Saturday, May 15, 2010

I Could Think of Better Saints

Okay, I like hokey movies.  A few months ago I watched this EWTN movie about a little girl who I think they made a saint just because they felt so bad about how horribly she was treated.  

St. Maria was stalked and then stabbed to death by the son of the family her family shared a home with in 1902. 

I guess she's a saint because she fought to the death rather than let him rape her.  Because you know, any women who "lets" someone rape her isn't really so pure.  So she gets to be the patron saint of chastity. 

 She forgave the boy who killed her and he ended up in a monastery after he served 20 years in prison.  Twenty years for stabbing an 111-year-old to death.

Then tonight they show a movie about St. Rita.  They made it seem very romantic about how she tries to help her husband leave the violence of his family in the 14th century.  She's horrified to discover her husband is an assassin but she learns to forgive and teach him about love by her submissiveness.  

But the real story is that she was married against her will at age 12 and he was abusive to her for 18 years until he was stabbed to death by his enemies at which point he finally found religion and asked her forgiveness.  

Then her children died and she finally got to go to the convent which is what she wanted back when was a child bride.  She also wanted to suffer like Jesus so a thorn from a large crucifix fell on her head causing a terrible wound that gave her pain the rest of her miserable life. She is the patron saint of impossible causes.

Really ETWN?  These are the women saints you offer up to your viewers?  Victims of abuse who forgave their abusers?   I'm all for forgiveness.  But there are a lot of women saints out there.  Forgive me if I'm a little dubious about your choices.

3 comments:

  1. I don't know EWTN (living down-under in New Zealand), but I'm automatically skeptical about movies and books made for a Christian audience. I tried a few when I was a new-Christian (some 20 years ago) and found them judgemental, exclusive, and saccharine. So I'm not surprised about the angle the producers took on these 2 movies you talk about.

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  2. I doubt you can even fathom the lives of these people-- it's obvious by your biased expression that you lack coherent criticism. Why would you, in the first place-- choose to learn of saints by movies? That is a little illiterate of you; if you want to learn, inform yourself with proper readings.

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  3. Actually Monica, I know a lot about a lot of saints--I've even written about several of them on this blog. I agree with you that what you learn from these movies is pretty dubious. Which is my point. Thanks for helping me make it.

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