Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose, August 25 is the celebration of the memorial of Saint Louis, King of France. He is the only French king that has been canonized and the city of St. Louis, Missouri, is under his patronage. He was a Secular Franciscan and is one of the heavenly patrons of the Franciscan Third Order. I think that when people are declared saints of the Church, that we so respect this honor that we almost think the saints are above the limits and failings of our human condition. This can put the idea of achieving a holy life in order to one day be a saint, beyond our efforts when in fact, this is to be the goal of every Christian. If I want to go to Heaven, then I desire to be a saint. The Church canonizes saints to serve as an example of how we cooperate with the grace of God to achieve holiness. Saints do not escape humanity: they enter fully into what God has created humans to be. They are limited by the time and culture in which they live. They have weaknesses. They have failings. They commit sins. But they know that their strength is in Jesus Christ. Saint Louis lived in the 13th century. He was good to the people that he ruled. He was married, and fathered eleven children. He founded hospitals. He fed beggars at his own table and took care of lepers. He was also very hard on those who were heretics and blasphemers. He participated in the Crusades to protect the holy places in the Middle East so that they would be accessible to Christian pilgrims. He was canonized shortly after his death. He is considered a model Christian monarch. Recently in St. Louis, a statue known as the Apotheosis of St. Louis, located at the entrance of the St. Louis Art Museum, was threatened with destruction by vandals, in a recent wave of wanton destruction of innocent statues. It is only by the efforts of area Catholics that the statue still stands. The motive of this attempted destruction was that Saint Louis was guilty of genocide against the Muslims. Now, in order to determine what belongs to whom, we have to decide at which point of history we are going to look. History seems to favor the latest victor. For example, the Church of the Hagia Sophia was built by Christians and used by them for over a thousand years. But Turkish Muslims just returned it to use as a mosque because they had possession of it most recently. The Cathedral in Cordoba, Spain, was built by the Muslims as a mosque and is now a Christian Church. The Muslims want it back, but the Christians have possession of it. Threatening the statue in St. Louis or tearing down statues of Saint Junipero Serra or Saint Damian of Hawai’i based on a judgment we make today is to ignore the good that was done in spite of human ignorance, weakness, or failings. There is no one who is without sin (except the Blessed Mother and that is through Divine intervention). We are setting ourselves up for failure if we are looking for heroes who are perfect. It is by the grace of God that we weak human beings achieve any good at all. We have to cast ourselves on the mercy of Jesus and ask Him to give us His strength and His transforming love. Then we have the means by which we can become His saints. Saint Louis, King of France. . .pray for us. Msgr. Cox
Apotheosis of St. Louis statue in front of the St. Louis Museum of Art