St Rose of Viterbo was a prophetic young girl who inspired her homeland to stand with the Vatican in a dispute with an emperor. Frederick II was emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in the 13th century. He was in conflict with the pope, who excommunicated him. In response, Frederick attacked the papal states, conquering the region of Viterbo, Italy. Rose was born in Viterbo and lived there with her poor parents during this conflict. When she was 8 years old, she fell ill, receiving a vision from Mary in her sickness, who told her that she was to give her life to pursuing holiness just as St. Francis of Assisi did. Mary told Rose that she was to take the habit of the Franciscans, but that she was not to live in a convent but to stay at home and set an example for her community in word and in action. When she was 12, she began preaching in the streets against Emperor Frederick’s occupation of Italy, in an effort to incite the city to overthrow the regime. For two years, she continued to speak in public about the occupation. As her popularity grew, authorities called for her execution, but the city’s magistrate sent her and her family into exile instead. When the emperor died in 1250, the Vatican’s forces won the day and Rose and her parents moved back to Viterbo. Rose sought entrance into the local convent, but was denied because she did not have a dowry. She continued to live with her parents, leading a life of prayer and service, but she died at the age of 17. Six years later, due to her popularity, her body was transferred to the chapel of the convent she once tried to enter. The church burned down in 1357, but her body was preserved and was carried through the city in a procession every year. That tradition continues today with an annual festival in Viterbo that features dozens of men carrying a giant platform through the city on Sept. 3, the night before her feast day.
“Vanity of vanities, all things are vanity,” says Quoheleth, the author of Ecclesiastes. If life is nothing but a vanity, why should we have faith? Quoheleth looked out at his world; he saw that not every act of goodness was rewarded. He saw that evil sometimes went unpunished. We can be tempted to give up on the world and to give up on God, to live a self-centered life, to live for today and to forget about the consequences of tomorrow.
Quoheleth looked at the ancient world in which he lived, and saw that it was essentially a changeless world. The environment, culture, and lifestyles essentially remained the same from generation to generation. Was there nothing we could do for things to change? Perhaps the author of Ecclesiastes is trying to challenge us to a more profound spiritual quest. We will never be able to master the world, to explain the mysteries of life, to justify our existence. We are faced with a choice: to either become self-centered and cynical, or to reach out to God. By turning to God, we do not turn our backs on the world. By following a life of faith, we will look at the world differently. Through the eyes of our faith, we trust in the power of God, we turn to God as the master of the world, the one who can explain the mysteries of life and justify our existence. Through our eyes of faith, through our faith in God, we hold that life does hold meaning and purpose, that it is not a vanity.
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