Who might be a good patron saint for Extreme Sports?

SISTER MAXINE: We’ve got a question and this one comes in from Jamie on the blog and Jamie said “I’m an athlete who spends a lot of time doing extreme sports. As a result, I end up surrounded by lots of people who—sort of say “live on the edge”—and often turn to drugs to deal with that. In high-risk situations, I instead turn to God but a lot of times I feel pretty alone in that. Jamie continues, so do you know of any saints who wrote books that could relate to being in high-risk situations for something they love? Not necessarily in the extreme sports area but someone who maybe took a high risk for their faith.

SISTER JULIE: I think one way that we can approach your question, Jamie, is to look at some of the characteristics that saints have that would pair up well with someone who is into extreme sports and who lives a kind of life, as you mentioned, that is about doing things and pushing yourself.

SISTER MAXINE: About getting, as Marg and Zeke mentioned in the chat room, that little adrenaline rush. So, there are some saints who excel in physical fitness, there are some saints who engage in adventure, and there are saints who cultivated asceticism which is associated sometimes with bodily exercise and especially athletic training.

SISTER JULIE: I think asceticism is one of those highly underrated things where we think that it’s a really tough thing to do, which it is, but it is a way to better know ourselves and to be able to keep ourselves in check physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

SISTER MAXINE: Physical fitness can be combined with asceticism. Often times it is, in the sense of that physical training. There are, Jamie, a couple of saints we might recommend in this area. One who comes to my mind right away is Joan of Arc.

SISTER JULIE: Yes, what’s not to love.

SISTER MAXINE: Fabulous. I love the depictions of her often wearing armor and leading a group of people as they are out to overcome evil as it were. The depiction of her is of one who is very strong, not only in her beliefs but physically and emotionally.

SISTER JULIE: And also, in her leadership capabilities. I mean she was a very young woman and was commanding armies. I think having that strength of character and leadership is an important aspect of a saint, especially one that we want to look to if we are doing extreme sports because you do want to have a good sense of character. You do want to be able to exhibit leadership skills because you are going to need to make some decisions when you are engaged in those kinds of sports.

SISTER MAXINE: Another one who comes to mind is Saint Sebastian. Saint Sebastian was an officer of the Imperial Roman army which was a pretty dangerous thing given that during that time there were persecutions of Christians. Sebastian helped Christians to escape some persecutions and for that, he paid dearly and was eventually killed. So, it was his leadership skills and his capacity to kind of hold up to the pressure that he was under and to help other people. He would make a good saint in terms of physical fitness.

SISTER JULIE: You can throw in Ignatius there, well Ignatius before he got injured, because he was also a soldier. So again, you can sort of go along that theme of being well trained and having leadership capacities which is something Ignatius certainly had as well. Now another aspect that you might be able to identify within saints is the spirit of adventure. This is not just something for the capital “S” saints because the spirit of adventure seems to be inherent in the Christian vocation.

SISTER MAXINE: Isn’t it Jesus who says to “go out to the ends of the earth”

SISTER JULIE: Yes

SISTER MAXINE: “and have adventures!” I don’t know about that last part was exactly in there. One of the saints that we see do this, and I love the story, is Saint Brendan of Clonfert, an Irish monk also known as the Navigator. Sometimes called “the Voyager” or “the Bold”. And so, there’s this legend about him. He crossed the Atlantic in a little boat that was made out of animal skins. Not timber, not steel, animal skins.

SISTER JULIE: Wow! He might as well have used 8 ½ X 11 paper or something like that. I mean animal skins are a little bit sturdier than that.

SISTER MAXINE: In his little animal skin boat he would set off into the unknown and of course, no realistic expectation of return but that’s sort of what faith is.

SISTER JULIE: This is true, just without the animal skins (chuckle)

SISTER MAXINE: That’s true, you set out and chances are you’re not going to be able to go back to the place that you left from. He had all kinds of adventures along the way, along with his voyages, storms at sea, and probably before he left, quite a bit of naysayers.

SISTER JULIE: Absolutely and probably people fearful for his life because they probably didn’t think he was coming back alive either.

SISTER MAXINE: Another couple of saints that we would recommend for extreme sports and this would come under the category of asceticism and the person who’s the ascetic strives to have control over their body the way an athlete would strive to do that and seeks to transcend some of what they perceive to be their limitations so that they can experience something more whether it’s an enhanced state of being or sort of the lights that turn on when that adrenaline rush hits. They seek to transcend what they consider to be their limitations.

SISTER JULIE: One of the most fertile places to go for saints and asceticism is, of course, the desert so Anthony of the Desert is a classic example of an ascetic. Anthony is from the third century and he moved out of the city in order to be a solitary in the desert. Living in the desert is a very austere life. There are people who do it all the time but the desert is a wilderness. It’s filled with creatures and weather conditions and a very hostile environment.

SISTER MAXINE: I have always thought that it was most interesting in some of the writings from the early church, talking about going into the desert to rid themselves of distractions. I am like, you know, there’s a lot of wild things out there. I think that would be distracting to have a bear chasing me.

SISTER JULIE: I would also be distracted by the desert bear chasing me. (laughter)

SISTER MAXINE: (laughter)

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