We see it mentioned with depressing regularity: New Orleans is a mess. Is there a way to revive what was once one of the leading cities of the South?
That depends on the solutions offered. A merely materialistic approach – good jobs with good pay, good housing, better policing, etc. – will not get us very far. It is part of the answer, but man is body and soul, not just a body. If we tend to the body but neglect the spiritual side of man, we will get an imbalance in society, which breeds societal illnesses – just like an imbalance in a single body breeds illness there. This is why, for instance, we see euthanasia increasing in wealthy American and European States/countries: Though they are awash in material comforts, they have no will to live because the Christian faith is collapsing.
We need to build with both hands, so to speak – the material and the spiritual. There are examples in Christian history we can look to for guidance and inspiration. One is the Holy Prince and Martyr Andrew of Russia (+1174), who not only built cities and defended them against enemies but also blessed them with many churches to strengthen the souls of the people:
A brave warrior [Andrew means “brave”], a participant in his military father’s many campaigns, more than once he came close to death in battle. But each time Divine Providence invisibly saved the princely man of prayer. Thus for example, on February 8, 1150, in a battle near Lutsk, Saint Andrew was saved from the spear of an enemy German by a prayer to the Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates, whose memory was celebrated that day.
The chronicles also stress Saint Andrew’s peace-making activity, a rare trait among the princes and military commanders of those harsh times. The combination of military valor with love for peace and mercy, of great humility with indomitable zeal for the Church were present in Prince Andrew in the highest degree. A responsible master of the land, and a constant coworker in the city construction and church building activity of Yurii Dolgoruky, he built with his father: Moscow (1147), Iuriev-Polsk (1152), Dmitrov (1154), and he also adorned the cities of Rostov, Suzdal’, and Vladimir with churches. . . .
Thirty churches were built by Prince Andrew during the years of his rule. The finest of them is the Dormition cathedral. The richness and splendor of the church helped to spread Orthodoxy among the surrounding peoples and foreign merchants. . . .
The conquest of the great Volga journey-way became for Saint Andrew a fundamental task of his civil service to Russia. The Volga Bulgars from the time of the campaigns of Svyatoslav (+ 972) presented a serious danger to the Russian state. Saint Andrew continued with the initiatives of Svyatoslav.
A shattering blow was struck against the enemy in 1164, when Russian forces burned and destroyed several Bulgar fortresses. . . .
And the layout of a city is also important for transmitting Christian ideals to her citizens. Father Andrew Phillips of England writes about the design of Bristol, to give but one example (this was how most cities in Christian lands were designed prior to the onset of Modernity, something touched upon also in this podcast):
Bristol provides a classic example of a later sacred town-plan. Built on untouched land on the north bank of the River Avon from the eighth century on, by the eleventh century it was the most important city in the West of England. To the south of Bristol ran the River Avon, to the north the River Frome. Bristol was built within an elliptical wall between these two natural features, with the north and south sides of the wall touching on the two rivers. It presented then the form of a circle. Within the circle, roads running north, south, east and west, formed the sign of the cross. Thus the whole plan was that of a cross within a circle, symbolising that the Cross triumphantly dominates the Universe.
. . .
The rest is at https://www.reckonin.com/walt-garlington/can-new-orleans-be-revived .
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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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