One of the images that stands out to me during the months of the pandemic, during the months of protests and social unrest that we have had in many parts of our country, is the image of a young priest from the Archdiocese of St Louis trying to protect the statue of St Louis of France from an angry group of protestors outside of the St Louis Art Museum. The priest has a microphone in his hand. He tells the protestors: you are all shouting questions at me and you want answers, but you need to stop shouting and yelling at me in order to hear what I have to say.
My first impression of that scene of yelling and shouting, with demands to remove this statue of St Louis of France, is this: Do those who want to remove this statue even know who King Louis IX of France was, since he was born more than 800 years ago in the year 1214? Do they know anything about the times in which he lived?
Having been to Spain six different times as a priest to study and to go on pilgrimage, I have learned a lot about that part of the world. One fact that most Americans do not know: Muslims from North Africa invaded Spain in the year 711 and were not expelled until 1492 - that is eight centuries of foreign Muslim rule in a European country. The Muslims tried invade France and the rest of the Europe during this time as well, but they were defeated in battle and were not successful in their efforts. Yes, King Louis of France fought in the Crusades, but the Crusades have to be seen in the context of the trajectory of history and the context of its times. We cannot judge history only based upon our own experiences and the little that we might know about that era.
What is also said about King Louis IX: he was a man of faith who tried to rule as a Christian leader. His reign in France is seen in history as a reign that tried to institute justice and peace after two kings who rule with violence and terror. He founded hospitals, orphanages, libraries and churches. He often visited the sick and tended to people with leprosy. He is one of the patron saints of the secular Franciscan order for his life of justice and outreach to the poor. During Advent and Lent, he himself would bring meals to the poor and the hungry.
Will erasing history solve the problems we have in society? Is it fair to let angry mobs to tear down our statues in the middle of the night? I don’t think so. But learning about history, about the triumphs, challenges, and mistakes of the past, that perhaps will help us in our own day. And we think we know people and their story, but often times we do not. Many you may not know that my first name of Lincoln is a common name in my family. I am actually the fifth person in the Dall family with the name Lincoln, the first one being my great grandfather’s youngest brother, who worked on ships on the Great Lakes and who died in Chicago in 1890 at the age of 24. To this day, I don’t know how he died, if it was due to a shipwreck or due to illness. My first and middle name, Lincoln Spencer, came from my grandfather’s first cousin, a man my dad greatly admired. I had heard stories about him my entire life. Yet, earlier this year, doing some genealogy research, I discovered that he had been a gold miner in Colorado at the end of the 19th century as a young man with other members of his family, something I did not know at all. I was amazed and fascinated to learn that fact about him. There is a lot we can learn from history. I love learning about the saints. If we open our hearts and try to learn from history and learn from the saints, it can help us greatly on our journey of faith. Learning about history and historical figures can help us in our society as well.
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