St Catherine the Philosopher

Got to love today's feast - for a number of reasons.  The first is the wonderful example St Catherine of Alexandria offers to us as we struggle to live in a difficult age, an age which is no longer convinced by the Gospel.  The image of St Catherine debating with the philosophers and showing them that Christianity is worthy of credibility, and does stand philosophically, is a powerful one for our time which is, perhaps, the greatest age of disbelief.  For her efforts she is the patron saint of philosophers and she wasn't even a philosopher herself - there is a real call to humility there for our friends engaged in that discipline.

Another reason we can celebrate today is because this feast was restored by the Venerable Pope John Paul II after some hasty changes following Vatican II suppressed it with the excuse that she probably never existed.  Now I know there are problems with the Acts of her martyrdom, but that is no reason to turf out a saint who has inspired devotion for centuries and where there is a strong tradition of her existence.   I do believe that during the 1960's, 70's and 80's a certain brand of scholarship got the upper hand and a number of Saints were cast aside. 

We all know of poor St Philomena and St Christopher. Interestingly there has been a reversal of sorts with these two also.  A few years after St Philomena was toppled (even though her sanctuary was never dismantled nor devotion there suppressed) an Indian bishop, whose cathedral was dedicated to Philomena and whose cult was strong among his flock, wrote to Pope Paul VI and asked him what the official word was. Pope Paul wrote back and told him to be at peace and to continue the devotions as before.  So what was going on there? Was it a case that on the one hand the Church suppresses the feast and says she never existed, but on the other the Pope encourages the faithful to continue their devotion to her?  Regarding St Christopher, recent historical research has revealed that he did exist - again the legends may not be true, but there was a martyr called Christopher whom the Church honours as a saint in heaven.

A most interesting case is that of St Simon Stock - as a Carmelite this caught my attention.  Doubts were expressed as to whether Simon existed or not.  It was decided that he did not, and so the feast was suppressed.  Once he was gone, there was now a problem with the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel - she did not appear, it was concluded.  When bishops in South America got wind of a possible assault on the feast, they raised the matter with the Pope.  Again he assured them that they could continue to celebrate the feast.  Meanwhile some researchers got to work and eventually compiled enough information to prove that St Simon did indeed exist: this evidence was submitted and the feast was restored.  I wonder if they apologised to St Simon.

Historical research is important, and the Church needs to keep an eye on what is going on.  But she must also be prudent.  A lot of mistakes were made in the crazy years that followed the Second Vatican Council, some have been rectified, and Pope Benedict XVI seems determined to deal with others.  Vatican II was a gift to the Church - it will prepare us for the New Evangelisation, but too many have tried to hijack it and use it to promote their own ends - people inside and outside the Church.  More prudence is needed.

The restoration of St Catherine's feast is a sign that things are changing, that the devotions and traditions of our faith are still relevant in an age when we do embrace new challenges and new expressions of the faith.  We are Catholic, we should never reject what is true and beautiful about our faith be it old or new.  Blessed John Henry Newman is a great model of this.  He was deeply planted in the rich soil of the Church's tradition, and because of that he could veer out on the great adventure of faith, discovering the hidden treasures and the deeper meanings.  His teaching on development of doctrine is based on this.  I'm sure St Catherine would heartily agree.  I wonder - do St Catherine and Blessed John Henry engage in philosophical and theological debates in heaven (with Aquinas as ref)?  If so, who would win - the gentle, sensitive priest and scholar, or the Virgin Martyr?  No contest there - the Virgin Martyrs win hands down every time!