Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Religious Music and Entertainment
Living Saints: Frances

Living Saints: Frances

Last updated on: December 10, 2019 at 9:17 pm by Chase Padusniak

Living Saints: Frances 2019-12-10T21:17:06-04:00 Chase Padusniak

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Coal Mining by Léonard Defrance. Public Domain.

Life is hard. Everyday we wake up and do it again, coffee in hand moments after dusting ourselves off from a half-sleepless night. We work; we try to pray. But, in the end, each day is often hard. The abstractions of faith dominate most discussions of the religion that’s supposed to keep us grounded. Politics, in many cases, is much the same. Who can retain faith and hope under such circumstances? Who can face down a corrupt, fallen world and do anything but acquiesce? Abuse abounds. Internal politicking divides. Where is God in all of this?

Asking myself these questions had led me to consider a new series for this blog—“Living Saints.” Each of these posts will deal with one person, one living or recently living person who reminds us what sainthood looks like, what form love and grace take in this deranged society, in this hellscape in which people die from lack of insulin, Satanic temples stage black masses, and war destroys lives. It’s easier to flip another driver the bird or scream at your family than to keep the faith or hold onto hope. “Living Saints” seeks to offer an oasis in the desert, wishes to provide locusts and wild honey in the wasteland of modern capitalist life.

My first example: Frances, my grandmother. I admire her so fervently that I hope to get to name a son or daughter after her (as a lover of St. Francis of Assisi and a son of a man named Frank, the name really hits all the right notes). She is 88; she is, without exception, the most wonderful woman with whom I have spent any decent amount of time.

Born in coal country Pennsylvania during the Depression, my grandmother was one of thirteen children from two marriages. Both her father and her stepfather were drunks and, as I understand it, could be verbally abusive. She began waiting tables aged 13, offering some small help to her mother who was, by that time, mostly raising her and her siblings alone. Her father, you see, ran off to be with another woman (whose name he then got tattooed on his arm, embedded in a heart—like one of those old sailor tattoos that read “Mom”). Her stepfather had, I believe, died.

Working meant dropping out of school after the eighth grade. This meant a loss of innocence, one conveniently distillable to a single story: she left work early one day (or skipped out) to walk to a local dance (let’s imagine it was in a barn: one, it probably was and two it’s more essentially itself that way). She returned to work to find herself fired: how dare she leave! The cook, who may or may not have been the owner’s brother (I can’t recall) threatened to quit if she were fired. And so, she was kept on—a lesson in both loss and solidarity.

As a young woman, she moved to New Jersey with her sister; she got a job at White Castle and sent money home to help her family get by (not unlike many immigrants to the US today, though they wire money over national borders, rather than state ones). She met my grandfather, a World War II veteran, and, after several moves (including to upstate New York), found herself living on the main drag of a small town in New Jersey. They had three children, one of whom was my mother.

Previous Post

December 5, 2019

Confessions of an Ironic Structuralist

Next Post

January 21, 2020 The Medieval and the Fascist

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Academia Culture Politics Reviews Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 December 2020 November 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 August 2019 July 2019 April 2019 March 2019 December 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I am confidence in what is hoped for and assurance about what is not seen. Without me, it's impossible to please God. What am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Faith Hope Trust Belief