During the Mass celebrated on an almost daily basis from the chapel of the Archiepiscopal Curia in Floriana during these pandemic times, Archbishop Charles Scicluna mentions two important saints in the Eucharistic prayer: St Roche and St Sebastian. Praying through the intercession of saints forms part of an ancient praxis within the Christian Church.

In his first letter to Timothy, first bishop of Crete, St Paul states: “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, Christ (1 Tim 2: 5)”. It is within this context that the Protestant reformers of the 16th century argued against the need for the intercession of saints, concluding that only Christ can intercede for us before the Father. In fact, they not only argued against it but perceived it as heretical and, therefore, a product of what they termed as ‘popery’ or Roman superstition.

However, a quick look into the last book of the Bible, known in the English-speaking world as the Book of Revelation, and sometimes referred to as the Book of the Apocalypse, reveals that ‘the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.’ (Rev 5: 8).

With the cult of the early martyrs becoming so strong, even preceding in time the very cult of the Virgin Mary, prayerful intercession to the saints became part and parcel of the tradition of the Roman Church, many centuries before the dawn of the Reformation.

Catholicism as such never really had any difficulty in invoking the saints; a proof of this is the Litaniae Sanctorum, or Litany of the Saints, one of the Catholic Church’s oldest and most venerable hymns. It tends to be reserved for really big moments: the ordination of a priest, the consecration of a new church and the start of the papal conclave.

Merely invoking these Christian heroes to our advantage will not by itself dissolve COVID-19 but will help believers both spiritually and psychologically in their fight against this evil

A depiction of the 14 Holy Helpers

With the publication of Jacopo de Voragine’s Legenda Aurea (The Golden Legend) in 1399, intercession of the saints through prayer became more popular. The Middle Ages provided the right milieu for such a flourishing, especially through the collection of relics and other memorabilia related to the saints.

In Germany, the cult of the so-called 14 auxiliary saints found its roots gradually spreading like wildfire all over Europe. These were saints who were invoked for particular distinct needs, bringing to mind the various ‘ministries’ that the Greco-Roman gods of paganism were supposed to administer. This probably was one of the main reasons why the Protestant reformers did not want to have anything to do with them, throwing away the baby with the bath water in the process and abolishing devotion to the Virgin Mary altogether.

St George, whose liturgical commemoration is celebrated on April 23, and who is also patron saint of Portugal, Catalonia in Spain, Russia, Georgia and at least a dozen of towns on the Italian peninsula together with our Maltese islands, was given prominence among these 14 saints and, therefore, was always mentioned first, the others being Acacius, Barbara, Blaise, Christopher, Cyriacus, Catherine of Alexandria, Denis, Erasmus of Formiae, Eustace, Giles, Margaret of Antioch, Pantaleon and Vitus.

Bernardino Luini’s Madonna and Child with Saints Sebastian and Roche (1520)

It was also during the High Middle Ages that St Roche and St Sebastian became patron saints of those who were infected by the plague, thus being invoked by the Archbishop of Malta during Mass as we continue to face what we may consider as the contemporary equivalent of the medieval plague.

Asking the saints for their intercession in a society described by many as post-Christian may sound strange and even weird at worst. It does begin to make sense if we see the saints as those who accompany us in our earthly journey, feeling their presence in our midst and asking them – to ‘stand with us’ in prayer – to use a phrase from Clement of Alexandria’s Miscellanies written in the year 208AD.

Merely invoking these Christian heroes to our advantage will not by itself dissolve COVID-19 but will help believers both spiritually and psychologically in their fight against this evil, endowing them with greater strength and courage. 

Tilman Riemenschneider's Auxiliary Saints

In his letter to the Hebrews, the anonymous author of this canonical book states clearly: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb 12: 1).

Armed with the shield and spear of St George of Lydda will only urge us forward to run ahead and endure until we come out victorious over this menacing dragon of our age, a dragon that has truly devoured so many lives.

To those who would rather not feel alone in asking the intercession of a saint deemed by some as controversial, I can only recommend that they enter in the virtual world of Facebook, type the following words in Maltese − San Ġorġ Martri fl-Arti u l-Kultura – and enjoy the enduring spectacle.