July is Super American Saint Month

When one really embraces the Church’s liturgical calendar, certain patterns emerge.  One of them for many Americans, an increasing number, actually, is spending some extra time praying or fasting or almsgiving on feast days of our very own American saints and beati.  Sometimes we may do special things on the feast day of an American saint or beati.  I am one eighth Czech/Bohemian, for instance, so on the feast day of St. John Neumann, on January 5th, I remember my grandmother’s kitchen and bake kolaches (savory and sweet, of course) and celebrate with my family and friends.

Ordinary Time can be a long season in the Church, so we laypeople must come up with ways to enliven the liturgical calendar a little.  One way that we can do this is by celebrating July as “American Saint Power Month.” After all, the month begins with St. Junipero Serra on July 1, moves to St. Kateri Tekakwitha on July 14, then the month ends with a double celebration with Blessed Stanley Rother on July 28 and Blessed Solanus Casey on July 30.

I have not yet figured out all of the possible special things to do in July during the particular feast days of the above four American Heaven-dwellers, but I do have some suggestions. How about we start with eating?

St. Junipero Serra was Spanish and was known as a lover of the Native Americans who came to his missions.  Contrary to many detractors, he showed compassion to those he served, and he had no control over the soldiers who Spanish authorities sent with him and his other friars. Serra was so influential to the establishment of the big cities of California (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and others) that the state’s elected representatives voted in 1931 to put a statue of St. Junipero Serra in Statuary Hall in the Capitol Building in Washington DC. Each state can place only two such statues in Statuary Hall, so putting a statue of Serra there is a big thing for California, and a big thing for Catholics.

If we try to stick to a food theme when celebrating July’s American feasts, maybe for St. Junipero Serra we could look to what the Natives of California ate, as well as the foods the Spanish brought with them. The Natives ate fish, deer, nuts, berries like elderberries and cherries, and wild rice.  Mushrooms were also abundant.  And the Spanish brought with them grape vines that started California’s great wine culture, and olive trees that gave California dwellers olive oil.  Wheat was also brought to supplement the corn the Natives used in their cooking. So to celebrate, we could eat some fish cooked with olive oil and bake both wheat bread and corn bread, make a salad that includes mushrooms, native California elderberries and cherries, with some nuts in a vinaigrette dressing made with olive oil, finished off by a good California wine. This day is a good day to go to Mass after praying a Rosary.

St. Kateri Tekakwitha was a Native American from the region of northern New York, southern Canada.  She was the first and to date is the only Native American saint in the Church, and her influence among Native American peoples is vast.

As an RCIA/OCIA catechist, I have had more than one Native American student convert choose Kateri as her Confirmation name at Easter Vigil.  St. Kateri’s people ate much the same things as their California counterparts: fish, deer, corn, different squashes, berries like blackberries and blueberries, and rice. So you could change things up a bit and eat some venison (deer) with rice, squash, and a fruit salad including blackberries and blueberries.  Mass, the Rosary, and a 3:00 p.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet should make this day a special one.

In the middle of July, I am going to continue eating blackberries and blueberries because I grow them in my garden and it is in July that I start thawing and eating the berries we have frozen. But I continue my July celebration (while celebrating the non-American July saints, of course) by also eating either pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread/muffins every day (one of my favorites). Incidentally, pumpkin is a great de-wormer (I eat it every month and all of our animals do, too).

As the month ends, Blessed Stanley Rother is celebrated for his twentieth-century martyrdom among the Guatemalan people he served.  There are still some of his friends and classmates alive. So to celebrate the memory and love of Blessed Stanley Rother, let’s have the official state meal of Oklahoma: barbecued pork, chicken-fried steak, biscuits and gravy, fried okra, squash, grits, corn, and dessert of strawberries and pecan pie.  Of course, we will need to invite a lot of friends over to help us eat all of this.  We can add some Guatemalan foods to our meal, or have a second meal with friends the same day.  An internet search shows that Guatemalans eat tamales and chile rellenos. Of course, make it a point to pray a Rosary and go to Mass on this day, even if you are not in Oklahoma.

Some of my Detroit-born friends get together on July 30, Blessed Solanus Casey’s feast, and bake homemade Detroit style pizza!  Casey spent a big portion of his ministry life in Detroit, and many people have parents and other relatives who benefited from the Heavenward prayers of Blessed Solanus.  Perhaps there are other Detroit-centered things a celebrator of American Saint Power Month could do to end the month, like watching a Detroit Tigers baseball game on television.  I am sure if you know someone from Detroit, they can give you something else to do. This is a good day to thank God for our own prosperity at Mass, and make sure to say your prayers before and after that Detroit style pizza party.

Although there are only two American saints and two American beati celebrated in July, you can make this July a prayerful month by celebrating each of these wonderful examples of holiness with your family and friends in meals including foods inspired by these men and women’s work, and by going to Mass each feast day (even if on weekdays), as well as praying a Rosary. Celebrating in this way can paint an exciting adventure ahead as you and your family and friends move on to celebrate other saints in other months in similar ways.