In the New World, far from the ancient centers of Christendom, we have tended to de-emphasize and de-sacralize the Church, while at the same time giving more weight to the importance of politics and imbuing it with an improper religious significance.
Thus, in the States, the Founding Fathers are likened to the Apostles and/or Church Fathers, the Philadelphia Constitution is sacred writing like the Bible, and the peoples of the States are referred to as the New Israel. And when we come to Veterans’ Day, Nov. 11th, we see how war veterans are exalted like the saints once were.
But this sort of thing will get us into trouble in a hurry. Actually, it already has. It is good and right to honor virtuous men and women from the past and to protect good political traditions. But to begin speaking about America as some sort of new chosen people who will enlighten the world with the gospel of our constitutional system is a great danger. It has led us to undertake crusading wars all over the world, which usually end in disaster for all involved – Somalia, Kosovo, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and the one on everyone’s mind lately, Afghanistan.
This is quite far from the sensible restraint of George Washington and other Southern statesmen in foreign policy, and it is a good reason to keep in mind the chasm between Yankees and Southerners that still exists. For it is the Puritan-Yankees who thought of themselves as a City on a Hill, as being called by God to build New Jerusalem (literally) in North America so that Christ could return to the earth and re-establish Paradise. If you believe that is consistent with traditional Christianity, I’ve got a nice iceberg in the Brazilian rainforests to sell you.
It is that restless, zealous, reforming, messianic New England spirit that has led us into quagmires overseas and caused social upheavals at home (progressive movements like feminism and alcohol prohibition and same-sex marriage, to name a few) and continues to inspire them – e.g., the push to accept LGBTQ rights, BLM and CRT, etc. The Southern people have always had the opposite tendency, to respect traditional religious and moral boundaries, and to try to have peaceful relations with foreign countries based on friendly commerce.
Yet it is on the day of one of the United States’ secular holidays, Veterans’ Day, that we have a chance to right the heretical turn of the American union back towards traditional Christian practices. We can turn that day from simply a celebration of the secular saints into a celebration of one of the most glorious saints of the Church in the West, St Martin of Tours (+397 A.D.), whose Feast Day is also Nov. 11th.
Though we only recognize a couple of Saints’ Days in modern America – St Valentine’s and St Patrick’s – the Christian calendar used to be full of them. The honoring of the saints goes right back to the beginning of the life of the Church. The Orthodox priest Fr Michael Pomazansky writes,
Numerous are the testimonies of the Fathers and teachers of the Church, especially from the fourth century onwards, concerning the Church's veneration of the saints. But already from the beginning of the second century there are direct indications in ancient Christian literature concerning faith in prayer by the saints in heaven for their earthly brethren. The witnesses of the martyric death of St. Ignatius the God-Bearer (in the beginning of the second century) said: “Having returned home with tears, we had the all-night vigil ... Then, sleeping a little, some of us suddenly saw blessed Ignatius standing and embracing us, and others likewise saw him praying for us.” Similar records, mentioning the prayers and intercession for us of the martyrs, are to be found in other accounts from the epoch of persecutions against Christians.
But why should we be concerned about such a thing? Because the prayers of the righteous avail much, as one of the Bible’s writers proclaims (the Letter of St James, 5:16). In the life of St Martin of Tours, we see just how helpful the prayers and example of the saints could be for us.
Do you want a defender of normal gender definitions and roles? St Martin recognized them and defended them:
Martin, for his part, turning to us (for a great crowd of brethren had surrounded him), said: 'Let not a woman enter the camp of men, but let the line of soldiers remain separate, and let the females, dwelling in their own tent, be remote from that of men. For this renders an army ridiculous, if a female crowd is mixed with the regiments of men. Let the soldier occupy the line, let the soldier fight in the plain, but let the woman keep herself within the protection of the walls.
Do you want to overturn the forces of globalism, Wokeism, etc.? The prayers of St Martin are certainly strong enough:
. . .
The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2021/11/garlington-honor-the-vets-but-dont-forget-the-saints/.
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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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