Will St. Chad Answer Election Prayers?

By Angus MacSwan

MIAMI (Reuters) - Fed up with the presidential election? Who better to pray to for a swift resolution than St. Chad.

Chad, a priest in seventh century England, was also involved in a dispute over a top post, according to biographies. By all accounts he was a modest fellow who never sought power but found it thrust upon him.

St. Chad lived in England from 620 to 672 AD and has stayed largely out of the news for the past few centuries.

But interest in all matters chad has soared during the post-election drama and the close fight between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore for the presidency.

Dangling, dimpled, pregnant and other kinds of chads -- pieces of paper which should be punched out of a ballot card when a vote is cast -- have assumed a pivotal role as lawyers for the candidates argue over which ballots can or cannot be counted.

Chad, the man, was an abbot in northern England when one Wilfrid was chosen to the senior position of Bishop of York. But Wilfrid stayed too long on a jaunt to France, where he had gone to be consecrated, so King Oswiu of Northumbria appointed Chad Bishop of York instead, according to the Catholic Community Forum's Patron Saints index.

When Wilfrid eventually returned, the top churchman, the archbishop of Canterbury, told Chad he should step down. Did Chad head off with his lawyers to the courts? No.

"Chad replied that he had never thought himself worthy of the position, that he took it through obedience,and he would surrender it through obedience," the index Chad profile said.

There was some compensation, though. The archbishop was so impressed by Chad's humility that he appointed him bishop of the Mercians in Lichfield instead.

The Oxford Dictionary of Saints says Chad was widely recognized as being "unusually humble, devout, zealous and apostolic."

While bishop of Lichfield, Chad founded several monasteries and built a cathedral. He also traveled around on foot preaching until his death of the plague in 672.

He was venerated as a saint on his death and his relics moved to a cathedral. According to the dictionary, a number of sick people were healed after drinking a potion of water and dust from the relics.

As in many chad tales, there is a degree of separation. The relics were moved over the years. "At some unknown date, the head and some bones had been separated from the main shrine," the Dictionary said.

Some relics are now in St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham.

Joseph Harbaugh, dean of the law school at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,said the prayer on the feast of St. Chad on March 2 was unlikely to go down well with either Gore or Bush.

"Almighty God, whose servant Chad, for the peace of the Church, relinquished cheerfully the honors that had been thrust upon him, only to be rewarded with equal responsibility: Keep us we pray, from thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, and ready at all times to step aside for others."

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), December 03, 2000