Julius Caesar dead was more powerful than Julius Caesar alive. Similarly, saints are better doctors when dead than while they are alive. They perform miracles that the living are incapable of delivering
Mother Teresa (1910-1997) was canonised in less than 20 years of her death. It had taken almost 500 years for Jean de Arc or Joan of Arc (1412-1431) to attain that stature in 1920. The two women might be as different as chalk from cheese, but had to gain a common qualification posthumously to be certified a saint. They both had to perform ‘miracle healing’ from beyond their graves. This was something they had no expertise during their lifetime. How genuine these were, is a matter of speculation.
Joan, ‘the Maid of Orleans’, was a teenager from north-eastern France, who claimed she had been divinely inspired to drive out the English occupation Army from France during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). But given the religious factionalism of the era, her struggle was not seen purely in national terms. It got enmeshed into clash of intra-Christian sectarian identities. She was burnt by the English as a heretic from Christian faith. But she was reinvented as a symbol of French nationalism in the 19th century. One should have rested there, proclaiming her greatest French heroine of all times. That was indeed the view of the socialist Government of France. It wanted to enshrine her memory as a patriot, a martyr for her nation.
But the Vatican extended a competing claim of sainthood. It wanted to prove Joan as martyr of faith. But she was not martyred by non-Christians. Therefore proof was needed in favour of her posthumous ‘miracles’ so that she might be projected as an intercessor for divine grace. This pushed her into the posthumous role of a ‘miracle healer’.
The Vatican bureaucracy compiled a list of four healing miracles necessary to canonise her. The first was found in form of Sister Therese of Saint Augustine (1737-1787), who lived in Orleans, and allegedly cured of leg ulcers. She was the youngest daughter of French King louise XV. The other incident was Sister Julie Gauthier, of Faverolles, who was allegedly cured of a cancerous ulcer of her left breast. The third was Sister Marie Sagnier, who lived in Frages, was miraculously cured of cancer of the stomach. Joan was Arc of beatified on April 18, 1909. The fourth miracles came in the form of Thérèse Belin in lourdes, in August, 1909.
The French Government, uncomfortable with this sainthood drive, severed diplomatic ties with the Holy See (Vatican Government). Joan was anyway canonized on May 16, 1920 by Pope Benedict XV without the presence of any French representative. The French, however, resumed the times on Vatican’s request after Joan’s sainthood had become a fait accompli. But since then, Saint Joan has not performed any healing miracle.
In 1983, Pope John Paul II reduced the number of miracles needed for sainthood to half. Thus, Mother Teresa became a saint with two miracles. It is true that ‘faith healing’ (real or fake) is performed by some Christians. There are certain Christian pilgrimages associated with healing. But Mother Teresa, like Joan of Arc, had no connection with them during their lifetime. Mother Teresa received the best of modern medical care during her life- time. In December 1991, she lay gravely ill with bacterial pneumonia and heart blockage in a San Diego (California) hospital. But the able doctors revived her; put her back on her feet. The world was praying for her; and so was I in Chandernagore. ‘What are you doing alone in that dark roomIJ’ I remember my maternal uncle asking me. ‘Praying for Mother Teresa’s recovery’, would have been a rather megalomaniac answer, I thought. Therefore, I chose to remain silent.
Mother Teresa ultimately passed in 1997. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003. John Paul II was a ‘Saint Maker’, as some of his predecessors were ‘King Makers’ in medieval Europe. He canonised a record number of 482 saints, besides beatifying 1,327 others during his 26-years reign as Pope from 1978 to 2005.
But why should miracles —99 per cent of them are healing miracles — be integral to the Vatican’s idea of sainthoodIJ I believe this is due to the foundational legacy of Christianity itself. Jesus performed various miracles including healing miracles. He healed lepers, cured blinds and made cripples walk again. He even raised lazarus from the dead. On numerous occasions, Jesus refused to take credit. He said, “Your faith has healed thee.” Faith, according to Christianity, can move mountains.
Gospels were product of an era when medical science was poorly developed amongst the Jews. The triumph of Christianity exercised a depressing influence of Greco-Roman medical science. Human dissections were practically phased out. Raymond lully (1232-1315), the Spanish polymath of the Franciscan order, once deplored that in every Christian monastery, the doctor was invariably a Jew. It appears that Jews were cultivating medical science when Christians were cultivating miracles. It is indeed a miracle of another kind that the Jews, who are 0.21 per cent of humanity, have won almost 28 per cent of the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Pope John Paul II suffered from Parkinson’s disease and painful arthritis for many years. Towards the end he could hardly stand or speak properly. None of the saints he canonised ironically came to his aid. Curing the Pope was the greatest advertisement any Christian ‘faith healer’ would have got. But none of them came forward as well. In 2004, he visited the popular ‘miracle shrine’ in lourdes, France hoping for relief. It was here that Virgin Mary reportedly appeared before St Bernadette in 1858. But the Pope’s visit was of no avail to his health.
Ironically, late Pope John Paul II is himself nearer to canonization. He was beatified on April 27, 2014, by Pope Francis. The Vatican has identified one of the healing miracles of the late Pope. She is Floribeth Mora from Costa Rica, who claims to have been healed from a brain aneurysm through a miracle that is attributed to Pope John Paul II. Julius Caesar dead was more powerful than Julius Caesar alive. Similarly, saints are better doctors when dead than while alive.
(The views expressed here are those of the author)