Jesus sent his disciples out in "twos." Additionally, we are so aware today (amidst the pandemic of gender confusion) that the spousal balance/synthesis/communion/fertility of the masculine/feminine is at the core of human thriving and holiness, at every level, from the person to the family to the universal Church: maternal/paternal, bride/groom, brother/sister, Marian/Petrine. Let's consider some possible partner doctors. We already have non-doctor partners in holiness: Benedict/Scholastica, Francis of Assis/Clare, Vincent de Paul/Louise de Marillac, Francis de Sales/Jane de Chantel, Claude de la Columbiere/Margaret Mary Alacoque, In our age, the Holy Spirit has raised up many such sanctified dyads.
John Paul II is hands-down the strongest candidate of our age; he is lapping everyone else by virtue of his holiness, brilliance, and historical influence. (I know this is not a competition. But St. Paul did speak about "running the good race" and JP was an athlete!) His witness will be even stronger with a partner, especially in light of his passionate appreciation of the feminine and his own iconic virility. It happens that four of the next strongest contenders are all closely related to him. Three of the four are already canonized women; the forth his close collaborator and with him (and Balthasar) compose the trinity of great Catholic intellects of the twentieth century.
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is, along with JP, the dominant Catholic figure of the last half of the 20th century. No one approaches these two as far as holiness, heroism, influence. One is mother, the other father. They knew and related, he in authority and she in obedience. The pope notoriously did not allow her to retire to a life of prayer, keeping in her in her famous purgatory on earth, an extended night of the spirit, deepening her holiness. In her prolonged descent into hell, she may have exceeded him and even the great mystics in sanctity. The two make a incomparable partnership in mission, wisdom and holiness.
St. Faustina was the Polish recipient of the revelations of Divine Mercy which John Paul made the cornerstone of his pontificate. I consider his encyclical On Divine Mercy the single greatest document of our age. It changed and defined my own life. This is the "partnership in Divine Mercy"...perhaps the single greatest visitation of the heavenly on the earth of our time. Her diary and the entire cult of Divine Mercy (image, litany, Sunday after Easter) may exceed the sanctifying influence of our women Doctors of the Church Avila, Lisieux, Sienna and Hildegaard. John Paul was her partner in certifying and spreading the cult and infusing his own pontificate with it.
St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross, born in Poland and died in Auschwicz at age of 51 when John Paul was 22, living not far away. Like him, she combined exceptional holiness, heroism and intellectual brilliance in synthesizing the best of classic Thomism with contemporary personalism/phenomenology. Academically, they embody...with Blondel, Marcel, the Hildebrands, the Maritains, Mounier, Day/Maurin...20th century's Catholic reception of the best of contemporary thought.
Pope Benedict VI worked closely with John Paul as his right hand man. Comparably brilliant, he also combined expertise in tradition and contemporary thought. His holiness is obvious but not yet certified by canonization. The mission of these two popes, both participants in Vatican II, was one.
Best case scenario: this quintet are named doctors together. Four are already canonized; three religious sisters, one active the other to cloistered; two popes; three Poles; three intellectual geniuses; all of them mystics. The probability of some of these five being named doctors is very high. Those that follow below are far less likely.
Spiritual, Virginal Partnerships
Hans urs Von Balthasar and Adrienne von Speyr. Balthasar is unrivaled in the century for his encyclopedic erudition including tradition and culture. He considered his primary contribution to be conveying the mystical insights of the lay, non-theologian, twice-married, physician Speyr. In their partnership, they embodied what they explained as the spousal, the Petrine/Marian, the masculine/feminine.
Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez. Another chaste, powerful evangelical partnership. Carmen was a trained theologian, schooled at the time of the Council. Kiko is artist, musician, and spiritual genius. Theirs is a marvelous expression of the faith, drawing from tradition and contemporary life. The fertility of their legacy...new communities, large families, tons of religious vocations...will bring increased credence with time to their status as doctor candidates.
Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. Here we find an eccentric, fascinating, serendipitous partnership. Dorothy is really the founder of the Catholic Worker, the one who made things happen. But her work would have been impossible without her mentoring in the Catholic tradition by this ragamuffin, mendicant, self-taught, common-man, homegrown philosopher-mystic.
Lay, Spousal Balance of the Masculine and the Feminine...Informal, Undeclared "Doctors"
Here we are clearly dealing with the JV: very few of the following are on the formal canonization track. We know that practically speaking lay people, especially the married, leave no organizational legacy to advance the formal cause. This may change as the leaders of lay renewal movements go on to their rewards. Perhaps we might develop a Catholic devotion to undeclared, informal doctors, like we with do with All Saints Day and daily prayer to the saints. Such would be those, including the married, who present in their lives admiral synthesis of holiness, charity, erudition, and loyalty to the Church.
Jacques and Raissa Maritain. Early in their relationship, bereft of faith, they pledged mutual suicide if they did not find meaning in life. They were grasped by God; married in 1902 and a decade later pledged to voluntary celibacy, a "Josephite marriage." Both first rate thinkers and authors. Jacques was and is immensely influential in communicating the wisdom of St. Thomas to today's Church.
Dietrich and Alice von Hilderbrand. Alice, 34 years younger, married Dietrich after the death of his first wife. Dietrich, called a "20th century doctor of the Church" by Pius XII, is in the league of Edith Stein and John Paul as brilliant synthesizers of Thomism and contemporary philosophy, specifically phenomenology and personalism. Alice continued his work up to her death in 2022 at the age of 99.
Catherine and Eddy Doherty. Russian nobility emigre, Dorothy-day-type lover of the poor, mystic, charismatic, married-then-annulled to her first cousin, Catherine married Eddy, renowned reporter, twice-widower. They started Madonna House, a lay community very close to the very poor and neglected. As founders of that community of celibates, they apparently lived also a Josephite marriage. Eddy became a Melkite priest, still married, in union with Rome, at the age of 78. In this case, Catherine is the stronger candidate.
Frank Sheed and Maisey Ward are another delightfully eccentric Catholic couple: talented writers and speakers, they founded Sheed and Ward publishing company which fueled the Catholic anglosphere intellectual revival 1930-65 by making readily and inexpensively available the best literature of the time.
Scott and Kimberly Hahn. Here again, two first rate theologians, exemplary Catholics. Scott is already a legend in his time: dizzyingly erudite in study of scripture, hypnotically dynamic in presentation, he is the "Cardinal Newman" of our time as he has led a long parade, of high-quality theologians and clergy into the Church.
David C. and Jeanne Schindler. David inherited from his father (David L.) the crown of the Communio School of theology in the USA. I doubt there is a Catholic metaphysican in the Anglosphere that compares with him. Yet he emulates his father's deep critique of our culture. Add to that, (I know him), he is a down-to-earth, easy-to-approach, modest, humble guy. Jeanne I understand is his partner and a thinker in her own right.
Kevin and Dorothy Ranaghan were founders of the People of Praise charismatic Catholic community in South Bend in 1971. They were then and have remained among the most influential of the lay leaders of that movement. Kevin is an ordained deacon. They remain active now, in their mid-80s.
Peter and Debra Hebrich are leaders of Renewal Ministries, charismatic-Catholic-global. Each is writer and speaker of renown. They are model of a evangelizing marriage. They are typical of many couple leaders in the lay movements including Neocatechumenate, Communion and Liberation, Focolare and other.
Ralph Martin and Steve Clark. (No, this is not a gay marriage!😅) Steve (now passed) was a vowed celibate, Ralph enjoys a happy marriage/family with Anne who is not a prominent intellectual-activist. But together they were the strongest leaders of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal from 1970 to around 1985. At that time they had a painful, passionate parting of the ways. Steve directed the umbrella group of covenant communities (Sword of the Spirit), Ralph founded Renewal Ministries, a more specifically Catholic vehicle of evangelization, much in tune with John Paul II. They surely are among the most influential Catholics of the last 50 years. Will the fruit of their work give evidence of their holiness and qualification as doctors? I would not count them out! They would be (with JP2 and B6) our first "bro-doctor-saints."
Conclusion
We see in these 16 dyads or partnerships the prominence of the spousal, the communion of the feminine and masculine. Most (23) are lay. Four clergy (2 popes, 2 priest,) three consecrated religious. Eight married couples. Twenty-two males; twenty-one females. The feminine is equal in prominence to the masculine, but always in spousal balance. Each is personally iconic in virility or femininity.
The streams noted here all find exquisite expression and support in the incomparable papacy of John Paul. Recalling the reflections of the previous essay on this topic of contemporary doctors, it becomes clear that the significant movements of the Holy Spirit in our time converged in this person and mission:
- Engagement of personalism and Thomism. (Stein, Hildebrands, Maritains)
- Intimacy with the poor. (Day/Maurin, Dohertys, Mother Theresa)
- Mysticism of Divine Mercy. (Faustina, Mother Teresa, Doherty, Stein)
- Heavenly aesthetics on earth. (John Paul as poet, actor; Benedict as musician; Kiko in art and music; Sheed/Ward and literature;
- Spousal love as iconic, in family and the entire sacramental cosmos. (Schindlers, Benedict)
- Feminine as prominent and esteemed in collaboration with the masculine as distinct/complimentary and the two as fruitful in communion. Devotion to our Mother Mary.
- Emergence of the lay in communion with the ordained and religious, especially in renewal movements.
John Paul is our champion, our captain, our commander. He leads, in our time, our company up the mountain of holiness. He is assisted by a splendid squad of saint-doctors.
Pray for us, all you 20th century holy, wise ones!
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