One of the sympathetic aspects of the Catholic Church is its extensive cult of saints. It has now taken on such forms that even the polytheistic Romans would probably have said: Guys, now it’s good. Officially, the Vatican currently lists 6,650 saints and blesseds, not counting the martyrs. You don’t even want to know what things are like in the Vatican’s specialist department. They probably haven’t even switched to computers there yet. Woe betide anyone who messes up a document and then searches 1,500 years for Annex B of Saint Afra of Augsburg, which some idiot filed under Apphia in the early Middle Ages.
By the way, Afra is one of the oldest saints in Bavaria. She was – allegedly – beheaded or burned on a Lech island during the persecution of Christians, but we don’t know for sure. Unfortunately, there are people who claim that the story of Afra is just a legend. Nothing precise is known about Saint Leonhard of Limoges, who became the Bavarian peasant god despite huge gaps in his life. He is considered the patron saint of livestock, but can also be invoked for sexually transmitted diseases if one is skeptical about treatment with penicillin.
Basically, the Catholic Church looks more closely at the candidates for beatification and canonization than in the earlier Middle Ages. That’s why the beatification of Resl from Konnersreuth has been dragging on since 2005; the second main route in Munich is probably more likely to go into operation than a decision being made in the Resl case.
Many believers can’t deal with church bureaucracy. They worship whom they deem worthy of worship. That’s why Diego Armando Maradona is already depicted with a halo on every second street corner in Naples, and altars have even been erected for the footballer who died in 2020. Leaving aside his coke habit, at least two miracles can be attributed to him: During his lifetime, on June 22, 1986, Maradona scored a goal in the 55th minute of the match between Argentina and England with the “hand of God,” as he himself proclaimed . And in 2023, Maradona’s call resulted in SSC Napoli becoming Italian football champions.
Sanktus Maradonasius, ora pro nobis, quod non adhaesimus semper in Liga Tertia! Amen.