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milkfran 's review for:
Ordinary Saints
by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin
emotional
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ordinary Saints was our queer book group read for June and the consensus was that we all enjoyed this one: even if 'enjoy' isn't quite the right word. It was certainly very emotionally impactful and will stay with me for a while- wrestling with the role of the Catholic Church in 21st century Ireland and the complicated intersection of grief, faith, intergenerational trauma and queerness.
As soon as I read the blurb I was hooked- I love reading the stories of the Saints, even if they require the suspension of disbelief- There are enough splinters from the true cross to parquet Jerusalem.
St Catherine of Sienna wearing Jesus' foreskin as a wedding ring, anyone??
I vividly remember finding out that they'd decided to make Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old who died in 2006 the 'patron Saint of the internet'. What 15-year-old-boy in the 21st century can play Pokémon and Halo but be so sinless that they exhume his heart and display it after death? It's difficult to wrap your head around: Imagine being one of his classmates- although you'd never be stuck for an anecdote making small talk at a dinner party- "I went to school with an actual Saint."
This is the dilemma that Jay wrestles with- the memory of her late brother Ferdia being tainted by an institution she despises.
There are other, even less straightforward stories of Sainthood: one of them mentioned in the novel is that of Maria Goretti, an 11-year-old who was brutally sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in Italy in 1902 and is celebrated by the Church as a Virgin Martyr. When her rapist was let out of prison, he begged Maria's Mother for forgiveness, and spent the rest of his life praying to her as a Capuchin lay brother and calling her "my little Saint". The fact that she resisted her attack and died before she could be raped is celebrated by the Church as a shining example of chastity.
... In a word: grim.
Thinking about poor Maria makes my eyes fill with tears, but on the other side of that coin is Fr Mychal Judge who I also can't think about without wanting to weep. Fr Mychal was a chaplain with the NYC Fire Department who died ministering to victims of 9/11 when the South Tower collapsed. According to a documentary made after his death he once came to administer the Last Rites and anoint a patient who was dying of AIDS. The man asked him, "Do you think God hates me?" Judge picked him up, kissed him, and silently rocked him in his arms.
Will the Catholic Church ever canonise Fr Mychal?
It's unlikely, as he was an openly gay man 'defying' his vow of Priestly chastity.
I read this shortly after getting engaged, and if I had a quid for everyone who asked me if I was marrying my wife in the local CofE Church we attend then the wedding would already be paid for.
"But I thought gay marriage was legal now?"
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
(Or an alternative epigram: "Lord save me from miserable Saints" - St Theresa of Ávila).
As soon as I read the blurb I was hooked- I love reading the stories of the Saints, even if they require the suspension of disbelief- There are enough splinters from the true cross to parquet Jerusalem.
St Catherine of Sienna wearing Jesus' foreskin as a wedding ring, anyone??
I vividly remember finding out that they'd decided to make Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old who died in 2006 the 'patron Saint of the internet'. What 15-year-old-boy in the 21st century can play Pokémon and Halo but be so sinless that they exhume his heart and display it after death? It's difficult to wrap your head around: Imagine being one of his classmates- although you'd never be stuck for an anecdote making small talk at a dinner party- "I went to school with an actual Saint."
This is the dilemma that Jay wrestles with- the memory of her late brother Ferdia being tainted by an institution she despises.
There are other, even less straightforward stories of Sainthood: one of them mentioned in the novel is that of Maria Goretti, an 11-year-old who was brutally sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in Italy in 1902 and is celebrated by the Church as a Virgin Martyr. When her rapist was let out of prison, he begged Maria's Mother for forgiveness, and spent the rest of his life praying to her as a Capuchin lay brother and calling her "my little Saint". The fact that she resisted her attack and died before she could be raped is celebrated by the Church as a shining example of chastity.
... In a word: grim.
Thinking about poor Maria makes my eyes fill with tears, but on the other side of that coin is Fr Mychal Judge who I also can't think about without wanting to weep. Fr Mychal was a chaplain with the NYC Fire Department who died ministering to victims of 9/11 when the South Tower collapsed. According to a documentary made after his death he once came to administer the Last Rites and anoint a patient who was dying of AIDS. The man asked him, "Do you think God hates me?" Judge picked him up, kissed him, and silently rocked him in his arms.
Will the Catholic Church ever canonise Fr Mychal?
It's unlikely, as he was an openly gay man 'defying' his vow of Priestly chastity.
I read this shortly after getting engaged, and if I had a quid for everyone who asked me if I was marrying my wife in the local CofE Church we attend then the wedding would already be paid for.
"But I thought gay marriage was legal now?"
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
(Or an alternative epigram: "Lord save me from miserable Saints" - St Theresa of Ávila).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Religious bigotry
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Outing, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Dementia, Alcohol
Religious trauma