Worthy of sainthood

STIRLING  Robert Gil jokes that, during 38 years of marriage, he had called his late wife, Rosie, “many things but ‘saint’ wasn’t one of them.”

But Gil isn’t kidding when he speaks about his whole-hearted admiration for Rosie, who died in 2010, for her absolute devotion to God, to him, to their eight children, to the “poetry of the home.” He started to realize that there might be something more to Rosie, when priests from their home state of Alabama who knew her started calling her a “saint” and her name was brought forward when St. John Paul II was looking for an everyday housewife worthy of sainthood. After her death, Rosie’s faith-filled example of motherhood caught the attention of Bishop Robert Baker of the Diocese of Birmingham, Ala. Now her cause for sainthood is being investigated. On May 18 — in the month that honors the Blessed Mother — Gil visited St. Vincent de Paul Parish here to speak about Rosie, share her writings on motherhood and family and talk about the need to restore a Christian culture through faithful families.

“Mystics are important, but we also need ordinary people who are spiritual to relate to and inspire us. Rosie was not a mystic; she changed diapers and home-schooled,” said Gil, who lived in rural Alabama with Rosie, raising eight children and eight foster children. He now has 36 grandchildren. That afternoon at St. Vincent’s, he delivered a talk on “The Poetry of the Home and the Restoration of Christian Culture.”

“As a stay-at-mother, Rosie lived a purposeful life and made a strong family. Today, God is using her to spread his message for motherhood,” he said.

Gil read some passages from “See You in Heaven,” a book — part biography and part collection of her writings — that was written and compiled by their daughter, Maria Thompson. The book, as well as her faithful example, is inspiring women in their vocations as mothers or in their desire to become mothers, Gil said, prompting many to start devotions to Rosie. The book compiles many of the prayers, letters of encouragement and “good Catholic advice” that she wrote for her children — gems of wisdom that her family found after her death, Gil said.

“Every mother knows the cry and restlessness of the toddler. Yet, she also knows the tremendous warmth and affection that should go with this interruption. So don’t forget to stop what you are doing and give that needed TLC to the baby and toddler. These are really special times that you know you will always treasure. This is the true joy of mothering: yielding to these untimely moments of affection. Don’t throw these precious moments to the wind,” Rosie writes to her children. “You will see the fruits of all your efforts preserved and carried on in later years. But most of all your greatest reward will be in heaven. So let us hang in there … And let us never forget that we are all called to be saints,” she writes.

After Rosie’s death, Capuchin Father Angelus Shaughnessy of EWTN read her then-unpublished writings, prompting him to call her a “saint.” At his urging, the Gil family brought her writings to Bishop Baker, who expressed interest in opening her cause. The bishop also encouraged Thompson to write the book, which became “See You in Heaven,” within the typical five-year waiting period to begin the investigation, said Gil.

Gil spoke about how Catholic families can restore society to a Christian culture by creating homes filled with faith and traditional values. Today, “everything is going against motherhood,” caused by the breakdown of the traditional family and sexual mores, along with the trend of women choosing to pursue a career instead of motherhood, said Gil, who also promoted the family in which the mother stays home and the father works “as ideal.”

“A woman finds her ultimate happiness in motherhood. She finds meaning in being able to shape the future and the Church through her children and her children’s children,” Gil said.

Gil also suggested that parents make their home “a hive” of activity with “the mother as the queen bee — a place of happiness.” Family members should not be playing on their phones or watching TV but engaging in the joy of “creating things”: making pottery, furniture or dolls; cooking; playing music; or gardening. He also urged parents to help their kids “feel the faith daily” perhaps by following Rosie’s example of praying the rosary.

“The Church depends on good men and women to be saints to change the world. In our Catholic families, we can see the beauty of what God has created and get to know him,” Gil said. “So try to hold onto those good Catholic traditions and values. The worst thing would be to lose our families,” he said.

In between Gil’s talks, four of the five grandchildren who accompanied him played bluegrass music — some religiously themed — on guitar, fiddles and mandolin. Before the presentation, Father Richard Carton, St. Vincent’s pastor, delivered a prayer, thanking God for faith through Jesus; honoring the “beautiful vocation of mothers, so that life can be raised to know Jesus”; and asking God to turn the U.S. from the culture of death from abortion and to “lift up” all mothers, “who inspire us each day to be your sons and daughters.”

Afterward, Liz Lavorerio of St. Vincent’s, the mother of four grown children and grandmother of five, called Gil’s talk “fabulous” and remembered the joy of staying at home to raise her children. Later, she went to teach pre-school. “Children want you to be home with them to be their mommies. They want a hug, love and affection from you. Today, we need to rethink motherhood and bring the family back,” she said.