Proof the ‘first among you,
shall be your servant’
A credible look at the world of the incorruptible Saints.
And, once again, our amazement stemmed from the fact that it was broadcast on the History channel this week in commemoration of All Saints Day.
In our own personal experience dealing with the producers from the History channel on a show about the Shroud, we did not exactly feel that fair and balanced reporting was what they had in mind.
But in the program, “Saints Preserved,” we were surprised to, once again, find the miraculous unencumbered by their standard pick of naysayers and skeptics.
In an overview of the one the most outrageous phenomena in the Church, the subject of the incorruptibles continues to astound.
Is there no better proof of our Lord — the God of Life — to show His approval of one’s time on Earth than by miraculously maintaining that which should have corrupted long ago?
The bodies of the incorruptibles are in various stages, some in such poor condition it would be more respectful not to display them.
Others have been gently waxed to help maintain their preservation.
Then there are those that truly do not fit into the category of “miraculous” because their organs had been removed and embalming techniques used that helped in the preservation of the body. (Of course, the History channel focused on these cases!)
Still others are miraculous for their incredible state of preservation, as if they had been buried a few days ago. Among them is the well-known St. Catherine Laboure, who was shown under the Altar dedicated to Our Lady of the Sun (an apropos title for our Queen).
Here the History channel rightfully pointed out that while the Saint is a true incorruptible, her hands upturned in prayer are made of wax.
What they failed to point out — perhaps due to lack of proper investigation, or to put that slight doubt in people’s minds? — is that there is a reason why the hands are wax. Both the incorruptible hands and heart of the Saint were removed from her body and placed in special reliquaries.
But for us, the best “Saints Preserved” has been long forgotten.
Yet, she proves beyond the proverbial doubt that this can only be the Work of the Lord!
For she died in 1278.
More than seven centuries later, her body — still intact — was subjected to rigorous scientific examination.
Her organs were still inside. Her skin still upon her skeleton. Her nails and hair still in place. Her face still discernible.
Despite the fact that she is a proven incorruptible with seven centuries to her credit, she is a long-forgotten Saint. Next to last in the alphabet of those canonized.
She is Saint Zita.
Born in 1218 in Italy, St. Zita was a servant who was disliked by others because of her holiness. But as miracles attended her in her service, those rejections became embraces.
Before she died in 1278, St. Zita — like Mother Teresa — worked to alleviate the suffering of the poor. She also attended to those in prison.
She spent 48 years as a servant, beginning at the age of 12 until her death.
The Church canonized St. Zita in 1696 and endowed her — as St. Martha — with the title of “Patroness of Servants.”
As we commemorate All Saints Day, we have a tendency to focus on those we know so well, many of them our patrons.
Yet we should take heed of the Lord’s own Words: that He came to serve.
He even warned us that “ … whosoever will be the greater among you, let him be your minister: and he that will be first among you, shall be your servant” Matthew 20:26-28.
The Words of our Lord have been proven through many of His servants.
But perhaps none so much as St. Zita, long forgotten, among the least known and virtually last in the list of those canonized.
She has, however — as proven by her incorruptible body — not been forgotten, nor least known, nor last in the list of Saints as far as our Lord is concerned.
In fact, one might venture to guess that this Servant of the poor is now ministered to in Heaven by those who were once “greater among” her when she lived her life.
There is perhaps one further lesson to be derived from this forgotten incorruptible on
All Saints Day and every day.
As Pope St. Gregory the Great declared, those who sit in the Chair of Peter are nothing more than the “Servant of the Servants of God”!
It would do well for those who would now seek the papacy to invoke the patronage of a true Servant of God, St. Zita.
If they do not invoke her as their patron, may we, as believers, invoke her for not only them, ourselves and loved ones, but for the Church itself.
© 2003 Agnus Dei Presents!
‘Patroness of Servants’ ...
