The corona virus pandemic that has already killed hundred of thousands of people worldwide is the reason why, all of a sudden, people are aware of a Christian martyr believed to have been tortured to death by the Romans about 1,800 years ago. Her name Corona, which means “crown” in Latin.
Let’s discover St. Corona’s story, whose feast day is May 14.
Long before the outbreak of the pandemic of the same name, Aachen Cathedral, in Western Germany, planned for an exhibition displaying its treasure: vault an elaborate reliquary believed to contain some of St. Corona’s bones; with precious gold craftmanship of bronze and ivory Corona shrine that was hidden from public view for 25 years.
The Aachen Cathedral, also known as the mighty 9th-century cathedral is the burial place of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman emperor, who died in 814 A.D. It remains a prominent pilgrimage church to this day.
King Otto III brought Corona’s relics to Aachen in 997 and kept them for hundreds of years in a tomb underneath a slab on the cathedral floor before they were moved to the shrine in the early 20th century.
As presumably predestined, St. Corona is commonnly thought to be the patron saint for warding off infectious diseases. In the small Austrian town of St. Corona, people used to pray to the saint in difficult times, including protection of their livestock from contagious disease. It has recently caught the attention of many, as St. Corona, “patron saint of infectious disease” is her strking title for the times.
People who ask and hope for help from the geavens above in difficult times – in particular when they had problems of faced with too many challenges in life – would pray to St. Corona and invoke her name. She is said to have lived in the 2nd century AD and was killed for comforting a martyr, becoming one herself, tied between two palm trees bent to the ground that were released to tear her apart.
In times of crisis and uncertainty, many people turn to religion for guidance and consolation. But the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in physical distancing across the country and the world has made even the most common displays of faith harder and complicated. Human connection is also a fundamental part of suppressing one’s faith, and it is manifesting in new ways.
We need to recognize we’re vulnerable, we took God’s blessings for granted and we don’t have control. Let us ask God’s forgiveness and have time to reflect on our mistakes and wake ourselves up because we’re missing our priorities in life.
We may ask why this global disaster is happening. When we suffer, it leads us to ask things about God, realizing an important lesson that we cannot absolutely understand the ways of God.
When this pandemic is over, for sure humanity will have learned something. Let us not be scared but instead face our fears and have hope. Hope means that we know that God and his Saints are always there to help, and therefore let us hope that a better time will come to us all.
Whether there is crisis or not… Faith in God remains very important in our lives. It, in fact, is more essential that Lugaw.
