A few of my favorite saints (and blesseds, etc.)…

Heavy Hitters

  • St. Augustine of Hippo - that great patron of wayward academics who, through mysterious workings of grace, turn out alright. (Bonus points for defying publish-or-perish by releasing new work 1600 years post mortem.) Everyone should read his Confessions purely on literary merit. Some close encounters I have had include: Relics at the Cathedral in St. Augustine Flordia (naturally), and encountering a marble stella in a church Ostia Antica commemorating his mom (St. Monica) (which recalls a scene in the Confessions…)

  • St. Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus), OP - looking past his role as patron saint of natural scientists, I increasingly appreciate him as the unofficial patron saint of academics who would rather be writing and studying, but instead are tasked with administrative leadership roles (and do them well in obedience). And also the patron saint of making sure that your students have successful academic careers that eclipse your own. Close encounters: I once accidentally found myself at his tomb in Köln (Sankt Andreas Kirche).

Other favorites

  • St. Charles de Foucauld - his life and death speak to our times: repentent sinner fails in various official religious vocation, devotes himself to Muslim-Christian relations before ecumenicism was cool, and is martyred in obscurity for his efforts. The religious order inspired by his writings (Little Brothers of Jesus) used to have a presence in the Bronx, but has essentially disappeared as an order. I recommend the biography by Antier

  • St. 이승훈 - I admire how 이벽, proceeding from purely Confucian principles, lead a study group to read a bunch of books (no doubt, including ones by Matteo Ricci) and convinced themselves of the logical value of Catholicism, before sending 이승훈 up to China to get baptised and bring back more information. (Amusingly, it is said that they gathered where the Myeongdong Cathedral is located now, and officials raided their gathering suspecting it was a gambling den, only to find a gathering of erudite scholar-gentlemen.) And then how Korean Catholicism essentialy runs on lay-led catechesis and devotional practice in the practical absence of ordained ministry (to the extent that some commentators have stated that “Korea evangelized itself”). More generally the Korean Martyrs; I’ve visited three of the major martyrdom sites in Seoul during my various travels.

  • St. Lawrence (Deacon and Martyr) - should be the patron saint of barbecue.

  • St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, SJ - subject of an eponymous poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins and in my mind, a patron saint of quietly doing your job hidden from the world, but with great effect on those around you.

Not quite saints

  • Matteo Ricci, SJ - “Sure Nacho…I’ll sail to the far end of the earth, learn Chinese, translate Euclid to win over the literatti, and then figure out a way to make Confucian thought compatible with Christianity. (I’ll also turn down any competing offers to become chief Rabbi.) No problem!”

  • Dorothy Day - The Catholic Worker speaks to my appreciation of anarchism, woodcut illustrations, polemical newspapers, Food not Bombs, antiwar activism, and the Lower East Side. Over the years, the influence of John Hugo on her thought has become known to me (and makes sense). I find it fascinating that she is polarizing as “liberal” precisely because of her ultra-orthodoxy: Feed the poor, nonviolence, don’t take government funds, reject the world for the Gospel. Her autobiography, The Long Loneliness is a Confessions of 20th centure Catholicsms (arguably alongside Merton’s Seven Storey Mountain), and worth (re)reading. I have been a good steward by donating to Catholic Worker houses in various cities I have lived over the years (and others where I don’t live, but which send out a good newspaper…I’m looking at you Houston); I’ve been a pharisee by not spending time on the ground with them.

  • Athanasius Kircher, SJ - should be the patron saint of LLMs

  • Brother Lawrence - author of The Practice of the Presence of God a delightful little book full of consolation. Find holiness in your everyday life.