Poverty is a remover of cares and the mother of holiness

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Rob2

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St Meriadoc

Celebrated on June 7th

He was a Bishop , and is patron of of Cambourne , a beautiful place in Cornwall.

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St Meriadoc (also known as Meriasek) was probably a Welshman who founded at least one church in Cornwall and several churches and monasteries in Brittany in the 4th century. He eventually became a bishop there and his feast is celebrated in several Breton dioceses to this day.

The rare Cornish miracle play: Beunans Meriasek, tells his life story. St Meriadoc was once very rich but he gave away all his possessions - much to the consternation of his relatives - and devoted his life to prayer and caring for the sick and needy.

‘Poverty is a remover of cares and the mother of holiness,’ he said.

His bell is still in the church at Stival in Brittany. Placed on the heads of migraine sufferers or the deaf, it is said to heal them. There is also a holy well at Stival dedicated to the saint.
(from ICN)
 
I’ve been poor and I’ve been not poor.

Not poor is better
 
Rob2 said:
‘Poverty is a remover of cares and the mother of holiness,’ he said.
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This is not an absolute, though.
It may be true for one such a he who was a bishop with no family reponsibilities.
But even he couldn’t feed or help others without the donations of others, who, if they were in poverty, might barely scrape theough and be unable to give those necessary donations if the bishop himself was in poverty.
Poverty can bring a great many serious cares especially if there is a family and children.
Poverty can result in lack of needed medical care and a great many other stresses and problems for families. It can break people, not because they are not good, not because they don’t try their best. When a mother is struggling to buy books, clothes, shoes, books for her children, for schoolshe is most certainly not wthout cares. And I speak as many could, from many hard years, and observation of others.Parents who are in desperate straits to provide neccessities, and I’m not talking about luxuries, are most certainly not without care.
 
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True, :slightly_smiling_face:but the statement the bishop made is specifically about poverty.
As such, it can be hurtful for those who are responsible for more than themselves and are not protected by reiigious community and parochial support.

Not that all religious have been.
The nuns at the primary school I went to, I discovered later, often had to go without breakfast, having only one meal a day. to then teach classes up to 90 children on an empty stomach. No wonder at least one of them succumbed to a nervous breakdown and used to sometimes break down and cry in class.

I could never romanticise poverty, as it carries too much pain for too many people. Over the 11 years I’ve been a CAF member, there have been many devastating prayer requests and family situations because of poverty, and one aches to materially help, and I’ve wished I had the means to help, but don’t. Kind words and prayers are one thing but people need practical help that is often not forthcoming, because those who would, are struggling to survive themselves.

Avoid unnecessary luxuries, yes, but poverty does not necessarily remove care nor lead to holiness, more likely, chronic stress among people trying to make a living and dealing with the difficulties of famiy life, or the genuine hardships of many single and older people.

The statement the bisbop made was doubtless true for him, but it doesn’t have universal application.
God bless him for the holiness and freedom from worry he attained.🙂
 
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I doubt if he’s talking about the destitution that people experience, the deprivation of necessities.
More likely he is talking about Gospel poverty, the detachment from material things.

Destitution is not a blessing, it’s injustice.
 
I think the OP means simplicity and not poverty as we understand it.
 
To clarify any misunderstandings in my OP .

It says that St Meriadoc "devoted his life to prayer and caring for the sick and needy "

Among those “needy” I think we can assume fairly that it included the need inflicted on the poor by conditions of poverty .

Departed Christians are often dehumanized when they are placed on the pedestal of canonization .

Taken within context , the poverty spoken about by St Meriadoc can only be evangelical poverty , the poverty which is a charism with its source in God , and not the poverty of wretched earthly conditions which it is a duty of Christians to eradicate .

May God bless all who strive to eradicate unjust poverty , a duty which ought to be embraced by all Christians .

No human ought to live in squalor or be demeaned by a lack of the world’s goods which God creates for all .
 
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We need to remember that often when saints talk about “poverty” they are speaking of spiritual poverty in terms of detachment, and they are generally speaking about it for their own selves or their own religious community. They are not telling some impoverished mother or child that she should thank God she’s poor.

Speaking from my own experience, I can understand why a saint who had been rich would find it freeing to give up his “stuff” and probably take joy in seeing poor children eating food that was provided by the sale of his fine possessions. I can see where hearing some rich guy express joy about poverty might be irksome to actual poor people who did not have a choice. I didn’t grow up poor, but my family did not have money either and there were many times I was made aware we couldn’t afford stuff or we were on a budget, and I myself found people who were just a step or two up the economic ladder to be irksome when they went all social justice about material things. We need to appreciate these statements in context and also remember that there were other saints who lived a less austere lifestyle and/ or realized better the negatives of poverty. For example, St Elizabeth Seton who was trying to raise her big family of bio and adopted children as a widow, while starting a religious order and living in a broken down house in the woods in an area that got cold in winter and had a lot of anti-Catholics around. Or St John Bosco who worked to prepare boys for careers so they could rise above poverty and the streets.

One thing that always gets me is, somebody has to want the wealthy goods and pay money for them, or exchange food for them, so the poor can benefit. If nobody wanted rich things then they would not benefit the poor any more than rocks in the street. I’m still pondering that one.
 
Rob2 said:
It says that St Meriadoc "devoted his life to prayer and caring for the sick and needy "

Among those “needy” I think we can assume fairly that it included the need inflicted on the poor by conditions of poverty .
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Yes, essentially the saints like Meriadoc and St John the Almoner and others who had been rich but made themselves poor were following the same path as St Francis of Assisi - caring for others and being the social safety nets of their time, which had no welfare system.
 
One way to think of it is the powerless vs. the powerful. Those who have the means to manipulate others, and who do it would be leading a life apart from Christ. Versus those who Trust in God to provide for their needs/desires.

Gospel poverty has nothing to do with social programs.
 
Thank you dear Bear 😊✝️ Yes, I’m aware of the distinction, having studied both Franciscan and Carmelite spirituality but that perspective wasn’t originally stated or expanded upon for those who haven’t done that kind of spiritual reading, and I know many who haven’t. I reacted with defensiveness for the truly poor, as the heading statement needed to be clarified, not simply presented as a statement, not for everyone, but certainly for some, at the risk of seeming out of touch with life-reality.

As a bald statement, the heading and the statement would feel out of touch for people struggling with the hard realties of life. To those living in actual poverty with no recourse, no backup, chance of anything but continuing poverty, could ever feel hurt by an unexplained statement that poverty takes away cares, when in fact, cares proliferate in poverty,

The idea of detachment is ideal, but most people living in poverty are not able to feel detached from the worry and anxiety that is real and quite valid and for which there may seldom or never, help from anywhere Or from anyone. And they are not less worthy for the anguish they feel. Having seen such desperation again and again in my life, I know the helplessness of being able to help desperately needful people known to me, or dear to me … and on their behalf, a heading to a thread such as this might only feel a cruel misunderstanding of their cold reality, instead of a religious philosophy.

That isn’t to express any criticism of the OP whom I respect and who presented it from an instinctively pure religious standpoint as someone deeply involved in saintly spirituality, which he shares generously and frequently. He brings to us a rich variety of Saints whom Mother Church holds up to us as examples of courage, faith, and holiness.

However the devoted.spiritual and the uncompromising realist in me have been doing battle since I was a young child. I have a towering yet largely helpless desire to help others. Mostly I can only pray for them and murmur kind supportive words. I feel too much pain for others, for many and varied reasons.
 
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See, I’m not naturally empathetic that way. I have more of an issue with material goods. I became overly thingy partly because of my nature and partly because of my upbringing. Getting constantly told we don’t have money for this or that motivates a kid to think in terms of “when I grow up I won’t make whatever mistakes mom and dad did that they don’t have enough money, I will MAKE SURE I have enough money.”

So these saints who chucked it all and went to live in a hut on the one hand strike me as the rich kids who “went slumming” knowing their rich friends and relatives would not let them starve and that everybody back home would be well cared for. On the other hand I find them fascinating. Some were motivated from extreme empathy like Francis, others like St Katherine Drexel and St John the Almoner seem to have been motivated by seeing loved ones die and realizing money meant nothing anymore. I’m in the latter group now and feeling a lot of ambivalence.
 
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It’s a complicated topic!
Sometimes when I talk to well-off people that I know, I hear an insensitivity that I call “the cluelessness of the rich”. They are so comfortable, and used to some luxuries, that they really don’t know what poor people live with (I’m sure I don’t either, to a great degree). Sometimes I look around though, at the pricey subdivisions, and I know Catholics who live in them, and I wonder what they will have to say at judgment? And what will I say?
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”
 
If you aren’t naturally strongly empathetic then it is even more admirable that you give so much of yourself in CAF forums.

You are invariably the most generous CAF member as User statistics confirm, always seeking to enlighten and support. Others throughout the forum categories.
That isn’t the behaviour of one who is attached to things, but evidence of a true generous spirit.

I may have too much empathy, but it isn’t feeling that matters.
It is the choices, and therefore empathy in abundance, which makes it easier to make the choice and the will to do good, is actually less admirable in charity than is a pure choice to do good which you demonstrate.
 
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I’m pretty much a cross between Grumpy Cat, Daria, and St Jerome when it comes to impatience with people.

Praying (which I should be doing more of) and chatting with people via media are two things I can do, so I do it. Before the Internet was invented, I was a radio DJ for a few years. I was fascinated by communication with relative strangers via a technology channel and the features it offered that weren’t there in normal communication. The same is true of Internet fora.
 
Here is a prayer from ‘Bewnans Meryasek’ in Cornish

Gallos ha confort an Tas
re bo genen pup termyn;
Yesu, an Map, lun a ras,
socor ny, mo ha myttyn;
An Spyrys Sans benygys
y ras genen may kyffyn;
Marya, Mam ha Gwerghes,
dhe vercy Dew pys ragon.

Straight English translation:

The power and comfort of the Father
be always with us;
Jesus, the Son, full of grace,
aid us night and day;
The Blessed Holy Spirit
its grace to us supply;
Mary, Mother and Virgin,
for God’s mercy pray for us.

In the 1970’s when Graham Leonard (later Monsignor Graham Leonard) was Anglican Bishop of Truro he authorised for use in his Diocese some portions of the BCP and other bits and pieces in Cornish. The above prayer in its Cornish version is used as a final antiphon at Compline.

Here is St Meriodocus in Truro Cathedral:
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I see the GrumpyCat and St Jerome reference in a different way than the obvious,

(except obvious in the sense that St Jerome is in fact a canonised Saint, having repeatedly made the effort to overcome his difficulty to easily tolerate foolishness and excess of human contact.)

Your post has many layers, to my mind,
and leaves me with a higher admiration and respect for you than you are likely to suspect. God bless you profoundly always
 
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