‘Soldier’ saints have been repentant, sanctifying, sacrificial

Phillip Garside
NOLA Catholic Parenting

The existence of the military is the direct result of the “fall”; thus the first generation of Christians would not serve Rome in such a capacity. But, within a generation, we begin to find soldiers venerated as saints.

We can turn to these soldiers for guidance if we want to learn about the possibilities of martial virtue, using martial imagery in our spirituality or to guide our children if they  are interested in a military career.

To teach our children martial virtue, it helps to know two things.

First, soldier saints are not sanctified by acts of dominance, violence or bloodshed. The hagiographies of soldier saints almost never contain such details. If the saint exhibited them, their sanctity is despite these actions. If our children want to go into military service out of a sense of vengeance, out of fealty to nation over God or for glory as the world defines it, they are not seeking virtue.

Second, there are generally three types of soldier saints, and meditating on each offers differing martial virtues. Using their guidance, the potential soldier can steer away from dominating glory and toward sanctity in a fallen world.

The first type of soldier saint is the repentant soldier. These saints are traumatized by the horror of war. By far the most common course of action for these saints is a military career, which is a social brotherhood formed to manipulate chaos and destruction, followed by repentance as a hermit. This type of soldier saint cannot shake off the trauma of social misconfiguration and opts to withdraw. An example of such a saint would be St. Bobo of Provence.

The lesson for the aspiring soldier is Sherman’s famous dictum, “War is hell.” It is traumatic and alienating. The Christian aspiring soldier must make his decision soberly.

The second type of soldier saint sanctifies military life as much as possible. That is, he makes good use of martial virtues such as organization, discipline, leadership and strategy.

The most common way this manifests is a soldier who leaves the military and uses what he learned there to form structures ordered toward corporeal and spiritual works of mercy and prayer. Generally, the soldier either founds an order or becomes a bishop.

The most classic example would be Martin of Tours, who is the perfect exemplar of a Christian soldier. Nearly killed for his pacifism, he became bishop of Tours and used his military experience to regiment his diocese.

If Christians aspire to be  soldiers, they may strategically garner skills there to build the kingdom of God rather than literally destroy the nations of mankind. This is a sanctifying call and takes keen discernment on the part of the practitioner.

The final type of soldier is the self-sacrificing soldier. Rather than didactic lessons of trauma or calculating lessons of virtue, these soldiers are lessons on the passions through martial exhibition of fortitude, honor and faithfulness to a cause. Self-sacrificing soldiers serve in times and places where Christianity is a capital offense.

These soldiers are found out and (usually) asked to reject Christ, but they hold fast to their beliefs, refusing to value the state over the Gospel.

The most famous example of this type of saint would be St. Maurice and the Theban Legion – over 6,000 African soldiers executed for refusing to sacrifice to the emperor.

Phillip Garside and his spouse Rebecca co-created and maintain three children in the hopes of one day jettisoning them into the world and infecting it with their Domestic Church’s uniquely bizarre brand of Catholicism.