Contrary to popular
opinion, St. Christopher is still a saint
by Father Saunders
St. Christopher is still a saint. Tradition
holds that he died at Lycia on the southern coast of Asia Minor about the year
251. Various legends surround his life. The most popular is that he was a
rather ugly, giant man, born to a heathen king who was married to a Christian,
who had prayed to the Blessed Mother for a child. Originally named "Offerus," he
carried people across the river for his livelihood. (Another source stated that
he was named "Reprobus" prior to his baptism, and then changed his
name.)
He converted from paganism through the teaching of a hermit, named
"Babylas." Christopher believed that our Lord was the most powerful
of all, more powerful than any man and one whom even Satan feared.
Again according to legend, one day one of his passengers to cross
the river was a small child. As they proceeded, the child kept growing heavier;
and Christopher feared that they would drown. The child then revealed Himself
as Jesus, and the heaviness was due to the weight of the world that He carried
on His shoulders.
According to the Roman
Martyrology, he suffered martyrdom during the persecution of Emperor Decius
by being shot with arrows after surviving burning.
The name Christopher means "Christ bearer." He
is the patron saint of travelers, especially those driving cars. His
popularity increased during the Middle Ages. However, evidence attests to
widespread devotion even prior to this time: St. Remigius of Rheims was buried
in 532 in a church dedicated to St. Christopher; Pope St. Gregory the Great (d.
604) mentioned in his letters a monastery dedicated to this saint; and the
Mozarabic Breviary and Missal of St. Isidore of Seville (d. 636) has a special
office dedicated to him.
St. Christopher is particularly venerated in Southern Germany,
Austria and Northern Italy (which was part of the Austrian Empire until
after World War I), because he is one, of the "Fourteen Holy Helpers,"
a group of saints invoked as early as the 12th century in these areas and who
are honored on Aug. 8: St. Denis of Paris (headache and rabies), St. Erasmus or
Elmo (colic and cramp), St. Blaise (throat ailments), St. Barbara (lightning,
fire, explosion, and sudden and unprepared death), St. Margaret (possession and
pregnancy), St. Catherine of Alexandria (philosophers and students, and
wheelwrights), St. George (protector of soldiers), Sts. Achatius and Eustace
(hunters), St. Pantaleon (tuberculosis), St. Giles (epilepsy, insanity and
sterility), St. Cyriac (demonic possession), St. Vitus (epilepsy) and St.
Christopher (travelers). The German Dominicans promoted this veneration,
particularly at the Church of St. Blaise in Regensburg (c. 1320).
Moreover, medals of St. Christopher and car medallions or
pins are still manufactured and used by the faithful. St. Christopher's feast
day is still July 25, and the proper of the Mass in his honor is found in the
1962 edition of the Roman Missal still authorized for the Tridentine Mass.
The confusion over whether St. Christopher is still a saint arose
when Pope Paul VI revised the Liturgical Calendar, which includes the feast
days of saints that are commemorated at Mass. Due to the proliferation of the
number of feast days over the centuries, the Second Vatican Council in its
"Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy" proposed, "Lest the feasts
of the saints should take precedence over the feasts which commemorate the very
mysteries of salvation, many of them should be left to be celebrated by a
particular Church, or nation, or family of religious. Only those should be
extended to the universal Church which commemorate saints who are truly of
universal importance" (No. 111). With this in mind, a special commission — Consilium — examined the calendar and removed
those saints whose historical base was more grounded on tradition than provable
fact, changed the feast days to coincide with the anniversary of a saint's
death or martyrdom whenever possible, and added saints that were recently
canonized and had universal Church appeal. Moreover, local conferences of
bishops could add to the universal calendar those saints important to the
faithful in their own country. In no way did the Church "de-canonize"
St. Christopher or anyone else, despite the lack of historical evidence
surrounding their lives. St. Christopher is still worthy of our devotion and
prayers, and each of us should be mindful that he too is called to be a "bearer
of Christ."
Fr. Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Potomac Falls
and a professor of catechetics and theology at Christendom's Notre Dame
Graduate School in Alexandria.
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