Numbers can be both illuminating and deceiving. For example, the religion score on United States Presidents is Protestants 43 and Catholics 2. In America, Protestants have tended to do better than Catholics since, after all, they founded the place and established the most notable universities while most Catholics didn’t arrive until the middle of the 19th Century and were pretty much an unwashed and uneducated horde.

But there is one area where Catholics thump Protestants: they have more Saints (1,000 plus and more in the works). It’s true that Protestants don’t venerate Saints because, in their view, any person that lives faithfully is already a Saint. Catholics, on the other hand, like their Saints and often ask them to intercede with God on their behalf.

For a very partial list of certain saints see “The Saint Within Us” published on this blog on September 10, 2021.

Christianity is the religion which has the most believers in the world, 2.4 billion. That Christianity has prospered is almost hard to understand. After Jesus had left the world, the religion was left in the hands of 12 uneducated and illiterate Apostles who were instructed to spread the word. At first, the theory was that you had to be a Jew in order to become a Christian, but Saint Paul dismissed that notion in AD 40 and, boy, did Christianity then take off because it was now open to all the Gentiles. It “took off” only in a relative sense since Christians were openly persecuted, martyred, and had their property confiscated until Constantine became the Roman emperor in AD 313.

I suppose every religion has to have a story and the Christian story is a doozy. There is a virgin birth, which produces the God/man, Jesus. He becomes an itinerant preacher, gathers 12 Apostles, performs numerous miracles, including raising a young girl and Lazarus from the dead. He introduces a new way of thinking which is to love one another and turn the other cheek. He is a threat to the Jewish hierarchy because of his popularity with the people and his refusal to follow certain rules and customs. So, he is crucified, dies, is buried and comes back to life three days later.

Forty days later, he ascends into heaven after appearing numerous times. Fifty days after the Resurrection, the Holy Spirit visits the Apostles and tongues of fire appear above each one’s head and they speak to the crowd composed of many groups with different languages but each understands what the Apostle is saying. Saul, who is on his way to persecute Christians is struck blind and becomes Saint Paul, who then composes most of the early letters to the Christian communities which today are regularly read at Mass. Of course, there are regular visitors from heaven in the form of angels, with Gabriel being the first and probably the most significant when he appeared to Mary informing her of her pregnancy.

So why did this unlikely story become the most followed religion in the world? Some say that, unlikely as it seems, it is the truth. Non-believers say that it is a series of unbelievable propositions that no sane person would accept ranging from the Virgin birth to the Jesus’ resurrection and later ascension into heaven.

There are plenty of non-believers after Constantine but once Christianity became the dominant religion in the Roman Empire it did truly “takeoff” particularly in Western Europe as Islam became the competing religion in certain eastern portions of the Roman Empire. 

Things went fairly swimmingly until the Protestant Reformation when Martin Luther, John Calvin, and King Henry VIII’s libido resulted in the break from Rome. Who knows? If not for the Protestant Reformation, the Saints might still be well regarded.

And there is one person whom Catholics believe is far superior to any Saint: the Blessed Virgin Mary (Mary). Not only is Mary superior to any Saint since, after all, she is the Mother of God, but she is different in many other ways. For the last thousand years or so, believers have said the rosary in her honor (the rosary consists of 59 “beads”, each bead being a prayer as well as opening and closing prayers).

Mary is also decidedly different from Saints because of the claims that she has regularly visited the Earth. So, there is Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico 1531), Our Lady of Fatima (Portugal 1917), Our Lady of Lourdes (France 1858) and close to 40 other visits all over the world with a surprising number having been in the last 100 years. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marian_apparitions) .In many cases, Mary appears to children or young adults and usually makes requests and sometimes gives predictions of things to come. Indeed, there is a cottage industry of commentary about what the three 1917 “predictions” of Our Lady of Fatima mean.

The most recently reported apparitions began in 1981 in the village of Medjugorje located in Bosnia Herzegovina. Those claiming to see Mary were then six children (ages 10 to 16) who continue, as adults, to make similar claims.

In 1981, the village was part of communist Yugoslavia and the communist authorities blocked pilgrims from reaching the site of the reported apparitions. Currently 1 million pilgrims a year visit Medjugorje and the reported apparitions continue on an almost daily basis as do reported miracles. The Vatican has now authorized pilgrimages but does not endorse the supernatural nature of the reported apparitions.

The overarching message delivered in the Marian apparitions is for the faithful to say the rosary and increase their religious activity for the benefit of the world or to help the poor. For some odd reason, Mary’s message reminds me of the Nat King Cole song, “Straighten Up and Fly Right.” Apparently, that song was inspired by a sermon given by his father.

About 35 years ago, my Aunt Mildred, who was a retired nun, became very excited about the Marian apparitions in Medjugorje. She wanted my opinion. I really knew nothing about it but was skeptical, an opinion I did not share with her. As a believer, Mildred was sure that all Marian apparitions were real.

We are in a time where religion has been declared obsolete, and the younger generation does not attend church or follow religion. It is said that the younger generation is less interested in the “good” than in obtaining “goods.”

So what to make or the Marian apparitions: It was really hard to dismiss them out of hand because of the physical events that are related to them. Our Lady of Guadalupe arranged flowers in Juan Diego’s cloak and told him to take it to the archbishop. When the cloak was opened, the flowers fell out and revealed the image of Mary on the cloak.

At Fatima during the last apparition, thousands watched while the sun appeared to descend to the earth, so much so that people in faraway Paris thought it was the Aurora Borealis.

At Lourdes the healing waters continue to heal.

Other apparitions had similar physical manifestations. Something very unusual has been going on for a very long period of time.

I think Aunt Mildred might have been right after all.