"Strange Saints"

[Seeking33]

I was reading last night about several of the Saints and people who at least were being considered for sainthood. Some of the accounts of the people I read about were outright weird.

For example, there was one called Catherine the Astonishing, and this woman was strange. They said she used to have “mad fits”. One time they thought she was dead and while they were having her funeral, she lifted out of the coffin and “levitated” to the ceiling. The article also said she was seen levitating often. Hmmm, that gives me the hibbee-jibbees!!!

There was another man who was seen bi-locating. Now, I had never heard this term and had to look it up. It means being physically in two places at the same time. People actually saw him attending Mass and working in the fields at the same time. Ummm, I’m scared.

I did not feel the Lord reading this stuff. I went to bed feeling really creepy and actually had horrible nightmares last night.

The part that I guess did make sense was that most of the saints had horrible, tragic lives and several suffered mental illnesses and were often abused or neglected as children. Satan definitely did his best to destroy them. Quite a contrast with the “prosperity” gospel we hear of today. But, I felt depressed after reading about them…seriously.

Why would it be considered Holy to have the levitating and bi-locating and such? Also, another one that bothers me is the “stigmata”. It just feels evil to me to think about this appearing on someone’s body, especially if it is just randomly appearing on people (such as if the person was not especially devoted to God). Does the church support that these phenomena are from God? It seems from the other side to me. I’m trying to be careful and respectful, but I mean really…

Any opinions on this?

 

[Sir_Knight]

Seeking33:

It means being physically in two places at the same time. People actually saw him attending Mass and working in the fields at the same time. Ummm, I’m scared.

I see knowing scarry about that. He was about to work in order to care for his family but at the same time attend mass. A true blessing to be able to do twice as much good as would normally be possible. Now, having “mad fits”, is another story …

Seeking33:

there was one called Catherine the Astonishing, and this woman was strange. They said she used to have “mad fits”.

… sounds like the woman might have been possessed. Do you have any links to any of these?

 

[Seeking33]

Here is the link to the one that levitated.

catholic-forum.com/saints/saintc80.htm

There were other people who just had horrible, horrible lives and were really abnormal in their existence. Is this how we have to be in order to be a true saint? If we truly, truly become devoted to God and denounce the world is this how we become?

 

[Zooey]

I like Christina the Astonishing! I do think that we need to remember that the stories about her are very old, and likely a bit (shall we say, embellished?). Legend & fact have blended together with the passing of time.
She is the one who says she levitated; but, you know, what she describes is a perfect description of the “near-death experiences” that we hear about today. The person often speaks of “flying”, of “looking back down” at the body. Is it not possible that she told this story, & others took it literally that she flew/levitated, instead that she felt as though she did??
She seems to have been highly respected for her deep faith in & love for Our Lord. It is that which made her become a saint, not a belief in a literal flight to the church ceiling!! She inspires me, by reminding me that we need to love & respect all those who seek to serve God, & not turn away from the eccentric, or even those who seem to be beyond eccentric…
We see these people huddled on the streets of every city & village. Perhaps for them, she is their patron in Heaven…And perhaps, some of them may well be saints too. God grant that we do not forget to recognize them, simply because they do not conform to our ideas of “normal” behaviour!!:twocents:

God bless.

 

[FCEGM]

Seeking33:

I was reading last night about several of the Saints and people who at least were being considered for sainthood. Some of the accounts of the people I read about were outright weird.

For example, there was one called Catherine the Astonishing, and this woman was strange. They said she used to have “mad fits”. One time they thought she was dead and while they were having her funeral, she lifted out of the coffin and “levitated” to the ceiling. The article also said she was seen levitating often. Hmmm, that gives me the hibbee-jibbees!!!

There was another man who was seen bi-locating. Now, I had never heard this term and had to look it up. It means being physically in two places at the same time. People actually saw him attending Mass and working in the fields at the same time. Ummm, I’m scared.

I did not feel the Lord reading this stuff. I went to bed feeling really creepy and actually had horrible nightmares last night.

The part that I guess did make sense was that most of the saints had horrible, tragic lives and several suffered mental illnesses and were often abused or neglected as children. Satan definitely did his best to destroy them. Quite a contrast with the “prosperity” gospel we hear of today. But, I felt depressed after reading about them…seriously.

Why would it be considered Holy to have the levitating and bi-locating and such? Also, another one that bothers me is the “stigmata”. It just feels evil to me to think about this appearing on someone’s body, especially if it is just randomly appearing on people (such as if the person was not especially devoted to God). Does the church support that these phenomena are from God? It seems from the other side to me. I’m trying to be careful and respectful, but I mean really…

Certainly the lives of some of the Saints show a great deal of personal suffering, but your perspective is not theirs. They embraced the Cross of Christ and saw its transforming power in their lives as He used their sufferings to build up divine strength within them. The knew, as St. John of the Cross writes, that “. . .grief, affliction and loneliness. . .are all comparable to knocks and rappings at the door of your soul that it might love more. . …”

As for the acts of levitating or bi-locating and other such physical phenomena as seen in the lives of some Saints, these and other such phenomena are not holy in themselves; it is only seeing how a person manifesting these has lived his life that the Church can gauge whether such extraordinary manifestations were from God or not (Satan can deceive in these). IOW, the Church looks to see if the person demonstrated a high degree of conformity to Christ through the practice of the virtues and union with Him in one’s trials and sufferings. One is not canonized for exhibiting extraordinary physical phenomena but for exhibiting being transformed in Christ in the day-in, day-out living of their lives.

Saints Francis of Assisi and Pio of Pietrelcina are the two most well-known of the true stigmatists; both also bi-located, as did St. Martin de Porres, St. Alphonus Liguori, St. Francis Xavier, St. Anthony of Padua, and St. Joseph of Cupertino (also called “the flying Saint” because of his prodigious levitations). Among other Saints who were seen levitating are St. Teresa of Jesus, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Philp Neri, St. Peter of Alcantara, St. John of the Cross, St. Francis Xavier, St. Paul of the Cross. Generally, it is during ecstasy that levitation can occur; this is a kind of anticipated participation in the agility of a glorified body. (If the Apostle Philip can be “taken away by the Spirit of the Lord”, Acts. 8:39, it shouldn’t be too surprising that such prodigies are known in the lives of God’s Saints.)

All good company to keep. Be not afraid.

 

[puzzleannie]

Seeking33:

I was reading last night about several of the Saints and people who at least were being considered for sainthood. Some of the accounts of the people I read about were outright weird.

Why would it be considered Holy to have the levitating and bi-locating and such? Also, another one that bothers me is the “stigmata”. It just feels evil to me to think about this appearing on someone’s body, especially if it is just randomly appearing on people (such as if the person was not especially devoted to God). ?

these people were declared saints not because of weird behaviors or phenomena associated with them, but because of universally accepted evidence of heroic virtue in their lives. they are canonized many times in spite of, not because of, such things. Without the evidence of virtue, through exhaustive post-mortem investigation of their lives, and attested through post-mortem miracles arising from intercession to them, they would not be declared saints.

As far as the stigmata, this is not a “random” gift. When legitimate (a tiny minority of cases) it is a gift given to a person totally dedicated to Jesus Christ and spiritually united with His suffering. It is certainly not imposed as a punishment. In most such cases, upon investigation, it has proven to be a hoax or self-inflicted injury. Only a handful of persons have been proven stigmatics, and in them, St. Frances, Padre Pio etc. this gift was not the deciding factor in their canonization, but corroborating evidence.

far from being “creepy” the gift of stigmata is the most dramatic sign of identification and union with Christ’s suffering, the foundation of spiritual life and growth, and something all Catholics should aspire to. Most of us will never merit the stigmata, but all of us are called to take up our cross daily, with Christ.

 

[John-the-Seeker]

I did not feel the Lord reading this stuff. I went to bed feeling really creepy and actually had horrible nightmares last night.

Hi,
“Be not afraid!” The lives of the saints are meant to inspire us. To cause us to realize that they had flaws in their make up, as we all do, but God made them, within their will and cooperation, into saints and will do so with us if we will it to be so.
But just as you are no one else but yourself, your walk into sainthood will be just as individual, although maybe similar to another’s, as your own personality is individual. God will not move you too fast or in a way unacceptable to your free will. As He said to one person,“If I were to take you from where you are now, to where I want you to be, all at once, it would drive you crazy.” God made time. God has time. God will take time to move each one of us to where we wish to be in His time, at a rate and in a way agreeable to ourselves. Just ask Him each day and give Him permission to do things to you, for you, in you and through you that will lead you to the highest level of sainthood you can attain." Ask this not for selfish reasons, but so that you will have the graces and blessings needed to share with those that you and God wish for you to help.