St. Eulalia of Barcelona

St. Eulalia was born in a Roman-occupied Spanish village of Sarria in 289 (the village is now a neighborhood of Barcelona. Her family was farmers, and Eulalia herded the geese. She was raised Christian, although the Roman government was suppressing Christianity at the time. 

When confronted by the Roman authorities, 13-year-old Eulalia refused to renounce her faith. She ran away from home to the nearby walled city of Barcino to appeal to the governor Dacian to stop the hostility against Christians. 

Instead, the governor sentenced Eulalia to 13 tortures, one for every year she had been Christian. After enduring all the tortures, including flagellation and hanging on a St. Andrew’s cross, she died on Feb. 12, 303. Legend says that a dove flew from her neck (or mouth) as she was killed and then a sudden snowstorm covered her body.

She was originally buried in the church of Santa Maria de les Arenes, but her remains were hidden following the Moorish invasion of 713. Eulalia is now buried in the Cathedral of St. Eulalia in Barcelona. Along with Mary, she is a patron of the city. In honor of the young goose herder, 13 geese are kept in a designated cloister of the cathedral. Her feast day is Feb. 12. 

The Great Atomic Power, part 2

Today is the 78th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki. While in part 1 I discussed how the horrors of war made the decision to drop the bomb easier, ultimately, ends should not justify means when it comes to making moral decisions. Since the dropping of the atomic bombs in 1945, the Church has spoken out against the use of nuclear weapons and worked for disarmament around the world.

St. John XXIII helped to deescalate the Cuban missile crisis. In his 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris, he urged for a nuclear weapons ban and disarmament agreement. The Limited Test Ban Treaty was concluded four months later.

St. John XXIII writes, “There is a common belief that under modern conditions peace cannot be assured except on the basis of an equal balance of armaments and that this factor is the probable cause of this stockpiling of armaments….if one country is equipped with atomic weapons, others consider themselves justified in producing such weapons themselves, equal in destructive force.”

He acknowledged the challenge of disarmament goes beyond treaties and bans but requires a moral, spiritual commitment to peace—a goal often preached and never realized. He says, “Unless this process of disarmament be thoroughgoing and complete, and reach men's very souls, it is impossible to stop the arms race, or to reduce armaments, or—and this is the main thing—ultimately to abolish them entirely. Everyone must sincerely co-operate in the effort to banish fear and the anxious expectation of war from men's minds.”

The Great Atomic Power, part 1

Today is the 78th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. I saw Oppenheimer two weeks ago, so the development and use of the atomic bomb has been on my mind lately. One of the taglines of the movie is “The World Forever Changes.” The dawn of the atomic age does feel like a seismic shift, one of those fixed points in history.

But, did the world really change? For those years-deep in the horrors of war, maybe it didn’t seem so. Just bigger and badder, but just another weapon. Just as many died over one night of the fire bombing of Tokyo as in Hiroshima. A city destroyed, tens of thousands dead and wounded—looks like the same bleak world of war. Can a weapon change the nature of man?

Scientists have always been seeking the truth to how the world works. But with that knowledge comes power and responsibility. What do we do with newfound knowledge? Are there things that are scientifically possible but morally inexcusable? Who decides and enforces that moral line?