Beatification of Political Figures
The
hagiographies of Catholic saints provide an insightful and useful
blueprint to dissecting the populistic veneration of political
figures when their historiographies get the revisionist treatment.
However, potential Catholic saints are scrutinized on the merits of
their wonders before their canonization as a bona fide Saint. If the
Pontiff is swayed by the empirically fuzzy proof then the dead person
enters an undefined period of beatification. The beatification marks
a cooling off period whereby more “proofs” of exceptional earthly
divinity are gathered and filed away. Once enough evidence has been
amassed the reigning Pope can cast off the beatification and
officially canonize the Saint “in waiting”. A frighteningly
similar methodology is employed by populist movements when they
embark on canonizing a political figure of some historical
distinction. Every school child in America has been taught ad nauseum
about the wonders of George Washington's unflappable boyhood ethics.
The tale of him morally squelched and unable to lie about taking an
axe to his father's cherry tree. That fanciful parable of innate
American ethics embodied in a cultural hero is tantamount to the
unverifiable deeds attributed to Catholic “pre-saints” during
their beatification. Catholic saints are believed to fly about, to
have stigmata's, heal the infirm and occasionally imbue their
clothing with mystical holy powers. Their place of birth and/or death
are transformed by the believers into shrines of devotion. These
shrines are the locale where yearly pilgrimages terminate and relics
are bought and placed to insure the sanctity of the pilgrim and the
shrine. Take for instance the historical ramifications of the wooden
dentures which George Washington wore for the first time on the
battle field at his victory at Valley Forge. Or perhaps more mundane
the jute suit which Ronald Reagan wore on the night he lost his
virginity. These are intrinsically no different from the Catholic
prerequisites to canonization. I will attempt to analogize between a
famous political “pre-saint” and her road to beatification and
the sub rosa attempts to start a beatification process for current
American politicians. In order to make the comparison we first must
define what is a relic entails.
The
word relic found it's widespread usage in the English language during
the early 13th
century. The shift in meaning in the 13th
century lent itself to referring to a particular body part or other
artifact associated with a holy person. Initially the Latin word
reliquiæ was used to refer to mementos of pious men and women. The
root word is linquere meaning to leave or depart which was coupled
with “re-” as a form of “back” giving us reliquiae;
something
endowed to us from a saint.
Of
course, relics come in various degrees of piety and super powers.
Generally speaking there are three categories of relics in ascending
order provide insight into the inherent powers they embody. The
hierarchy of piety corresponds neatly with the particular cultural,
social or political impasse which the relics are employed to help
overcome. Bottom of the totem pole (excuse the pun) are classified as
“third degree” relics which are items or objects which in some
fashion were touched by the saint. Second degree relics are held in
higher esteem because they were those used and or worn by the saint.
Apparently the second degree relics have had more time to absorb the
saints divine vibrations. The holiest of holies in the realm of
relics are also the rarest of relics. First degree relics are the
incarnation of the faith which function as touchstones of that faith
among believers. Examples of first degree relics are slivers of the
true cross, anything from Jesus or any generic body part from saints.
During the early middle ages through the late middle ages in Europe a
whole subversive thieving industry arose (furta
sacra),
to supply the enormous demand for holy relics. The fact that Jesus'
foreskin, The Holy Prepuse, was claimed by as many as 18 different
churches throughout Europe during the middle ages, doesn't negate the
fact that this was a magnificently holy relic rivaled by no other.
Naturally, if the first written documentation of The Holy Prepuse is
of Charlemagne bestowing it upon Pope Leo III, then the currency of
it's innate super power increases exponentially. Although
Charlemagne exemplifies a person having the acumen of realizing the
political value of a relic, he was never canonized. A saint who also
understood the political importance of relics and miracles was Saint
Catherine of Siena.
Curiously
and perhaps ironically extreme piety was one of the few avenues in
which women could garner as much acclaim as men in the political
arena of church affairs. Women were barred from holding posts in the
hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church but little held them back from
veneration as conduits of divine propriety. Catherine of Siena might
be diagnosed today as labile and paranoid schizophrenic but in 14th
century Italy she was viewed as being divinely blessed with visions.
We'll ignore the fact that she perpetually hallucinated because of
her staple diet of Holy Hosts and consecrated wine; taking communion
every single day. Catherine of Siena made the holiest of vows only to
be broken later in adulthood for an even holier vow. At the age of 7
she purportedly took the vow of chastity and abstinence as a result
of her first ecstatic vision she had of Christ. When she had reached
adulthood she upped the ante on her piety and announced that she had
entered into a holy union with Jesus; she wed the Son of God. Bold
and brash as it may seem that singular act erected a bulwark against
criticism from the male dominated Church authorities. Catherine was
on her way to adopting a trifecta of ecclesiastical notoriety when
the rumors of her stigmata accelerated to a fever pitch. Those three
attributes (marriage to Christ, divinely inspired hallucinations and
stigmata) would catapult her into the frays of perhaps the biggest
power struggle to date within the Roman Catholic Church. The Western
schism, which divided the papacy from 1378 through 1417, had two
simultaneous Popes: one in Italy and one in France. The division was
more about political discordance than any profound theological
dispute. Catherine wrote extensively to both Popes, notably Pope
Gregory XI. He was so enamored with her eloquent piety that he
followed her heavenly instructions and returned his administration to
Rome for the remainder of his Papacy. During the rest of her lifetime
Catherine lived in Rome where she, under the protection of Pope Urban
VI, lamented about her failed struggle to end the Schism. She died
in Rome at the age of 33; a number which has immense religious
currency within the Christian faith. My assertion is that the Church
needed her and the people needed her which led to the unconscious
manufacture of an exemplar of extraordinary divinity. It is
irrelevant to apply any scientific litmus test in order to discern
whether or not Catherine of Siena was indeed telling the truth.
Whether she was neurologically, psychologically, or physiologically
“normal” can't negate the perception of her contemporaries and
their necessity to believe.
Catherine
was eventually buried in Rome. A list of miracles and wonders
claiming to have happened there is testament to both her popularity
among the lay members of the Catholic Church and the savvy clergy who
recognized the political potential of her relics. Steadily her
popularity transcended a mere holy man and the Pope was forced to
move her body and it's relics inside the Basilica of Santa Maria
sopra Minerva where most of her body resides today. However, her
body; her relic was a hotly fought over commodity. It appears that
the city of Siena also wanted a piece of the relic action. A macabre
story of furta sacra ensues. A band of thieves at the behest of the
city of Siena crept into the Basilica and exhumed Catherine's body.
The shrewd thieves quickly realized that transporting the entire body
would be a herculean task; the journey remaining undetected would be
to risky. They need to travel less encumbered. The macabre
conclusion arrived at by the thieves was to ignominiously lop off her
head and return the first degree relic to Siena. As soon as
Catherine's skull was placed in a sack the thieves set out on their
trek back to Siena. Of course a hero' tale isn't complete without a
challenge. A challenge which is really a test of the hero's moral
constitution when his confronted with impending failure. Furta Sacra
heroic stories are rife with seemingly contradictory feats of moral
and ethical fortitude. As the hagiography informs us the thieves were
stopped by guards as they were leaving Rome. The guards demanded to
see the contents of the sack whereupon the thieves began to pray to
Catherine for a miracle. When the thieves opened the sack and
revealed the contents to the guards Catherine of Siena had performed
the miracle of disappearance. The guards examined the sack but saw
nothing; Catherine's skull relic had vanished. It wasn't until the
thieves arrived in Siena that Catherine's head reappeared in the
sack. It's clear that the need to have control not only of the
physical relic but also to to be able to dictate the hagiography of
the saint is what gave the relic meaning and it's cultural brevity.
The
same can be said about the burgeoning historiographies of political
figures. The locales of the outhouses Abe Lincoln purportedly visited
or used is of much less importance than the bullet which killed him
or the stovepipe hat her wore. It's the perception and not the
quantifiable evidence which starts the political figure's populistic
beatification. Can we observe the fledgling beatifications of
political figures operating in the current public arena? That is a
question with a very slippery slope. However, let's take a stab at
the 2012 Presidential election candidates and their potential relics.
Eventually Obama's long-form birth certificate will be auctioned off
and probably fall into the hands of the Trump dynasty. Or maybe the
White House establishes a lucrative cottage industry which sells
certified copies of Obama's long form birth certificate. “What
about Romney?”; you might ask. When Romney departs this world for
the distant Mormon planet of Kolob he will bequeath his “magical
underwear” to this mortal planet. We can all imagine the
pandemonium it would unleash as different factions claim sacred
rights to his undergarments. Who will prevail? Michigan, Utah or
Massachusetts? Undoubtedly the Church of Later Day Saints in
collaboration with the future Mitt Romney Institute will fabricate
enough replica undies to supply the burgeoning demand.
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