One of the most unique elements of being Catholic is the variety among the communion of saints, where one can find a potential intercessor and ally for just about any malady or situation in life.
As of this writing, the world is keeping vigil and offering prayers for the pope during his pulmonary issues, and so many have turned to Saint Bernardino of Siena for support in these worrisome times. That is because this underappreciated and austere 15th century saint is considered the patron saint of those with chest or lung issues.
Bernardino lived just before the Age of Exploration. The saint’s experience ministering to those infected with the plague ravishing Europe in these decades eventually led him to a vocation with the Franciscans, and to his status as the saint connected with miracles of the thorax. His preaching became so renowned that he was often called the Apostle to Italy, and is today among the most revered patrons of that country, along with a Californian diocese in our own.
Perhaps the devotion most associated with Bernardino is that of the Holy Name of Jesus. He exhorted believers to inscribe the letters IHS in prominent places – to draw attention to the first three letters of “Jesus” in Greek and what developed into an acronym for “Iesus Hominum Salvator,” or “Jesus the Savior of Humanity,” in Latin. He often preached while displaying a plaque with a monogram of these letters etched on it in the middle of a radiating sun so as to cultivate love and respect for the Name that towers above all other names. A proliferation of art in various mediums shows him preaching to throngs from makeshift pulpits in churches and town squares throughout the region. He’s also often depicted with three bishop miters at his feet, as he refused the more sedentary title on three different occasions, instead choosing the life of an itinerant preacher. Rome’s famed basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli has a stunningly beautiful cycle of frescoes depicting his missionary life and death.
If there is one thing that Saint Bernardino and Pope Francis agree on, it is the posture of the believing Church as a community pointing not toward itself, but to the most sacred name of the savior of a fallen and badly warped creation, and thus one in need of saving at all. While billions of Catholics around the world collectively hold their breaths as they pray for Pope Francis, we can turn toward the Tuscan saint for inspiration to inflame our beating hearts with passion for service to God and each other, as members of the same family under our Holy Father.
The very word “inspiration” reminds us that from that first Pentecost, our discipleship is expansive, effectual and enlivened by the very breath of the divine. May the same God continue to give us and the pope the unmerited blessing to swell our lungs constantly with his praise.
For as the Psalmist says: “If you hide your face from them, they shall be dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.” (Ps. 104:29) It is not then only the pontiff who lives today in a state of radical dependency on the Lord; perhaps he simply realizes it more than most.
An alumnus of Camden Catholic High School, Cherry Hill, Michael M. Canaris, Ph.D., teaches at Loyola University, Chicago.
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
