St. John Vianney religious education student Adrian Barney and his mother Katherine look at a relic and statues of Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the three children who saw Mary’s appearances at Fatima in the early 1900s. (HCH photo | Anna Weaver)
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Some were only in elementary school. Others never went to school. One was a computer whiz. Another befriended sheep and lived in a barn.
All these are young people who became saints or are on the path to sainthood. Hagiographer and St. Anthony, Kailua, parishioner Peter Cruz highlighted them in a presentation to religious education students at St. John Vianney Parish in Kailua on Oct. 3.
Cruz used a slideshow with photographs of saints like Blessed Carlos Acutis and sibling saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who saw the Marian apparitions at Fatima in Portugal, because he believes showing the real faces of saints brings the faithful closer to them than do embellished or idealized statues and paintings.
A closeup of the child saints and their relics. (HCH photo | Anna Weaver)
While no photos exist of St. Germaine Cousin, Cruz used two sketches he’d done of the saint and had the kids in attendance guess the differences between the two images. He shared the story of this French “Cinderella Saint” who died at age 22 and is a patron saint for victims of child abuse.
Cruz also incorporated interactive puzzle guessing games, a list of patron saints for the kids to pick from, and relics and statues from his collection to tell the story of these holy people, emphasizing that there is no age limit to becoming a saint.
Cruz quizzed the religious education students, ages 6 to about 12, about saint facts and let them ask questions at the end of his talk.
Collections begins
Cruz has a collection of about 300 first-, second- and third-class relics that were bequeathed to him by an elderly woman who was a relic collector.
Peter Cruz talks to St. John Vianney religious education students and their parents on Oct. 3. (HCH photo | Anna Weaver)
Cruz said he first became fascinated with the stories of saints when he was 14. After his older friend showed him her relic collection and even took him on one of her pilgrimages to Europe, his devotion continued to grow. He eventually joined a group called the International Crusade for Holy Relics. That organization in turn sent him relics to use in his parish presentations.
“Knowing the lives of the saints helped me to make better decisions and really brought me to where I feel like I’m in a good place in my faith life because of things I’ve learned from the lives of the saints,” Cruz said.
He enjoys presentations to children like the one at St. John Vianney because kids have a fresh perspective on saints.
“The children are so drawn to the life of the saints and the relics,” Cruz said. “They just want to go up to the saints. I think it’s because they are so innocent. There are no walls up. They don’t question anything.”
They just want to pray or they want to see who the saint is. Or sometimes I catch them talking to the statue,” he said. “I love that because that tells me that there’s something that stuck and, hopefully that’s something that, as they grow up, will help them with their faith.”
If you’re interested in having Cruz speak to your group or class, you can reach him at guadalupehousehawaii@yahoo.com.