Genealogy is the systematic study of lineage and family history. The backbone of serious genealogy is the documented family tree. For many, this seems merely a passionate hobby. Yet genealogy over the past quarter century has advanced exponentially and scientifically. Over 15 million people have used Ancestry.com’s DNA service; 3 million maintain annual subscriptions—and that is one online service. My Heritage.com boasts 25 million users. Each month over 1 billion unique searches are done on the Ancestry site and My Heritage sites.
It is tragic that such an explosion of interest occurs at the same time when (according to a recent study) one third of Americans cannot even name all four of their grandparents.
Genealogy, Prayer, & Evangelization
Genealogy may well prove fertile grounds for evangelization. It is a deep and human longing to know and honor ancestors. The Commandments and the many scriptural injunctions to honor parents and ancestors are secured by Revelation, but have always been understood as part of the natural law. There is something deeply engraved on the human heart that calls for us to know our past, our specific past, and honor our forefathers. This is a manifestation of the virtue of piety.
Genealogy can also prove a great boon to invigorating our devotion to the poor souls. My College’s patron, St. Thomas More, held close the devotions which sought to ease the suffering souls in Purgatory—perhaps because he foresaw that assaults against these devotions were at the center of the Reformation. I recommend his The Supplication of Souls as November reading—both for hearing out More’s defense of Purgatory, but also because it captures so much that remains at stake in Catholic culture. In that work, More depicts a single poor soul addressing the reader. He pleads with the reader not to abandon the devotions to the poor souls and not to forget his many friends and family members who proceed him, and rely upon his prayers.
The scientific and historic discipline of genealogy has long been embraced as a stimulating way to enter (through one’s own family) the tumult of the Past. I would like to suggest three immediate ways that the “hobby” of genealogy can become the handmaiden of Catholic devotion.
First, genealogy assists remembrance.
No human can recall the lineage of his entire past, let alone his lineage. This exceeds the capacity of one human mind. Even the recollection that we find in the Old Testament is focused on a single line of descent, not multiple lines such as we find in a family tree.
St. Thomas More’s poor soul emphasizes the danger of forgetfulness: “… never let any slothful forgetfulness erase us out of your remembrance…”. Well-kept family trees along with the knowledge and observance of significant anniversaries (whether these be birth, Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, vows of Holy Orders, or death), allow a Catholic to remember and pray for the dead with intention and regularity.
All of us know too well how easy it is to forget the significant days (birthdays and anniversaries) of those dear and near to us in life. Why should we delude ourselves into thinking our powers of memory will increase when a person is no longer part of daily life? Over the past several years, I have built a family tree over 1,000 documented ancestors stretching back into the 14th century. There are Catholics and Protestants—all souls whom I can pray for, on the anniversaries of their death. All of whom I can remember in a disciplined fashion. For the month of November, I have a calendar by which, day by day, we move backward in time through a series of grandparents and great grandparents. My family can live out the devotion to the poor souls, learn of our own past, and a healthy amount of history and geography. On the 11th of November, I have a list of each family member whom I know served under arms back to the 17th century.
The Church’s teaching is no longer an abstract dogma (de sent., de fide, sent. certa, sent. fide proxima, etc.), it is lively and lived. How better to fulfill a parental obligation to teach diligently the Lord’s ways to honor our parents, than to instill the eternal needs of our souls, in this world and the next.
Second, genealogy assists intention in prayer and detachment.
The particularity of a personal genealogy fosters a strong sense of the individuality of the soul for whom we may pray. We do not lift a vague prayer for the category “the dead” in the Catholic tradition, we do not pray for an abstract soul, but for the specific members of the faithful departed. When we consider model prayers from Scripture and Christian history, these are normally prayers for individuals—whether living or deceased, whether it be like those of Judas Maccabeus praying for his fallen comrades, Our Lord’s prayer for Lazarus, St. Stephen for St. Paul, or St. Monica for St. Augustine. In the latter two examples, we can easily imagine the intense prayers Paul later offered for Stephen and Augustine for Monica.
Let us be clear on this. To some Christians, it can seem unnecessary or even self-centered to prayer for specific needs. The issue of specificity in prayer was taken up by St. Thomas Aquinas. In the Summa Theologiae (II-II, Qu. 83, Art. 5), Thomas considered whether it is right to ask for something specific in our prayers. When we pray one of the most powerful parts of prayer is that the action of prayer transforms us. God is already aware of our concerns. With respect to our concerns for the poor souls, surely, He is aware of their suffering and need for mercy.
Thomas, in his consideration of the specificity of prayers, defends a devout person asking for any true good. He notes that at times a person may ask God for things that could harm or be misused. Yet to lift up our prayers for the sake of those in purgatory offers little discernible material advantage. If anything, prayers for a soul in Purgatory carries with it signs of profound detachment and selflessness.
Traditionally, prayers for the poor souls specify that the fruits of the prayer—the indulgence—are “applicable only to the holy souls” or “only to the souls detained in purgatory.” Even those that lack such specificity are self-evidently prayers of intercession on behalf of a particular soul in Purgatory. And if the prayer is a plenary indulgence, the effect is double: the poor soul receives the relief offered through prayer, and the intercessor—in order to fulfill his obligation in prayer—is prompted to go to Confession, receive Communion, and pray also for the sake of the Pontiff, who is ever in need of our prayers.
Third, genealogy allows us to escape time and deepen our union with the Mystical Body of Christ.
When I stare at so many particular souls on my genealogical charts, so many ancestors who were born, lived, and died at so many particular points in history, I could be overwhelmed. But, again, genealogy for the Catholic, is not simply a collection of data and dates. It is a collection of souls. It is a representation of the Church—once militant, now suffering, and hopefully to be triumphant. Yet these distinctions dissolve in prayer.
Genealogy Offers Opportunities to Pray for the Souls in Purgatory