Uncomfortable saints
Sometimes the struggles of holy men and women can encourage us to face our own difficulties
All the saints should make us uncomfortable when we compare our all-too-human laziness with their heroic efforts at prayer, penance, and the service of others. But three feast days in August commemorate holy women and men who particularly suffered severe pain.
On August 8, the Australian saint Mary MacKillop (1842-1909) is celebrated by the Church. Few founders of religious orders have been so painfully tried by Church leaders and other Catholics as was Mary.
As the founder of a growing order of teaching nuns, Mary discovered that a priest who was serving at one of her schools was sexually abusing children. She immediately forced him to leave the school and reported him to Church authorities. The priest’s superiors sent him back to his native Ireland but did not reveal the reason for his dismissal.
Another priest apparently misunderstood Mary’s actions and assumed she had persecuted a good man. He decided to take revenge by accusing her of various crimes to her bishop. The bishop believed his vicious gossip and excommunicated her.
For a year Mary was deprived of the sacraments of the Church and was spurned by faithful Catholics. She bore this trial with profound patience and trust in God. Finally, her bishop repented and lifted the excommunication. That was only one of the many burdens Saint Mary MacKillop carried as the founder of a religious order.
In 1840, Muslim Turks invaded the city of Otranto, Italy. They captured the city’s residents and ordered all 813 men of the town to convert to Islam or die.
While the men waited in prison, one of the citizens, Antonio Primaldo, spoke up and encouraged the other men to choose to die for Christ, as He had died for them. When they were brought before the Turkish army, all 813 men refused to convert. The Turks brutally executed them, beheading Primaldo first.
Their martyrdoms are commemorated on August 14, and most of their relics are still found in the city's cathedral, a rather grim-looking display of human skulls and bones behind the altar.
However, since this was the last, and failed, attempt by the Turks to conquer Italy, these brave men are often credited with saving all of Christian Europe. Their faithfulness to God was not in vain.
Blessed Victoire Rasoamanarivo (1848-1894) was born in Madagascar. Although she was raised in the country’s native religion, she was educated in a Catholic school. Inspired by the faith of the nuns who taught her, she decided to become a Catholic. Her parents strongly opposed this decision and threatened her, but she managed to persevere, and she entered the Church as a teenager.
Later, her family arranged for her to marry a military officer. It did not take long for Victoire to realize that her new husband was a womanizer, a heavy drinker, and a physically violent man. For twenty-four years, Victoire prayed, prayed, and prayed some more for her husband. Finally he repented, asked for her forgiveness, and accepted baptism. He died soon afterward.
Victoire’s strong faith and perseverance also helped her during a period of political turmoil in Madagascar. In 1883, the government forced foreigners to leave the country and closed Catholic schools and churches. But Victoire would show up at church every morning, shame the guards into letting people enter the building, and then lead other Catholics in prayer.
When Catholic priests and religious, along with other foreigners, were allowed to return to the country two years later, they found their congregations ready to welcome them, all because of heroic women like Blessed Victoire Rasoamanarivo. She is remembered by the Church on August 21.
Whatever our own personal difficulties may be—opposition within the Church, threats from those who don’t believe in God, or hostility from family members—we can place our struggles in God’s hands and trust Him to supply us with the persevering faith that we need.