Christina the Astonishing
One of the many people I ran into at yesterday’s press conference was my friend Chris, who I usually refer to as Christina the Astonishing. Chris and I met when I was serving in my first priestly assignment at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Knoxville. She was a parishioner there and also the president of the Ladies of Charity, a Catholic women’s organization that serves the poor. One day, when she was lamenting that there was no St. Christine for her to emulate I was able to tell her about St. Christina the Astonishing. While I am not suggesting my friend Chris in any way resembles St. Christina the Astonishing and certainly would not suggest modeling one’s life in the pattern of the most amazing parts of this saint’s life, there are some things she can teach us.
St. Christina the Astonishing was born in Belgium in the year 1150. She became an orphan at the age of 15 and in her early 20′s was struck with a seizure so severe that she was presumed dead. During her funeral she is said to have risen from her coffin, flying to the rafters of the church, astonishing those in attendance. She then spoke to them of having been to purgatory and heaven. She explained to the people that she had been given the choice of remaining in heaven or returning in order to suffer and to do penance for the sake of those in purgatory. The accounts from this point on give details of the out of the ordinary things she did for the remainder of her life. She became homeless, climbed and sometimes lived in trees, threw herself into fires and into the cold water of rivers and streams. Many are said to have been terrified by her appearance and believed she might have been possessed by demons. She died in 1224.
When I first happened upon the story of this saint, I wondered why would she have ever been considered holy? Certainly it is an astonishing tale, but there are many people who have done similar things (if you take away the levitating to the ceiling part) and we don’t proclaim them saints, in fact today we usually say they are mentally ill. St. Christina was almost immediately considered a saint at her death by the faithful, similar to current sentiments surrounding Mother Teresa of Calcutta. There were also arguments among the clergy of the time as to whether she was simply a madwoman or someone who was experiencing an uncommonly intense connection to God that resulted in her strange behavior. As I have continued to reflect upon this unique character in the history of our Christian faith, I have struggled to understand what it was that caused the people who knew her to consider her a saint.
Perhaps it is best to look at St. Christina as a person who was both mentally ill and holy. Having recently worked directly with those suffering from mental illness I can attest to quite a bit of strange behavior, some of which could easily be described as demonic (by that I mean the sense in which there is a lack of wholeness). It is also clear to me that these same people are capable of possessing heroic virtue or being caught up in the most deadly of sins, just like all the rest of us. The main lesson I learned from St. Christina is that holiness can transcend sickness, be it physical or mental in nature. Whether or not she was crazy is not really the point. She understood and explained to others that her behaviors were a choice she had made to do penance for and with those who were suffering as a result of sin. Rather than condemn sinners, she chose to unite herself with them and in the process led others toward conversion. Perhaps most of all she is a reminder to me that all people are made in the image and likeness of God and should therefore be treated with dignity and respect.
St. Christina, pray for us!
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