Dear Connie,<\/p>\n
I am sorry to hear that you feel so alone among the aristocrats.\u00a0 It is a heavy cross to have to spend a summer, which should be a time of enthusiasm, in an atmosphere so stultifying.\u00a0 But may I make a suggestion?\u00a0 Just because you haven\u2019t met any interesting people among the mansion-dwellers just yet, that doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t any around there.\u00a0 God hasn\u2019t abandoned the rich and well-pedigreed \u2013 he loves them just as much as he loves you.\u00a0 And if he has arranged for your summer to be spent researching a thesis on the \u201ccurrent state of the old American aristocracy\u201d, I am sure he has some folks in mind who just need a little spark from the fire of love in your heart to set them ablaze for the Kingdom.\u00a0 You may want to keep today\u2019s saint in mind as you look for them.<\/p>\n
Few had so exalted an ancestry.\u00a0 Cunegunde\u2019s mother was the daughter of the Emperor in Constantinople, and her father was the King of Hungry.\u00a0 Her aunt was St Elizabeth of Hungry and her Great Aunt was St Hedwig.\u00a0 Not too shabby!\u00a0 As a young girl, filled with conviction that God wanted her heart all for him, she made a promise of virginity.\u00a0 But circumstances and the times were against her, and she was married off to King Boleslas of southern Poland.\u00a0 As Providence would have it, however, he was a true Christian as well.\u00a0 And when she told him about her vow, he agreed to respect it, and even ended up making one himself.\u00a0 And although their marriage was never consummated, they became the spiritual father and mother of their nation as few had or would in the future.\u00a0 So beloved were they that the people used to call St Kinga their \u201ccomforter, physician, nurse, and holy mother.\u201d\u00a0 The King quickly earned the remarkable and inspiring epithet, \u201cKing Boleslas the Chaste.\u201d\u00a0 Kinga outlived her husband considerably, and after he died she took the veil at a convent of Poor Clares that she had sponsored as Queen.<\/p>\n
So you see, belonging to the aristocracy is no guarantee of vice.\u00a0 In fact, I would venture to say that there are one or two potential saints right under your nose.\u00a0 Finding them and helping them along would be a fine project for the remaining weeks of your summer, wouldn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Just be sure to avoid the shadows of dissipation as you search.\u00a0 Boredom and lack of companionship can expose you to the very sins that St Kinga so heroically conquered.\u00a0 But if you keep in mind the words of Pope John Paul II when he canonized St Kinga back in 1999 at the convent where she had spent her final years, you should be fine:<\/p>\n
\u201c[Chastity is that] extraordinary gift whereby man experiences in a special way his own freedom. He can make of this inner freedom a place of encounter with Christ and with others on the path of holiness. Standing before this Convent, together with Saint Kinga, I speak in a special way to you young people: defend your inner freedom! Let no false shame keep you from cultivating chastity! And may the young men and women called by Christ to preserve life-long virginity know that this is a privileged state, which manifests most clearly the powerful work of the Holy Spirit.”<\/p>\n
Your devoted uncle,<\/p>\n
Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Connie, I am sorry to hear that you feel so alone among the aristocrats.\u00a0 It is a heavy cross to have to spend a summer, which should be a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n