Saint Philomena

When Saints like Saint Philomena were removed from the Church Calendar after Vatican Council II, many were hurt, thinking their favorite Saint had been deposed at best, and discredited at worst. I remember our son Richard Christopher (his baptismal name) being upset, when Saint Christopher was taken off the Calendar. Erroneously some said that it was because there was so little evidence these Saints had lived. Actually the telling and retelling of the stories of these Saints, down through the centuries, is reminiscent of the writers of the Old Testament.

With the Old Testament there is little earthly remains giving us clear evidence of the prophets’ existence. We know of them solely through those who passed down their words and the events in their lives. Through this ongoing tradition, recalling the lives of the Prophets, one generation after the other heard the Word of God, their lives were influenced, and in turn the lives of the people of God to follow, down through the ages.

And what was God’s plan? To teach, nourish, affirm and fortify generation after generation that there is a God and He has been faithful to them through thick and thin, in good times and bad, when they have been faithful and unfaithful, an unconditional loving Father Who never gave up on His conditional oftentimes unloving children.

But to alleviate any fears and correct any misconceptions, the Role Call of Pontiffs, beginning with Pope Gregory XVI, then Leo XII, Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius X, and Benedict XV, using the supreme authority passed down to them from Jesus, have declared, down through the centuries: Philomena a Saint, Virgin and Martyr.

Since 1976, we have been going to Italy and Rome at least once and at most four times each year. Our first glimpse of the cupola of St. Peter’s Basilica, looming over the trees of the Papal Gardens, never ceases to bring tears to our eyes; we are Home! This is our country, our Catholic country! Here brothers and sisters of different nations, cultures, color and creeds gather at the Home of the Apostles, that unbroken succession of Vicars of Christ, beginning with Peter. There are no divisions, no differences; we are one under the banner of the Keys of Peter.

Looking above, at the front of St. Peter’s, you cannot help swallowing hard, to keep from bawling; your eyes go from Jesus in the middle, to the Apostles who are flanking Him on both sides. All you can think is, No one on earth but we Catholics can boast this heritage, 2000 years of unbroken succession! You hear the words in Church, We are the Church founded by Jesus Christ, on the Rock of Peter, but it is not till you come face to face with the reality, you look at St. Peter’s Basilica, standing regally in the center of Vatican City, and then "This is my Church, the Church which flowed from the Heart of Jesus on the Cross," are no longer words, but life! The words suddenly have flesh and bones, those of the living who come here to worship and pay respect to Jesus Christ and all His Popes, starting with St. Peter His first Pope, and of the dead who died loving and living for the Church, we too often take for granted.

You stand in the middle of the piazza of St. Peter’s; you look about and think, this is my true home on earth. Here in the midst of pagan Rome majestically sits the capitol of the universal nation of over one billion faithful who call her their earthly home; she is the Vatican, and she is awesome!

(1) "And I say to thee: that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church." (2) "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (3) "And I will give thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven." (4) "And whatsoever thou shall bind on earth, it shall be bound in Heaven; and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven." from Treasures of the Church by Bob and Penny Lord

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