

On his deathbed, the people of Leece asked for his help. Then, his relics bled.

Veep

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 11:37:38 -0700

From Cornwall, a saint of uncertain gender.

Theobald of Provins

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 05:56:01 -0700

Patron of shoemakers, charcoal-burners, belt-makers, dry cough, panic attacks.

The Apostle Peter

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 06:00:49 -0700

Called on for aid with foot problems, fever & frenzy. Patron of horologists.

Irenaeus

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 05:53:00 -0700

Early martyr, whose tomb & remains were destroyed utterly by Huguenots in 1562.

Cyril of Alexandria

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 05:50:11 -0700

His followers murdered astronomer & philosopher Hypatia, hacking apart her body.

Josemaría Escrivá

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 05:56:11 -0700

Supporter of Franco & Pinochet, & self-mortification. Beloved by John Paul II.

Eurosia

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 06:01:22 -0700

Patron of the demonically possessed, who would carry her urn in procession (banned in 1947).

Amphibalus

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 06:00:01 -0700

On the run, hid with Albans, whom he converted, then sent to martyrdom in his place.

Joseph Cafasso

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 06:52:16 -0700

Social reformer, “The Priest of the Gallows.” Patron of captives.

The Utopian St. Thomas More

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 06:00:48 -0700

Martyr, patron of difficult marriages, large families & civil servants.