As you take up the challenges of this hour, I ask you to remember “the rock from which you were hewn” (Is 51:1). Reflect upon the generous, often heroic, contributions made by past generations of Irish men and women to the Church and to humanity as a whole, and let this provide the impetus for honest self-examination and a committed programme of ecclesial and individual renewal. It is my prayer that, assisted by the intercession of her many saints and purified through penance, the Church in Ireland will overcome the present crisis and become once more a convincing witness to the truth and the goodness of Almighty God, made manifest in his Son Jesus Christ.
On the day of his funeral, we remember the words above of Pope Benedict in his letter to the Church in Ireland in 2010. By remembering our local saints, and their generous and heroic lives, we can be inspired again and again in our own discipleship.
It is appropriate for us to reflect on these words today for it is the feast of St Charles of Mount Argus, a Dutch Passionist priest who spent about 30 years of his life in Dublin, dying here in 1893 at the age of 71. He greatly loved by the people of Dublin, primarily because of his humility and simplicity. He was not a great preacher, but he was extremely gentle in the confessional. Like many of those who excel in the virtue of humility, he received many graces from God, including many graces within his own spiritual life as well as the grace of healing. Each day hundreds of people would flock to the monastery at Mount Argus to receive his blessing and those with means from far away would often send carriages to collect him and bring him to someone who was sick or dying.
The feast of St Charles gives us a good excuse to consider the following important question: Why are there so few recent Irish saints? St Charles is the only canonised saint of modern times (within the last 500 years at least) to have died in Ireland. And he wasn’t even Irish; he was Dutch! When one compares Ireland to other countries with strong Catholic heritage – Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, France, even parts of Germany, we perform very poorly when it comes to canonisations. Of course, it’s not a contest and the numbers themselves don’t really matter. Yet, at another level, the numbers are a kind of barometer. A vibrant Catholic culture will foster holiness and this will, eventually, produce canonised saints.
Within the last two months we have had the formal opening of Fr Willie’s cause, the first time a cause has been opened in Ireland in over a quarter of a century. He is, surely, one of those “rocks” of Irish Catholicism. Please pray for the success of his cause, please pray for miracles for the sick through his intercession, and please consider donating to the Father Willie Doyle Association to support the Cause.
Some people may mistakenly believe that having local saints is an irrelevancy or of low priority. But local saints also give us a closer and more contemporary model of Christian discipleship to follow. The saints all reflect some particular aspect of God. While we should always strive to imitate Christ above all, it can be easier for some people to imitate a saint who was closer to them in time and culture and state of life. Pope Benedict recognised this reality. Speaking on this very theme at the Chrism Mass for Holy Thursday in 2012, Pope Benedict said:
Dear friends, it is clear that configuration to Christ is the precondition and the basis for all renewal. But perhaps at times the figure of Jesus Christ seems too lofty and too great for us to dare to measure ourselves by him. The Lord knows this. So he has provided “translations” on a scale that is more accessible and closer to us. For this same reason, Saint Paul did not hesitate to say to his communities: Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. For his disciples, he was a “translation” of Christ’s manner of life that they could see and identify with. Ever since Paul’s time, history has furnished a constant flow of other such “translations” of Jesus’ way into historical figures.
Scandals and crimes have, sadly, alienated many from the Church. Well, let us then promote models of love and selflessness who encapsulate the beauty of our Faith! Surely we should show people what Catholics are meant to be – we are all called to be saints, so let us show people real men and women who lived in a time and place like our own and whose lives reflect the love of Christ for humanity. Is there a better model for us in Ireland at this point in history than Fr Willie, a priest who died to save others, offering his life in reparation for the sins of priests?