The Heroic Saint
While I did not read all of the stories in the “Saints and Animals Unit,” I read a little over half of them and was able to get a pretty firm grasp of the heroic qualities that the saints in these stories tend to possess. The protagonists in these stories are not exactly of the Odysseus or Achilles variety in terms of having exceptional craftiness or supernatural strength. What they do possess are heroic, positive virtues, and what they lack in strength or cunning is made up for by their courage, kindness, and faith in God and nature.
Looking at the example Saint Kentigern , one can see
that he possesses no qualities of the martial variety, and while he is
exemplary in the use of his mind, it is not his wisdom that he utilizes to
solve the problems he faces in the narrative. When Kentigern finds an unlit fireplace
and is threatened with the possibility of being chided for his carelessness in
letting the fire go out, it is because of his courage and faith that he
overcomes the trial. He places a log in the fireplace and blows upon it, and
while his reasons for this are not explained, it is clear that the boy had
faith that God could bring him a miracle, and his faith is repaid. The same
principle applies even more obviously to the second story of Kentigern, in
which his master’s beloved robin is cruelly killed by the youth’s classmates so
that they could shift the blame to him. It is not knowledge or strength that
allows him to bring forth a miracle and revive the bird, but an earnest prayer,
heart-felt tears of pity, and the faith-driven action of connecting the bird’s
torn head back to his body.
Ailbe, the hero-saint from “The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe,”
also demonstrates these same characteristics. While raised by wolves when he
was young, Ailbe demonstrates none of the fierceness that one might associate
with the animals that reared him. On the contrary, Ailbe’s time with his wolf-mother
and wolf-brothers instilled in him a tenderness that drives him to risk his
life for their sake. After many years of separation from his wolf-mother, Ailbe
reunites with her and bravely protects her against the hunting dogs and hunters
that give her chase. Ailbe cannot hope to fight the pursuers, nor would he want
to, but his kindness and love for his mother compels him to courageously stand
his ground against the chasing hounds. In the end the dogs cannot bring
themselves to harm the bishop, and Ailbe is able to preserve the life of his
mother.
“The Ballad of St. Giles and the Deer” uses a similar
scenario to that of Saint Ailbe’s story, but takes it even further. In the
story, Saint Giles is a lone hermit whose sole companion is a gentle deer. One
day the deer is beset by hunters and, in his desperation to defend his friend,
Giles throws out his arm to protect her, taking a hunter’s arrow in the process.
Moved by Giles’s act of sacrifice, the pagan king who was leading the hunt
takes the saint into the hermit’s own cave and from then on tirelessly sees to
the wounded man’s healing. In the process, Giles is able to speak to the king and
teach him about his faith, and eventually succeed in winning the king’s heart
over to Christianity. Thus Giles’s victory in the story is two-fold. Through
his courage and kindness he protects the life of his beloved deer, and through
his faith he converts the man who rules over him to Christianity.
While I discussed three particular examples, all of the
other stories I read in the unit place importance on the same heroic virtues.
Heroes as defined by these stories are not necessarily men of might or cunning,
but rather people of simple faith, undaunted courage, and genuine kindness. Although in some ways very different from the
heroes one finds in other myths, the heroes in these stories are no less exemplary
in how they demonstrate virtues that all people would be well served in
admiring and imitating.
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| Saint Giles and his deer (Wikipedia Commons) |
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