Seeking Saints 

In a recent reflection on the feast of St. Gregory the Great (Sept. 3), Bishop Erik Varden writes about the saintly pope who served as Bishop of Rome from 590-605 A.D. One of the pope’s many accomplishments was a work entitled the Dialogues, in which he authored biographies of various saints, including a very famous one of St. Benedict of Nursia. Bishop Varden writes: “When Gregory started on this project, southern Europe was in turmoil. Lombard invaders were spreading chaos. Many people (including, it would seem, Gregory himself) assumed the end of the world was near. With crises breaking out all around him, he set to work on the Dialogues.” This was hardly an act of escapism. He believed it was a pastoral necessity. Varden explains: “In order to counter barbarism, [Gregory] began to draw a series of portraits of Christ as He had revealed Himself in the lives of men and women with whom readers could identify.” Gregory wanted people to know that saints are not legendary figures from the “olden days,” but that by our baptism every Christian of every epoch is invited to live a saintly life. We call this the “Universal Call to Holiness.” The lives of the saints help us to see that answering the call is always possible. St. Gregory’s Dialogues helps us to see that answering the call is also necessary if the turmoil and chaos that threatens every age is to be countered and overcome. 

Recently, I have written in this space about two new saints – Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis – who answered the call to holiness in recent times. This week, the Church commemorates two other modern saints – St. Padre Pio (Sept. 23) and St. Vincent de Paul (Sept. 27). Motivated by his intense love for Christ in an age of social upheaval, St. Vincent spent his life working to promote reform in the Church, especially among clergy, and greater solidarity between rich and poor. St. Padre Pio was famous for the extraordinary ways his life revealed the supernatural – the stigmata, the ability to read souls and bilocate, the nightly combat with demons in his cell. But Padre Pio also revealed the supernatural in ordinary ways, through his tireless care for souls, his administration of the sacraments, his preaching, his constant reminders to people to pray, and his concern for the sick and suffering.  

Familiarity with the lives of saints broadens our sense of what is possible with the Lord, so we don’t resign ourselves to only what we think is possible through secular and material means. Varden writes: “In our day, Lombards present no great cause for anxiety. But barbarian forces are nonetheless close at hand: we ascertain this daily. To renew our society we need more than just re-budgeting and larger prisons. We need a new sense of purpose, a new unifying energy; we need men and women whose goodness of life makes us want to be like them. We might follow Gregory’s example and seek out saints of our own time, Christians who have followed Christ in the world as we know it, not in an idealized past. Inspired by their example, strengthened by their prayers, we shall gain courage to walk as they walked. Then, who knows, perhaps we can restore hope to our world, so tired of today, so afraid of tomorrow?” 

posted 9/20/25