Camillus’ Revolution
Today marks the 228th anniversary of the official beginning of the French Revolution, back in 1789 with the storming of the Bastille prison. Much ado is made of this ‘storming’, even though there were only seven inmates still there. The Marquis de Sade (from whom we derive the term ‘sadism’) had been imprisoned for his licentious books, but was transferred out ten days earlier.
The bloodshed of the Revolution was in many ways a reaction against the tyranny of the ancien regime, which had oppressed the common people, signifying what Saint Thomas states about the over-reach of public law. Some of the causes of the revolutionaries were just, but in the end, their means were most unjust, to put it mildly. Untold thousands, priests, nuns, laymen, put to death in the most horrific of ways. As happens in most such things, the ’cause’ ended up devouring its very protagonists, with Robespierre in the end facing (or is that ‘heading’?) the same guillotine to which he had sent so many.
A sermon I heard this morning mentioned the Revolution, which is partly why I am reflecting upon this historical ‘event’, which helped shape not only modern France, but the modern world. As the priest reminded us, however, the best revolution, really the only one that can fulfill justice, is the one motivated by charity, a revolution within the soul, as was the case most significantly in today’s saint, Camillus de Lellis, a dissolute soldier, a giant of a man, addicted to gambling, who, facing his own illness (a lifelong suppurating leg wound, incurable in his own day), went to the hospital in Rome, and, seeing the deplorable conditions, decided to do something, that is, begin a revolution.
He adopted a disciplined life of prayer and good works, reforming the hospital, caring for the sick, gathering others around him, often in what seemed impossible circumstances that would have made lesser men despair, and began an Order, of Clerks Regular, Ministers of the Infirm, better known as the ‘Camillians’, which still continues now, centuries on, as does the example of charity and sacrifice of this saint of God.
That is the real revolution we need, within our own hearts and souls. If every Catholic lived even minimally as they should, the world would, I dare say, be converted tomorrow. If we strove for the greatness of Camillus, it may well be converted today.
Saint Camillus de Lellis, ora pro nobis!
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→