CV19 #4 Hermit Saints for Isolating and Resolving CV19
Hello,
OK, here we go with CV19 - Corona Virus 4 – As I’ve said, I do not like writing these CV19’s but y’all are opening them so I’ll write on yet another CV19 Topic. Gosh – I will be happy when I have nothing more to add about CV19 and can move along to something like bilocational saints or something else curious, interesting, and fun. BUT FOR NOW, it’s CV19, back-by-popular-demand, we will keep going with CV19 -
Quick CV19 backtracking, we have written blog posts and already covered:
1. The Big Helper Saints, who are actually the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Perpetual Succor (Help) and Our Lady of Prompt Succor (Quick Help) – those are the two we first recommended when all these irritable CV19 issues came along. Maybe we should have added Our Lady Undoer of Knots, Pope Francis I’s favorite Blessed Virgin Mary.
OLUOKnots helps undo knots of strife and discord and worry. Technically, she’s a painting, just like Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Straightening out kinks in our lifelines seems desirable, so, let’s just add Our Lady Undoer of Knots and then we’ll have 3 Big Helper Saints! Done! After that first blog, we presented …
Respiratory Ailment Saints
2. The 2 Saints CV19 Saints for help with breathing and respiratory issues, Saint Blaise and Saint Bernardino of Siena. Saint Blaise is a personal favorite. One of my very best friends, Carol Francolini, has a son, Cary who is into Saint Blaise too and so is Carol’s friend, Ellen Graney Dare! Saint Blaise has a bit of a following. He helped me with that cordotomy surgery so I’m also a forever fan.
We saw images of Saint Blaise in Croatia in Dubrovnik and Lokrum and Mont Negro, where we went with our friend Rob Pumo and his family. ASIDE: After this CV19 thing is over, take a trip to Croatia. A trip Herzigovinia to Medjugorje to climb Medjugorje Hill is phenomenal and worth the trip. The Catholics have not officially given Medjugorje their “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval “ yet. Here’s why:
There’s debate about whether these 6 kids saw the Blessed Virgin Mary on Medjugorje Hill. Some say they did, and some say they didn’t. Cynics say the kids just snuck up there to smoke cigarettes but personally, I think they really saw the BVM. That’s just me though, and I have, like, no authority with Pope Francis, the Holy See, or those Cardinals. I do, however, believe they should move Our Lady of Medjugorje up the totem pole, STAT. Medjugorje was maybe my favorite Pilgrimage trip.
Then, after the breathing saints we went and recommended the patron of science, Saint Albertus Magnus because if we're really going to get over this CV19 thing we're going to need help from some scientists.
CV19 Healing Saints
3. The Healing Saints, Raphael the Arch Angel, Padre Pio who saved a kid who nearly died from swallowing a magic marker cap, so he is kind of the healer for kids with health problems. Plus, we went to his Canonization and we have 3 different versions of his medal, so that’s kind of cool. If you order one, we’ll send one of the others too.
Arch Angel Raphael is just too spectacular to write about now. Just know he is a healer who makes meetings happy, conjures up love and heals, among other things.
We also included Saint Agatha, the patron of nurses, and Saint Luke, the patron of doctors, since both are part of the healing process.
And now ….
The Hermit Saints! Finally!
4. Now we are moving over to the Hermit Saints. For those of you who actually read this stuff I write, you will recall I said to remember the word “solitude” because we would come back to it. And now we have! So, ….
S O L I T U D E
I am a very big fan of solitude. Maybe I was a hermit in another life. Lord knows I wasn’t in the band, “Herman’s Hermits,” back-in-the-day. But I am fond of solitude. It’s quite peaceful! Many of the hermit saints were all very in to hanging around in caves by themselves. Or just being lone wolves in their own ways. I LIKE HERMITS. They don’t really bother anybody. They just hang out and chill. Or, they gather with animals, which I totally get. I like animals more than people sometimes myself!
Hermits - Hey – I wonder if that’s why men have “Man Caves” in their garages or basements. Idk. Probably not because men in “man caves” like being with other manly men in their makeshift man caves. Not too hermit-like, actually. I digress.
Here are two favorite hermit saints. They did not mind spending time alone, and as I said, some of them preferred animals to people, and others just wanted to be secluded from the hustle and bustle of life. It’s a safe bet hermits would not like Tokyo or New York City. Just sayin’. Hermits could handle this CV19 thing, no problem.
One hermit saint I really love is Saint Rosalie. (We do not have her medal justsoyouknow). She’s from Palermo, Italy, which is the capital of Sicily, according to Rob Pumo, who is Italian. Palermo and Sicily are trips very much on the “bucket list.” I’ve got to go see where Saint Rosalie was from. Hopefully they have turned her cave into a basilica. I won’t get my hopes up because of what happened in Avignon, France, but that is a whole 'nother story… (Don’t worry - it will be in the book – I am so NOT getting into all of that today). Briefly though, a teaser: Avignon. Not. A. Fan.
Back to Rosalie. Saint Rosalie became a hermit for an odd reason. Maybe not odd, but certainly pretty unusual. The legend says she was so beautiful she left the town of Palermo and lived in a cave so people would quit staring at her all the time. It’s a little weird but understandable.
I mean, imagine if you were Brad Pitt or Sophia Loren or Marlon Brando or Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Or even Timothee Chalamet (my personal favorite). It would probably get annoying when people constantly told you how attractive and beautiful you were every day. Actually, they say Brad Pitt does not even like his own teeth so he must hate it when people say he has great teeth and a great smile. Maybe that’s not true. Idk.
But Saint Rosalie was a very pretty hermit who lived in a cave in Palermo and that is really all I know about her. Fortunately for me, though, and conversely for you, I grew up in a town that had Saint Rosalie’s Parish, so I wrote about Saint Rosalie’s Parish and the day my Mom died since I only had two lines to write about the real Saint Rosalie. A lady who taught me in Catechism, Sarah Cunliffe, even wrote me a letter about my Rosalie story, which is pretty nice. It’s on the Testimonials Page. I love that letter.
Saint Kevin of Glendalough
My favorite hermit is Saint Kevin of Glendalough. Definitely. Saint Kevin was just not a “people person.” People bugged him. Especially this one guy, a monk he knew. Here is why he was not too crazy about this Monk. The monk saw this otter that Saint Kevin happened to be friends with and said aloud “Oh, look, an otter. I will grab him and make him into a wallet!” Not good news for Saint Kevin’s friend, the otter!
So, Kevin casually got up, went over, and whispered to the otter, “You need to get out of here because that Monk has designs on you and it’s not pretty.” So, the otter ran away and went to live in another town and the monk’s plan was thwarted, hopefully forever.
Another time Saint Kevin was just minding his own business in Glendalough, praying. He did it the hold your palms up in the air way of praying. You kind of hold your head up to the sky too. So, he was just praying away and this blackbird singing in the light of day came along. You will not believe what the blackbird did!
The blackbird flew over, went and stood on Saint Kevin’s wrist, which Saint Kevin didn’t mind, except for what the blackbird did next. It. Laid. An. Egg. In. His. Hand! True story! So, then Saint Kevin, being very nice, had to stand there with his arms outstretched in prayer, squinting into the sun, until that egg hatched. Who knows how long that took!
Saint Kevin has lots of peculiar stories like those and that’s probably why I like his so much. Plus, my brother’s name was Kevin and I’m half Irish, so I have affinity for Saint Kevin of Glendalough which is in Ireland. In Glendalough, actually, they have Saint Kevin’s Bed there nowadays. It is a bronze tomb. Saint Kevin’s hand-painted saint medal also looks very nice. We use green paint. Wear him or have him on a clasp and you have a conversation starter forevermore (see what I did there?).
OK, well these stores about hermits dragged on and on. Plus, there are hundreds of other hermits to mention and the whole point of this was to talk about solitude, isolation, and self-resolving because of CV19. So, follow the lead of the hermits and hang around with your own self for a while as though you were a hermit so we can all recover from this CV19 thing! Seriously!
I’m not positive but I think – I hope – there is only one more CV19 blog and then we move along! Hopefully that hope is not a “Fool’s Errand!”
Tags:
Arch Angel Raphael,
blessed virgin mary,
CAROL fRANCOLINI,
covid-19,
Ellen Graney Dare,
Herman's Hermits,
Medjugorje Hill,
Our Lady of Perpetual Succor,
Our Lady of Prompt Succor,
our lady undoer of knots,
padre pio,
Rob Pumo,
Saint Agatha,
Saint Albertus Magnus,
Saint Bernadino,
Saint Blaise,
Saint Kevin of Glendalough,
Saint Luke,
Saint Raphael,
Saint Rosalie
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