Roma Locuta Est

July 9, 2024 (Edward J Barr) – Many saints tell us that the spiritual world is more ‘real’ than the material world.  God is spirit, and those in heaven – the angels and saints – are more united to God than man, who possesses both a spiritual and material nature.  Yet the word “saint” can have different meanings.  There are three types of invisible saints.  The first type is those in the Church Triumphant that the Church recognizes as possessing the beatific vision.  The Church formally affirms this and proposes them as role models for reaching the glory desired for us by the Lord.  The second group are those in the Church Suffering.  These are not yet saints in the formal sense, but they will someday participate in the beatific vision.  The third group is those members of the Church Militant on earth who strive for holiness by participating in works of love and charity through the graces offered by Our Savior.  

The saints that normally come to mind are those in the Church Triumphant.  The rich history of the Church has provided the faithful on earth with a plethora of friends who desire us to join them in heaven.  That they are formally invisible is no surprise.  While some saints have purportedly ‘appeared’ to people on earth, that is an exception that few will experience.

The saints in the Church Suffering, commonly called purgatory, also seldom appear to the faithful on earth.  The Catechism defines purgatory in paragraph 1030:

“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven…”

While most saints in the Church Suffering remain invisible, they can manifest as ghosts. Ghosts are souls of deceased human beings who appear to people in the material world. There have been several dramatic reports of souls reaching out from beyond the grave for prayers.  Some of the evidence of these interactions between the spiritual and material worlds is captured in ‘The Purgatory Museum’ in Rome, located along the Tiber River near the Vatican.  As in the case of saints from the Church Triumphant, sightings of saints from the Church Suffering are rare.

The saints in the Church Militant receive their title from their participation in the body of Christ as baptized Christians.  Yet, if all the baptized are called saints, why would they be invisible?  The ‘invisible saints’ of the Church Militant aren’t actually invisible; they only seem that way.  That is because they focus their lives on the spiritual acts of mercy rather than the material acts of mercy.  

Our culture’s focus on the material world is often replicated in the Church.  Just as the world speaks of multi-tasking and productivity, so do many in the Church. The ‘invisible saints’ of the Church Militant focus more on being than doing, from a material perspective.  They perform holy tasks heroically, yet they won’t be counted in any spreadsheet.  

The spiritual acts of mercy are: To instruct the ignorant, to counsel the doubtful, to admonish sinners, to bear wrongs patiently, to forgive offenses willingly, to comfort the afflicted, and to pray for the living and the dead.

These ‘invisible’ saints may participate in more materially focused ministries, but they more than likely will be worker bees rather than leaders.  This is because they share deeply in the one indispensable virtue that links them to the other two categories of invisible saints – humility.  No one can get to heaven without emulating the humility taught by Jesus and emulated by His saints.  He, and they, demonstrated courageous levels of humility.  Humility can be defined as the moral virtue that keeps a person from reaching beyond himself and controls unrestrained desire for personal glory.  It leads people to a rightly ordered love of themselves based on the reality of their position with respect to God and their neighbors.  It is not thinking less of themselves in a spirit of despair but thinking of themselves less in a spirit of love of God and neighbor.  

Invisible saints are all around us.  They are found in every church community.  They are particularly focused on praying for the living and the dead and are equally adept at not letting the injustices of this world quench their joy. They will never be known in the world.  Their power comes from the higher level of reality, the spiritual world.  It is in that world that their great works will be rewarded.

For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor. 4:17-18)

Edward J Barr, Esq. is a Catechist and public speaker based in Florida.  He earned a Master of Theology degree from the Augustine Institute. His first novel, The Gray Apostle: Mission of the Messiah is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other bookstores. The second in the series, The Gray Apostle: Roman Justice, was recently released!  Mr. Barr is a contributing writer for the Roma Locuta Est blog (www.RomaLocutaEst.com)