Roman Catholics and statues
I was raised RC and I've never heard this before.
Neighbor is attempting to sell her house; it's been on the market for months and months. She's Baptist, was visiting a friend in a RC nursing home. One of the Nuns told my neighbor to bury a statue of St. Joseph upside down, outside, until her prayer that her house is sold is "granted." Then she is to dig the statue up and place it in a "prominent place" in her new home for a year. I don't know what's supposed to happen after that.
So she went out and bought a statue and I saw her burying it.
I've never heard of anything like this before. I volunteer at the same nursing home on occasion (usually holidays) so I called and asked, and, yes, that's what the Nun told her to do.
Is this familiar to anyone? I just don't understand it.
Statues have no “powers” – Catholic or otherwise!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JudyKayTee
I was raised RC and I've never heard this before.
And you shouldn't be hearing of it now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JudyKayTee
Neighbor is attempting to sell her house; it's been on the market for months and months. She's Baptist, was visiting a friend in a RC nursing home. One of the Nuns told my neighbor to bury a statue of St. Joseph upside down, outside, until her prayer that her house is sold is "granted." Then she is to dig the statue up and place it in a "prominent place" in her new home for a year. I don't know what's supposed to happen after that.
So she went out and bought a statue and I saw her burying it.
I've never heard of anything like this before. I volunteer at the same nursing home on occasion (usually holidays) so I called and asked, and, yes, that's what the Nun told her to do.
Is this familiar to anyone? I just don't understand it.
To believe that an object such as a statue of St. Joseph has some intrinsic power is simple superstition. Depending on how firm the belief is held, it could be a form of animism, shamanism, demonology, or paganism; all of which are viewed as error in the Catholic Church. This belief is similar to the tenets of naturism where nature is believed to have some animated powers to act or react to man's actions on earth. We hear this in the news frequently, e.g. “Forget logic or consideration for our children or for Mother Earth... ” this raises an inanimate object, the earth, to the demigod status likened to gaia. Furthermore, holding such beliefs in the power of a statue can be a form of fetishism; whereby an inanimate object has some magic power to affect the actions of humans. Many primitive people do this. Therefore, burying a statue of St. Joseph in the yard has as much “power” as taking the latest book of Tim LaHays' “Left Behind Series” and burying it in the backyard. Or perhaps you might want to try burying a small statue of your salesmen – at least it might give him pause to think about what might happen if he doesn't sell the house (in my book this would be much more effective).
On the other hand, if the statue is used to center prayer to St. Joseph then it is just that, an object on which to focus for the purpose of clearing the mind and removing, as it were, interruptions to pious prayers. Depending on the circumstances the object might be referred to as a sacramental. The purpose of the sacramental is to increase piety or holiness.
If however, the statue is revered as a god, then this is idolatry; the statue has no powers in and of itself.
JoeT
