St. Christopher, We’re on your Side

At the late general council of the Roman Catholic bishops (Vatican II) there was no tendency at all toward minimizing devotion to the saints. On the contrary, John XXIII had revealed his enthusiastic desire to culminate the proceedings with the canonization of Pope Pius IX, and as it turned out they did culminate with an announcement by Paul VI (received with universal applause) that Pius XII and John XXIII himself should be candidates for this final and irrevocable honor. In the meantime, John and Paul between them added some 32 saints to the calendar, in a series of ceremonies which John had planned to increase the joy of the Council. The only complaints came from Cardinal Suenens of Belgium who wished to see more saints from the non-Latin countries; and following out this idea with his usual literalness of mind, Paul VI has now reformed the Roman Catholic calendar of saints.

In doing this he has been guided by the same principle which has directed his selection of new cardinals. It is at this moment possible, if a new pope is required, for the cardinals to elect a prelate from New Zealand, Madagascar, Detroit, Upper Volta, Ceylon, the Congo, Indonesia, Algiers, Los Angeles, Winnipeg, Edinburgh, Alexandria, Sucre, Guatemala City, Taiwan or one of many, many, many other places where nobody ever expected to find a Roman cardinal. (The next pope will certainly be an Italian, a diplomat from the Curia. Nobody else could begin to cope with the impenetrable tangle of international conflicts which could now arise among the cardinals.) A Frenchman (of course!) was allowed to go over the list of saints commemorated by the universal Church every year— that is, commemorated in Mass and office by every priest who follows the Roman calendar—and rearrange it to his own satisfaction. Accordingly, some 45 or fifty saints from hither and yon have been commended to the attention of the whole Roman Catholic world, for instance, St. Ansgar of Sweden, St. Columban of Ireland, St. Thomas More (who will now virtually replace St. George as the English saint par excellence), the French Jesuits massacred in New York and Canada, the black martyrs of Uganda, the martyrs of Japan (the chief of whom is a Mexican, St. Philip of Jesus), etc. etc.

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Farley Clinton

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At the late general council of the Roman Catholic bishops (Vatican II) there was no tendency at all toward minimizing devotion to the saints. On the contrary, John XXIII had revealed his enthusiastic desire to culminate the proceedings with the canonization of Pope Pius IX, and as it turned out they did culminate with an announcement by Paul VI (received with universal applause) that Pius XII and John XXIII himself should be candidates for this final and irrevocable honor. In the meantime, John and Paul between them added some 32 saints to the calendar, in a series of ceremonies which John had planned to increase the joy of the Council. The only complaints came from Cardinal Suenens of Belgium who wished to see more saints from the non-Latin countries; and following out this idea with his usual literalness of mind, Paul VI has now reformed the Roman Catholic calendar of saints.

In doing this he has been guided by the same principle which has directed his selection of new cardinals. It is at this moment possible, if a new pope is required, for the cardinals to elect a prelate from New Zealand, Madagascar, Detroit, Upper Volta, Ceylon, the Congo, Indonesia, Algiers, Los Angeles, Winnipeg, Edinburgh, Alexandria, Sucre, Guatemala City, Taiwan or one of many, many, many other places where nobody ever expected to find a Roman cardinal. (The next pope will certainly be an Italian, a diplomat from the Curia. Nobody else could begin to cope with the impenetrable tangle of international conflicts which could now arise among the cardinals.) A Frenchman (of course!) was allowed to go over the list of saints commemorated by the universal Church every year— that is, commemorated in Mass and office by every priest who follows the Roman calendar—and rearrange it to his own satisfaction. Accordingly, some 45 or fifty saints from hither and yon have been commended to the attention of the whole Roman Catholic world, for instance, St. Ansgar of Sweden, St. Columban of Ireland, St. Thomas More (who will now virtually replace St. George as the English saint par excellence), the French Jesuits massacred in New York and Canada, the black martyrs of Uganda, the martyrs of Japan (the chief of whom is a Mexican, St. Philip of Jesus), etc. etc.