Celebrating the personalities who make us who we are...

Well anyone who is into AFL football knows the Saints didn't do any marching in this year for the finals and for that matter neither did the Crows. The saints did make an appearance in the Litany of the Saints here in Adelaide at the Episcopal Ordination of Greg O'Kelly and at times they rate a mention in the Eucharistic Prayer. There have been more saints beatified in more recent years yet their noticeable presence seems somewhat lacking. We still await beatification of Mary McKillop as our first Australian saint.

On birthdays and Christmases and all of those family celebrations we have exchanged stories and memories of our times together, of growing up and of members of the family who had died. In this way the relatives were remembered and the story of the family grew and the young members learned their story, their roots. Naturally some of the stories became embellished and characters were enlarged or diminished as the stories about them were passed on and told anew. These stories are important, giving a sense of identity and belonging, inspiration and perspective and well some just needed to be forgotten!

In our local council area there are a group of 'Living Legends' acclaimed each year. These are local people who are making an outstanding contribution to the community through their work, study, generosity, vision. They are living icons of good citizenship, modeling good values and inspiring others to reach for their fullest potential.

In my growing up in the church I also loved the stories of the saints. These heroes and heroines were also rather larger than life and added different dimensions to the gospels. Here were stories of people trying to live out their faith, trying to make the gospel real in their lives, and responding to their understanding of the call of God in their lives.

I can understand that there is a tension in revering the saints and perhaps being caught up in worship of them in a form of idolatry. But what of the richness of the story of God's revelation through their lives?

	Byzantine Icon of St Thecla

In our Greek Reading Group at present we are translating the Acts of Paul and Thecla. It is an Apocryphal text so won't be found in the canon. Whether legendary or true, Thecla's story has some important insights into the developing Chirstian community in the first and second centuries CE.

For your interest it is a 'ripping yarn' and quite fantastical. Thecla is the heroine and there are a number of women who feature prominently in her story. She comes to faith through hearing Paul and in wanting to join him she breaks convention and finds herself before the courts, sentenced to be burned and thrown to the wild beasts, and she is saved from all the perils through her entreaty to God in prayer. But I won't spoil the story as you might now like to follow it up.

Her itinerancy and asceticism would mark her as a wandering charismatic. Her commitment to chastity appears to be the source of her charismatic power. Awaiting death in prison having publicly confessed her faith would have earned her the authority of a 'confessor' and could cause political conflict with local bishops.

It is likely that this was a story in circulation among women of the first and second centuries and it is written down by a presbyter in Asia Minor in the second half of the second century CE. This presbyter was rebuked by Tertullian and removed from his office.

The story of Thecla was inspirational to women in those early centuries to take up leadership roles in the developing church. In Syria there is today a convent of Thecla with a shrine which is believed to commemorate her grave. Her icon and her story live on as a window to the communion of saints to which we belong. People who in their own time and context respond to the word of God.

The Shrine of St Thecla, Maalula. The village of Maalula is said to be the last place where people still speak Aramaic. Picture and caption from Bob Snow, Macquarie University

The stories of our saints and our 'living legends' need to get a guernsey among the sports heroes and music idols of our time. While I am not particularly moved by relics, I love stories and what they can tell us about the people and their time and God in their lives. We can live as Christ and be inspired by the heroism and courage of our saints.

Rosemary Canavan lives in Adelaide. Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts major in Psychology and two Bachelors degrees in Theology, the most recent an Honours degree in New Testament studies. She has two adult children.

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Rosemary can be contacted at: rosemary@catholica.com.au

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