Saints for Europe

Now that Malta is about to join the European Union, we should reflect in depth on the various appeals of Pope John Paul II during his two pastoral visits to our islands: to be evangelisers of a new Europe. To give a new soul to Europe is both a privilege and a responsibility. A really tough challenge in Malta's mission.

In reality, as the Church in Europe and in Malta makes its pilgrim way through history, all the faithful must be constantly purified and renewed. From time to time we should look again at that remarkable passage in Evangelii Nuntiandi of Pope Paul VI in 1975:

"The world is calling for evangelisers to speak to it of a God whom the evangelists themselves should know and be familiar with as if they could see the invisible" (N. 76). With the eyes of faith one has to look beyond the visible things that we can see to contemplate the invisible ones that we cannot, as St Paul says in his Letter to the Romans.

Ten years later, Pope John Paul II said that we need heralds of the gospel who "are expert in humanity, who know the depths of the human heart, who can share the joys and hopes, the agonies and distress of people today, but are at the same time contemplatives who have fallen in love with God". So much food for thought.

It is in this sense that the Popes have nominated six saints for Europe. Towards the end of 1999 Europe gained three new patron saints, all of them women, to venerate alongside its existing patrons - St Benedict for Western Europe and Saints Cyril and Methodius for Eastern Europe.

The three chosen by John Paul II are St Bridget of Sweden, a 14th century nun; her contemporary Catherine of Siena, who joined the Dominicans; and Edith Stein, the Jewish-born Carmelite who died in Auschwitz.

It is opportune to note that the Pope's decision to include St Edith had antagonised Jewish observers. They also deplored her canonisation in 1998 on the grounds that she perished because of her racial origin, and not because of her faith. The Pope's decision to nominate her patroness of Europe was described as "provocative and worrying" by the Board of Deputies of British Jews in London.

But his other two choices are uncontroversial. St Bridget of Sweden raised eight children before founding a sisterhood after the death of her husband: she later travelled around Europe reforming monasteries and promoting Christian unity. She died in Italy in 1373 and was canonised 18 years later.

St Catherine of Siena has also been renowned for her visions and her ministry to the sick. She died in 1380, having helped secure the return of the Popes to Rome after their exile in Avignon, and was canonised in 1461. It is worth noting that she has been patroness of Italy since 1939.

Commending his choices at the start of the Synod of European Bishops, John Paul II said the examples of these three women should give people across the Continent "an invitation to hope". And hope is always a great virtue and a rich incentive.

No doubt these six patron saints of Europe are a great inspiration to Maltese and Gozitans to become authentic evangelisers of Europe. Great saints help us all to become more deeply spiritual. We cannot evangelise unless we understand that prayer is a priority for all of us. Perhaps the first challenge is to find how to preach the gospel to those who seem to have forgotten God, which is mainly a phenomenon of the Western world. Why not bring God back to them?