June 4, 2006

Among the seven Pentecostal gifts of the Holy Spirit with which we were "sealed" in the sacrament of Confirmation is Fortitude. Fortitude is strength and power infused by God to help overcome difficulties or to endure pain. This "impulse of the Holy Spirit" perfects the natural virtue of courage so that it resists evil and perseveres toward eternal life. Its characteristics are energy, steadiness, promptness, and a confidence of success.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, I preached about Father Vincent Capodanno, a model of Fortitude. He was born on February 13, 1929, on Staten Island and the hardships of the Depression were vivid in his large family. After his priestly ordination in 1957 he spent eight years as a Maryknoll missioner in Taiwan and Hong Kong . A year after enlisting in the Navy as a chaplain in 1965, he was assigned to Vietnam with the Marines as a battalion chaplain and his pastoral care for the marine infantry men who were called "grunts" soon got him the nickname "the grunt padre." He requested that his one-year tour of duty in Vietnam be extended. On the front line in Que Son Valley, September 4, 1967, his men were outnumbered by the enemy 2,500 to 500. Early on, with two Purple Hearts already to his credit, he had part of his right hand blown away — but he continued to hear confessions and anoint the dying. A mortar shell left his right arm hanging in shreds, but he continued to give absolution, supporting what remained of his arm with his left one. When one of the soldiers was shot in the leg, he positioned himself between the wounded young man and the machine gun aimed at him. His body, with 28 bullets, was carried off the field by troops to whom he had given Communion many times. Posthumously, Father Capodanno was awarded the Medal of Honor.

It is military tradition that anyone wearing the Medal of Honor, however low his rank, is saluted even by generals and the Commander-in-Chief. A higher salute awaits those who live the virtues heroically through the power of the Holy Spirit. This May 21 in Washington, D.C., 1,500 people attended a Mass opening the cause for the possible canonization of this Servant of God. Father Louis Iasiello, a rear admiral and chief of Navy chaplains, said Fr. Capodanno was "more than a person of extraordinary military accomplishment. . . . He was also a Christian who lived an exemplary life of extraordinary virtue . . . who, through the testament of his life, offers all believers a model of faith to inspire them to live, more deeply, their own vocation."

St. Cyril of Jerusalem said that the Holy Spirit "apportions grace to each man as he wills. . . . He comes with the tenderness of a true friend and protector to save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen and to console."

Fr. George W. Rutler