Saint Hyacinth

I’ve had a string of strange coincidences happen to me lately. I know I’m the kind of person who has a tendency to read more into things than may actually be there – but for the most part I’m a pretty level headed person, I just believe that God speaks to us is many ways.

Last week I was outside taking some photographs and I noticed that the house next door had a whole bunch of these purple flowers growing along the edge, so I picked one (no one lives there or I would have asked permission) and I brought it inside and I kept it in a little bottle of water right by the kitchen sink. It had such a powerful scent that even if you were just passing by the kitchen you could smell the flower. When I was washing dishes, I would look at it and it just made me happy.

A couple of nights later I had this really strange part dream, part nightmare about being in a church/auditorium and Satan showed up (he was very tall with a long black cape – I lean toward the theatrical okay – and the dream was in a theatre!) and he pulled out a sword and was harassing a couple of people in front of me. In the dream I got up with my daughter and husband to leave the theatre and my husband kind of got pushed ahead of me in the crowd and I was trying to get my daughter and all these children out and at the same time carry this huge statue of Jesus. The next day, I subscribed the dream to my active imagination and the fact that I feel somewhat “burdened” right now – trying to keep everything in order – feeling stressed.

Today I was listening to a song called “San Jacinto” and I wondered who San Jacinto was. I really like the name and I was just curious so I looked it up online and I discovered that San Jacinto is Spanish for Saint Hyacinth – who knew! I also found this on Wikipedia:

Saint Hyacinth, Święty Jacek, Jacek Odrowąż (b. c. 1185 in Kamień Śląski (Ger. Groß Stein) near Opole (Ger. Oppeln), Upper Silesia – d. August 15, 1257 in Kraków, Poland of natural causes) was educated in Paris and Bologna. A Doctor of Sacred Studies and a priest, he worked to reform convents in his native Poland. While in Rome, he witnessed a miracle performed by Saint Dominic, and became a Dominican. He brought the Dominican Order to Poland, then evangelized throughout Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Scotland, Russia, Turkey, and Greece.

During an attack on a monastery, Hyacinth managed to save a monstrance (or possibly a ciborium, it is unknown exactly which) containing the Blessed Sacrament and statue of Mary, though the statue weighed far more than he could normally have lifted; the saint is usually shown holding these two items.

In Spanish, he is known as San Jacinto. He is the patron saint of St. Hyacinth’s Basilica, in Chicago, Illinois and of those in danger of drowning.

I mean – it’s just interesting how all these little things kind of came together – it’s not like I’m building an ark now or making a sculpture of the Devil’s Tower out of mashed potatoes* but I think sometimes God just sends little messages into our life to give us pause. I certainly wouldn’t have known who Saint Hyacinth is if not for this – and maybe that’s someone I need to read more about – maybe there’s some lesson there for me.

Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few.

As a dream comes when there are many cares,
so the speech of a fool when there are many words.

Ecclesiastes 5:2-3

*an obscure reference to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”