There was a confirmation service at Sacred Heart in Roseau yesterday. The bishop was there and the church was as crowded as it has been in over a year. Earlier in the week Governor Walz announced a relaxation of restrictions. You don't need to wear a mask if you've been vaccinated.
On last Sunday about 90% of the congregation wore masks. Yesterday it was a less than 50%. Every other pew is blocked off, but there were so many people the six foot distancing was not observed. There were eleven high school juniors confirmed. They came up one by one with their sponsor and the bishop anointed their foreheads with oil as he addressed them by their confirmation saint's name.
The sacrament confers the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord. The qualifications are you have to have been baptized, and you have to be at least seven years old. I was confirmed in seventh grade. My mother said my behavior was improved after confirmation, so there must be something to it.
In later years, church leaders decided a seventh grader couldn't appreciate the gifts they were receiving so confirmation was delayed to junior year of high school. The students go to weekly religious education classes and at the end they must profess they are serious about their faith. One of the fun parts is picking a saint whose name then becomes part of your full name.
In my day we stuck to the main saints, Paul, John, maybe someone would go wild with an Augustine. I chose James, because my sponsor was my cousin Jim Keaney. But the kids nowadays dig a little deeper. I think they want to be original. The church recognizes more than 10,000 saints, so they have plenty to choose from.
I had never heard of several of the saints these confirmands had chosen. Saint Honestus? According to tradition he was a third century nobleman from southern France who went to Spain to preach and was martyred for his troubles. Saint Catherine of Bologna? She lived in the 15th century so we know a lot more about her. She was from a wealthy family and was sent to a nobleman's palace to be a lady-in-waiting to the nobleman's wife. But the nobleman executed his wife for adultery, so at age 13, Catherine entered the convent. She was a writer and a visionary. She met with Jesus, Mary and Joseph and predicted the fall of Constantinople before it happened. She died at age 49 and her body did not decompose. You can still see it in Bologna. She's the patron of artists.
I was particularly intrigued by St. Joseph of Cupertino. St. Joseph was another Italian, from the 17th century. He began having visions as a child which made him an object of scorn among his family and neighbors. He applied at the local monastery, but was rejected because of his lack of education. He said he'd be happy cleaning the stables which he did for the next 15 years, until someone realized his spiritual gifts and he was promoted to priest.
When St. Joseph was praying, he was observed levitating above the floor. This earned him enemies so to prove his seriousness, he ate only two solid meals a week, and sprinkled bitter powders on his food during the last 35 years of his life. At first I flippantly imagined St. Joseph was the patron of IT workers, you know Apple being in Cupertino, but the reality is even better. He's the patron of aviators and astronauts.
Pick a Saint, Any Saint
1 comment:
I remember my confirmation, also in seventh grade. I had moved on to public school in third grade, so I had the weekly classes. Sacrament was still a very powerful word at that point in my life, so I took it seriously.
My confirmation was hobbled because I had eight stitches in the sole of my right foot just a few days before the ceremony. But all went well - I had chosen Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. He has served me well in all my different roles.
He taught me that no human being is a lost cause, only a temporarily lost soul. This is why we have each other.
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