The Donar Oak, Europe and Boniface
Saint Boniface, bishop and martyr, was hacked to death by a group of idol-worshippers on this day, June 5, 754. His life was one of tireless struggle to convert the Frisians, early inhabitants of Germania, steeped in paganism and idolatry. The famous story of his boldly chopping down the ‘Donar Oak’, which the pagan Frisians held so sacred that any man who harmed the tree would himself die, has become a symbol of Christianity’s dominance over idolatry. Of course, pagans could respond that there is no strict correspondence between violations of the supernatural order and effects in the natural earthly sphere. After all, many modern day pagans, heretics, apostates and even plain old sinners, amongst which last group I most firmly place myself, commit all sorts of outrages against God everyday, yet go about their business as though nothing was awry. We will only see the full justice of God at the end of time, when all history, and all the choices of each and every individual man, are fulfilled.
More to the point, Boniface is hailed as a hero of sanctity, dedicating himself to the cause of Truth, and leading others thereto, regardless of the difficulties and labours. Boniface’s first mission to the pagans was unsuccessful, and it was only after he had received a specific mandate from the Holy Father, along with the name of ‘Boniface’, one who ‘does good’ – his birth name had been Winfrid – that his efforts turned the tide of incipient Germania towards Christianity, culminating in shedding his blood. Our work for God must always bears the most fruit when done under obedience of some sort, manifesting the voluntas Dei through properly constituted authority.
This is not easy, for authority mediated by fallible human creatures often is quite imperfect. But in the end God brings great good from the submission of our intellect and will, what the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, terms the obsequio animi, the assent of our minds. It is only so that we can in the end, in the big picture, with Saint Boniface, as his name implies, fulfill the true ‘good’ that God desires for us and for all.
As one of her primary patrons, all that we know of as ‘Europe’ owes much to Saint Boniface, for without Christianity – and, by that, I mean the full, Catholic sort – which is becoming more attenuated in the hearts, minds, souls and culture of her people, Europe is simply a geographical expression, dotted with some valuable monuments of past glory. That is, before the neo-pagans tear them all down, or, like Hagia Sophia, they are converted into museums that unbelieving schoolchildren will tour, perhaps with some degree of indefinable nostalgia, a ‘future’ that is already largely upon us.
And before we settle into our own complacence, we should keep in our daily minds that preserving that civilization and culture – all that Christ through His Catholic Church given us – is hard work, requiring that we ourselves read, pray, study, learn, and immerse ourselves in all that is true and good, and ensure our children have the same. Even self-proclaimed good Catholics are in proximate danger of losing all of this, subtly and almost imperceptibly, as we allow the school system, the state, the media, to re-paganize ourselves and our children, a whole generation bereft of the classics and the catechism, and immersed in a vague, coddled, environmentalistic syncretism that would have left the Donar Oak standing, and the pagans wallowing in their misery and ignorance. Without the courage and constancy of Boniface and all who came after him, would still be mired in meaningless myths, sacrificing our children to false and bloodthirsty gods…
Wait a minute…
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→
Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→