{"id":100884,"date":"2017-08-04T00:01:42","date_gmt":"2017-08-04T07:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=100884"},"modified":"2017-08-01T16:13:35","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T23:13:35","slug":"bishop-barron-muses-teeth-st-ambrose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/08\/bishop-barron-muses-teeth-st-ambrose.html","title":{"rendered":"Bishop Barron Muses on the Teeth of St. Ambrose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Sez he<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I write these words from Milan, Italy, where I am with my Word on Fire team filming new episodes for our\u00a0Pivotal Players<\/a><\/em>\u00a0series. I\u2019ve seen lots of marvelous things on this trip, including the ruins of the ancient baptistery under the Milan Cathedral where, in the spring of 387, St. Augustine was baptized by St. Ambrose. But the most fascinating sight I\u2019ve taken in is the vested and mitered skeleton of that same Ambrose, which rests in the basilica that bears his name, not far from the Cathedral.<\/p>\n

Behind a grille, just under the main altar, lie the skeletal remains of Ambrose and two martyr saints, Gervasius and Protasius, whose bodies were recovered during his lifetime. With the aid of some pretty high-powered camera lenses, I was able to see the skull of the great bishop of Milan in extraordinary detail. What struck me especially was the size and solidity of his teeth, still formidable after 1,600 years. I\u2019ll confess that when I examined those ancient teeth, I couldn\u2019t help but think of the lips that once covered them, for Augustine, in his\u00a0Confessions<\/i>, famously reported his amazement at seeing Ambrose read without moving his lips\u2014something quite unusual at the time.<\/p>\n

However, after I posted detailed\u00a0photos of Ambrose\u2019s skull on our Facebook page<\/a>, the reaction has been rather\u2026interesting. Many, many people expressed their pleasure and excitement at seeing the pictures, but many others, I must say, were a bit put off. From a number of strongly Protestant and evangelical commentators came the charge that I was encouraging the worship of dead bodies! Well, that\u2019s just silly. This has, of course, nothing to do with worshipping Ambrose but rather honoring him. But most of those, both Protestant and Catholic, who had objections to the pictures said something along these lines: \u201cWell, it\u2019s just kind of creepy, isn\u2019t it?\u201d and \u201cWhy don\u2019t they just bury the poor man?\u201d or \u201cIsn\u2019t this frightening to children?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I gotta say as a convert, nothing makes clearer the idea of conversion to the Faith as moving to another country like the veneration of relics. \u00a0Nowhere does the sheer squeamishness of Protestantism over the physicality and sacramentality of the faith gain a more sympathetic hearing than here.<\/p>\n

I remember being down at EWTN some 20 years ago and sitting in the chapel before Mass. \u00a0A young woman I had met the night before at dinner came in and sat down next to me, all excited. \u00a0\u201cLook what I got!\u201d she said with verve and handed me a little box. \u00a0I didn\u2019t know what I was looking at until the label on it make clear: I was holding a piece of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.<\/p>\n

It made me feel things I am not accustomed to feeling, none of them good.<\/p>\n

Yes, I get the theology and yes, I realize the defect is in me, not in the theology or practice of venerating relics. \u00a0But that doesn\u2019t mean there is anything easy about getting used to it. \u00a0So bear with your non-Catholic neighbor if he responds to it with the definite sense of ookiness.<\/p>\n

Being Catholic is weird.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sez he: I write these words from Milan, Italy, where I am with my Word on Fire team filming new episodes for our\u00a0Pivotal Players\u00a0series. I\u2019ve seen lots of marvelous things on this trip, including the ruins of the ancient baptistery under the Milan Cathedral where, in the spring of 387, St. Augustine was baptized by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[743,940],"class_list":["post-100884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bishop-robert-barron","tag-relics-and-sacramentals"],"yoast_head":"\nBishop Barron Muses on the Teeth of St. Ambrose<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sez he: I write these words from Milan, Italy, where I am with my Word on Fire team filming new episodes for our\u00a0Pivotal Players\u00a0series. 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