{"id":142902,"date":"2026-07-24T05:00:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/?p=142902"},"modified":"2026-07-02T14:20:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T18:20:50","slug":"st-christina-the-astonishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-christina-the-astonishing\/","title":{"rendered":"St Christina the Astonishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Kristen,<\/span> Your last note edified me terrifically. \u00a0An internship in the high-brow professional sector has a lot of perks, and frankly, I thought you might be seduced by the glitz and chic posturing. \u00a0Your deprecation of the rampant selfishness, superficiality, backbiting, gossip, and general immaturity of these corporate climbers shows that your conscience is still in good shape. \u00a0It\u2019s a relief to me. Of course, I hope you don\u2019t stop there \u2013 just because God has given you a decent (well, at least above average) formation in your faith and in virtue doesn\u2019t mean you can aloofly pass judgment on all these sinners; our Lord is counting on you to be a channel of his saving and sanctifying grace. \u00a0Nevertheless, keep well aware of the evil, sinful behavior patterns that have become the norm among our cultural elite. A healthy awareness of the reality and repulsiveness of sin (your own as well as others\u2019) is a prerequisite for true humility, which in turn is a prerequisite for intimacy with God: \u201cGod resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.\u201d (James 4:6) \u00a0Speaking of awareness of sin, that reminds me of today\u2019s saint.<\/span> Christina was named after St Christina of Italy, who died a martyr in the early years of the Church (her feast is celebrated today as well). \u00a0We don\u2019t know much about Christina of Italy (legends abound, however, as when they tried to burn her alive and the fire got out of hand, roasting hundreds of pagan spectators while leaving the young virgin unharmed), but we know a considerable amount about Christina the Astonishing. \u00a0She was from Belgium, orphaned at 15, and fell into some kind of catatonic state when she was 22. During the funeral Mass, when the open casket was inside the Church, she suddenly awoke, and rose to the church rafters like a bird, astonishing (and frightening) the assembly \u2013 which fled in panic. \u00a0Later she explained that she took refuge in the rafters because she couldn\u2019t stand the smell of the sinful people. She also explained that during her catatonia she had visited hell (where she saw a bunch of her friends), purgatory (where she saw a bunch more), and heaven, where she was given the option of taking up residence or returning to earth to offer up prayers and suffering for the benefit of the souls in purgatory. \u00a0She chose the latter. After the rafter incident, she continued her astonishing behavior. Climbing into ovens and diving into freezing rivers to escape the smell of sinful people, and saying her prayers while balanced on fence posts or curled up into a tiny ball on the ground. She lived by begging, dressed in rags, and, frankly, her fellow countrymen didn\u2019t know what to do with her. She finally calmed down after sitting for a while in the water of a baptismal font. \u00a0Then she entered a convent, where she was praised by the prioress for her obedience and frequently consulted by high-standing spiritual and secular persons.<\/span> Odd and, well, astonishing, I\u2019ll admit, but there is something to be learned from Christina\u2019s abhorrence of that repugnant \u201csmell of sinful humans.\u201d \u00a0If we could taste, smell, see, and hear the reality of sin (not merely the passing and destructive pleasures it offers us in the present moment), we would probably resist temptation with considerable more alacrity. \u00a0God seems to have given you that grace \u2013 don\u2019t squander it. <\/span> Your aromatic uncle, Eddy<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Kristen, Your last note edified me terrifically. \u00a0An internship in the high-brow professional sector has a lot of perks, and frankly, I thought you might be seduced by the […]<\/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":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","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":[3059,3989,3478,4238,3770],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy","tag-humility","tag-purgatory","tag-sin","tag-souls-in-purgatory","tag-temptation"],"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":"\nSt Christina the Astonishing - 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He was ordained a Catholic priest in 2003 and earned his doctorate in moral theology in 2010. He provided spiritual support on the set of Mel Gibson\u2019s\u00a0The Passion of the Christ\u00a0while researching the 2005 Catholic best seller,\u00a0Inside the Passion, the only authorized, behind-the-scenes explanation of the film. Fr. John has contributed news commentary regarding religious issues on NBC, CNN, Fox, and the BBC. He also served as the English-language press liaison for the Vatican\u2019s 2005 Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist. His most widely known books are The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer and 60 Days to Becoming a Missionary Disciple. His most recent book is\u00a0Spiritual But Not Religious: The Search for Meaning in a Material World. Fr. John resides in Atlanta and serves as Territorial Vicar for the Legionaries of Christ. See all books, Regnum Christi Essays, Retreat Guides, posts, and online classes from Fr. John Bartunek, LC.","url":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/author\/jbartunek\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/359"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142902"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=142902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}