Lives of the Saints

 Feast Day of St. John of God

 

Who among us has read The Lives of the Saints? I hadn’t. But I recently began reading it daily. Each day is assigned a particular Saint. And at the end of each reading is a “Reflection.”

 

It was written by Fr. Alban Butler (1710-1773), an English Roman Catholic priest. Its original title was The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints and was published in four volumes between 1756–1759. It is a popular and compendious reproduction of the Acta Sanctorum (“Acts of the Saints”), itself a mammoth, 68-volume encyclopedic set that examines the lives of the Christian saints according to each saint’s feast day on the liturgical calendar.

 

Each "volume" of Fr. Butler’s grand opus was thick and unwieldy, containing three months of the liturgical calendar's Saints' lives. I understand that Butler’s original Vol. I also had a copperplate engraving with figures of the Roman devices of torture used, and a 2-page explanation of their use. There is an 1847 edition published in twelve volumes that may be the best and most complete version. Eventually Fr. Butler’s work was condensed and abridged into one volume. The one I have was published in 1955 by Benziger Bros.

 

To the modern mind reading about the lives of the Saints, particularly the martyrs, is a strange experience. Their unimaginable deprivations and sufferings were joyfully accepted—hooks pierced into their sides, thrown into boiling cauldrons of oil, given over to ravenous wild animals, and all manner of abominable tortures. Purity of body and mind, viz., chastity, was of supreme importance, as was the adherence to all the strictures of their Christian Faith. They were certainly more attuned to their souls than to their bodies—amazingly so.

 

When I read these accounts I am transported to another realm: a place that is far, far away from this profane world. It impresses upon me how the world has likely always been a sad, wonderfully wicked place. And I ponder these lives, given up for some greater salvific vision; exemplars of some great mystery that cannot easily be fathomed by our common, heedless selves.

 

It also recalls to mind how, as an early reader, I was drawn to biographies and autobiographies. We learn from the example of others, from others’ lives. Whose lives could be more worthy than those lives of the Saints? (And I wonder how many unknown Saints there have been and that also live among us today.)

 

Only one thing bothers me: considering the corruption that has invaded and subverted the Church of Rome by way of certain "anti-Popes," especially over the past 500 years, how many of those who have been canonized as Saints might actually be charlatans? For example, "anti-Pope" Francis has just paved the way for canonization of "anti-Pope" Paul VI. This is no small cause for concern; one's discernment is always required.

 

In any event, I heartily recommend The Lives of the Saints. Examine each sacred hagiography as a mirror to look at your own life. After all, that is precisely why each life is followed by a "Reflection."