Aw yeah!
Posted on 07/23/2013 4:10:11 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
What’s in a baby name?
Money, for one, for those among the Britons who’ve bet on the name of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s new son, born July 22 in London. According to multiple sources, the bookmakers are betting on a traditional moniker such as James or George. Similarly regal names were predicted if William and Kate, as the parents are better known, were to have had a girl.
For Catholics, a name also traditionally includes a patron saint.
Catholics have a long history of naming their children with recognized saints in mind, making a name like “North” – Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s recent choosing for their daughter – once unimaginable.
That’s no longer the case.
Deacon Vito S. Piazza Sr., pastoral associate of St. Joseph in Sykesville who coordinates the parish’s baptisms, said he has seen a decline in the number of Catholics who purposely choose saints names for their babies. Those who do often make them middle names.
Baptismal classes could provide an opportunity for Catholic leaders to encourage saint names, but couples are also waiting longer than in the past to baptize their children, Deacon Piazza said. Many wait until after the child is born to take baptismal preparation classes.
“At that point, they’ve already named their baby,” he said.
Naming a baby after a saint goes back to the early centuries of the church, said Monsignor Steven P. Rohlfs, rector of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg.
The name affirmed the parents’ belief in the communion of saints and expressed admiration for the early Christian martyrs. It also demonstrated hope that a saint would take a special interest in interceding on behalf of his or her namesake, Monsignor Rohlfs said.“
(The name) is a constant reminder that we are to emulate our patron saint, whoever he or she may be, and that we have a special affinity toward them, and they to us,” he said. “It was a core belief, and still is, that those in heaven still take an active interest in those who are still on their way.
”As Christianity emerged from oppression to become the dominant religion, the culture of Christendom presumed people would name children after saints, Monsignor Rohlfs said. That continued for centuries, until the rise of secularism.
The trend has noticeably declined since the 1960s, he said.
“When I was growing up, we were taught a prayer to our patron saint which we said every day, and which I still say every day. I’ve said it since I was in the third grade,” he said.
With thousands of saints canonized by the Catholic Church, the statistics lean in parents’ favor of giving their child a saint’s name, if unintentionally.
According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, the top 10 baby names for boys in 2012 were Jacob, Mason, Ethan, Noah, William, Liam, Jayden, Michael, Alexander and Aiden. For girls, they were Sophia, Emma, Isabella, Olivia, Ava, Emily, Abigail, Mia, Madison and Elizabeth. Most are the names of saints or biblical figures.
There’s even a St. Zoe (which ranked last year as No. 30), but not, unfortunately for Catholic parents wishing to emulate Gwyneth Paltrow, a St. Apple.(There’s also no St. Gwyneth, but there is a St. Gwen.)
If a Catholic was not given a saint’s name at birth, the sacrament of confirmation offers another opportunity to take a saint’s name, Monsignor Rohlfs said.
However, he would like to see the tradition of naming a child after a saint or virtue revived, he said.
“Besides the spiritual dimension of it, a Christian name is part of Catholic culture,” Monsignor Rohlfs said. “As the Catholic culture has eroded, so too have many of these practices. We simply have to await a better time when people will once again rediscover these things.”
Deacon Piazza also said he would advise parents to embrace the practice, calling it “a wonderful tradition.”
“That child, if they are raised in the faith, would be taught to pray to that namesake to intercede for them,” he said.
Puny, the quote you gave us --- Job_15:15 "Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight"--- is not God or a prophet of God speaking. It is Eliphaz "the Temanite", the first of the three visitors of Job. He keeps telling Job that a good man could never suffer; therefore, since he is suffering, he must be cooncealing a sin. Job keeps protesting that he is not being devious about hidden sins, he is an honest man and yet here he is, suffering.
God declares at the end of the book that Eliphaz believed an erroneous view of divine dispensations. Job offers a sacrifice to God for Eliphaz's error.
The fact is, God often sends creatures --- human and angelic persons -- to have a hand in His work. It happens in every book of the Bible. "Here I am, Lord: send me."
If it were not so, the Bible would be meaningless --- or perhaps, republished as a 3-fold flyer --- because there would be nobody in it who could do anything significant, help anybody, or extend God's work as His ambassadors.
2 Corinthians 5:20
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
.
My money is on Skeeter.
“It is Eliphaz “the Temanite”
Thank you. I am afraid that there are vast swaths of the Bible with which I am insufficiently familiar. My fault, not that of the Church.
I really need to buckle down and tackle the Book of Job in a serious way.
I find it useful to take 20 minutes or so before each day's Mass, and look up the lectionary readings, and then read the whole chapter (or if I have time, more than that) for context. Sometimes it sends me off flipping the pages for footnotes and cross-references and such. I'm continually amazed at what I find just 2 verses after the lectionary reading, or 2 verses before.
Aw yeah!
” I’m continually amazed at what I find just 2 verses after the lectionary reading, or 2 verses before.”
What a coincidence, eh?
Tell me about it... :o/
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