Holy Pedigree

May/Discipline

4 May 2010

This Brendan was the head of the belief and devotion of a great part of the world, like faithful Abraham, a pre-eminently prophetic psalmist like David, a lawgiver to hundreds like Moses...a prolific translator like Jerome, a wondrous thinker like Augustine...a commentator like Gregory of Rome...

  - Anonymous, Vita Brendani (Irish, 12th century, from an earlier ms.)

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one...

  - 2 Corinthians 11.22, 23

For the Irish hagiographers, pedigree was very important. They positioned their hero-saints not just in the line of noble Irish families - natural and spiritual - but also in the great heritage of the saints from Scripture and beyond.

This is an aspect of the writing of saints' lives that makes them particularly interesting - that clear sense of wanting to ground their story in the Scriptures and in the grand tradition of the orthodox faith. In the case of Brendan's pedigree, I've only excerpted a sample of a much longer line designed to set this great saint as among the most worthy of his day.

You may remember the mini-series, "Roots", from back in the late '70s, which told the story over many generations of one slave and his ancestors and descendants. This series launched a frenzy of interest in genealogy that continues to this day, as the many ads for Internet genealogical services testify. People are interested in knowing where they've come from, who's in their past, and what this might mean for them.

We are but the latest generation of those who, like Brendan, stand in the line of faithful saints from Adam to Paul to John to Brendan and all the saints up to the present. These are our people, our spiritual ancestors, and, if we knew our heritage better than we do, we would bust our buttons with spiritual pride to know the courage, generosity, sacrifices, and incredible ventures of faith our own forebears have undertaken for the cause of the Gospel.

And just as Brendan's hagiographer hoped to inspire his contemporaries, so we, as we learn more of our own pedigree, would be hugely challenged and wondrously motivated to plead with God for more of His Spirit and power, that we might carry on the torch of the Gospel as faithfully as those who have gone before.

What will you add to the pedigree of the believers who follow after you? Give thanks to God for all who have gone before, and resolve each day to make your own contribution - and no contribution is too small - to that glorious legacy of praise.

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T. M. Moore, nacurragh@aol.com