Saints- Average Human Beings Trying to be Better

By Jean Welch Hill–

Several years ago, I purchased Robert Ellsberg’s All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time.  Over the course of the year learning about each highlighted person, one common thread became very clear—saints are people who do not simply do what they are told by worldly authorities.

From the many individuals born to status and wealth who turn away from the expectations of family to serve God, to those saints who challenged the arbitrary or needlessly formalistic decisions of church leaders, Catholic history and teaching is made by men and women who respond to God’s call, often at great cost to themselves.

Which is really not that surprising considering that Jesus was similarly inclined to live by the rules, regulations and decrees of a higher authority.  The New Testament is a lesson in counter-cultural activity, divinely directed to bring about God’s kingdom on Earth.  An undertaking we have yet to perfect, but, fortunately, we have hundreds of examples to guide us.

Consider just a few:

Peter Waldo, the Poor Man of Lyons:  Waldo was banned by the archbishop of Lyons after following the Gospel admonishment to “go sell what thou hast…” and adopting a life of voluntary poverty.  Pope Alexander III welcomed his band of paupers as a movement, but forbade Waldo from preaching.  Waldo obeyed the Pope for a time, but decided he needed to obey God first and preach the Gospel.  Waldo was excommunicated for violating the papal decree, though even his accusers conceded his preaching was fully in line with Catholic doctrine.

St. Terese of Avila:  One of the many children of aristocracy who gave up their lives of luxury for something far different, Terese founded seventeen convents and authored four books in a time not known for valuing the voices of women (1515-1582).  Though living what most would agree was a devoutly Catholic life, she was one of many questioned as part of the Spanish Inquisition. She also endured great physical hardships in her discalced Carmelite adventures.  She would also be the first woman recognized as a Doctor of the Church.

Nano Nagle:  Honora Nagle, known as Nano, was another child of privilege, though born into the repressive world of Ireland under Protestant English control.  Educated in Paris, she was “a lover of the world, of dress, and of vanity.”  But Nano also abandoned her easy life to establish the first Catholic schools in Ireland – schools that were illegal under British rules designed to suppress Catholicism.

Maura Clark and the Martyrs of El Salvador (d. 1980):  Maura and her three companions, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan died in El Salvador as they lived out their faith in solidarity with the poor. As Ita Ford explained the night before her death, “in El Salvador we know what the fate of the poor signifies: to disappear, to be tortured, to be captive, and to be found dead.” Though branded political activists, as if that explained their assassinations, the women were working in ministry—serving refugees, assisting priests on the run, offering solace in a terrifying world.  They witnessed villages devastated by massacres where security forces barred villagers from burying their dead.  Each had to face her own commitment to the preferential option for the poor and each chose, knowing the risks full well, to remain amongst the vulnerable of a country not their own.

These and so many more men and women served our church, lived our faith, and often began their ministries with no greater gifts or piety than each of us claims. Yes, there are some who were clearly extraordinary from the start, but far more of the most inspiring Catholic saints, prophets and witnesses are merely average human beings trying to be better, and refusing to follow along.