Summer
with the
Saints
By JONATHAN P. CANNING
I
spent the summer in the company of the holy dead.
I counted 63 alone in the exhibition
Crossings and
Dwellings: Restored Jesuits, Women Religious, American
Experience, 1814–2014
. Among them were St. Ignatius
of Loyola—founder of the Society of Jesus—and 31
other beatified and canonized Jesuits. St Clare—founder
of the order of Poor Clare—was also present, as were
several early Christian saints, including St. Monica, the
mother of St. Augustine of Hippo, and St Celestine, a
5th-century pope. I say present because, according to
Church doctrine, the whole saint and the full power of
his or her holiness is present even in the smallest, most
fragmentary relic.
Saints are the beneficiaries of Christ’s promise of eternal
life. Having lived, or died, in an exemplary fashion, they
have been rewarded with immediate entry into heaven
and the divine presence. The rest of us must await our
soul’s judgment at Christ’s Second Coming. Living in
God’s presence, saints are able to intercede for the faithful,
both living and dead, and secure blessings and miracles for
them.
Theologians and liturgists speak of the “company” of
saints. The word implies both presence and affinity
between saints and the faithful. The Venerable Bede
recounts that once St. Augustine of Canterbury had
safely established his mission in Kent in 597 AD, Pope
Gregory the Great sent to him “all things in general that
were necessary for the worship and service of the church,
viz., … relics of the holy apostles and martyrs.” Their
presence must have fortified the spirits of the English
evangelists. Similarly, the possession of Jesuit relics must
have bolstered the confidence of the Restored Jesuits as
