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The Origins of Popular Saints in Portugal |
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Macarius: the saint who killed his father  There were several saints with the name Macarius. The one venerated in Portugal seems to be inspired by Macarius the Alexandrian, also called Macarius the Younger.
He
lived in the Fourth Century and was a monk in Egypt.
He is often confused with Macarius the Egyptian, or Macarius the
Elder. For more detail see For
All the Saints.
Be warned that this highly professional site is written from a Catholic
point of view and not too concerned with historical accuracy.
In
the district of Viseu (regions of Lafões and Besteiros), the most
venerated saint is São Macario (Macarius in English), patron of several
rustic sanctuaries in the hills, one of which is in the Macario
Mountains and the others in the Low Beira region. It is a typically
rural and lower class cult.
In
the surrounding area, any child can tell you what Saint Macarius did
that was important: “He killed his father.” If we ask them why he
did this, they answer that they don’t know, that it was their
grandmother, their mother, their aunt that told them and she didn’t
explain why. The adults give more reasons: “He killed his father, but
it was a mistake …”
There
are many versions of the Oedipal myth of Saint Macarius, all of them
coinciding in the part about the death of the father, and some more
complete than others. In the region of Lafões and Vale of Besteiros
people say that “After a trip, he arrived home at night. He noticed a
man in bed with his mother (who he thought to be an intruder) and killed
him. Later he was told it was his father. Eaten by remorse, he went to
the mountain that carries his name today and lived there”. In the
region of Fundão, where there is another very popular sanctuary, the
version is more detailed; “He was a strong and attractive lad, an only
son, very hard-working and a friend of his parents: according to the
ancient custom, he went to consult the oracles to find out his destiny.
They told him that his destiny was to kill his own father. Terrified, he
decided to leave. He said goodbye to this parents telling them that he
was going away on business and that he would come back soon. Leaving his
village, he became a muleteer. His father searched for him everywhere
and found the place where he lived. He had got married. He was gone from
his house. The wife took the father in and let him sleep in her bed
while she slept in another place. When the son arrived, he heard in the
darkness the snoring of a man in his own bed and he killed him. He
remembered the oracle and went up into the mountains where he buried
himself up to his waist. A woman took notice of him but he rejected her.
She then tried to get revenge by serving him food that was poisoned. But
he didn’t eat it because he was doing penitence. Instead he gave it to
two passersby who died: they were the sons of the woman who had tried to
poison him”. A Greek tragedy!
The
Abbot of Baçal wrote down a different version from Tras-os-Montes:
“The father consulted the signs to know what destiny his newly born
son would have and was told that he would kill his own father. Terrified,
he left the baby at a convent door. Later, the boy, now grown up, went
to find work and ended up knocking on his parent’s door. The family,
not knowing his identity, took him in and gave him work. The lad went to
work with the boss, his father, in a quarry. When he was carrying a
piece of metal he did it so badly that it killed the boss, who was his
own father”.
Details
are added to the story: hiding on top of the mountain that carries his
name today, he would go every day to the village of Maceira on the edge
of the mountains to get charcoal for his fire. He carried the coals in
his hand without burning himself. One day he was climbing the mountain
with a handful of coals, and “he peeked under the skirts of a woman
who was walking ahead of him. From that moment on he began to burn
himself with the coals because he had committed a sin”.
The
story of Saint Macarius is like an initiation rite. It is taught in
phases: for the small children it is said, “he killed his father”.
When they can understand “these things”, details are added about the
suspicion the lad had about a man in his mother’s bed and the outcome
of the murder. With the episode of the coals that burn the saint, the
adolescent will understand that it is prohibited “to peek under the
skirts of a woman”, worse than killing your father.
The
“Little Saint” gives “prudence to children” and “wisdom to
fools”. The children who are “fools or silly” are taken to Saint
Macarius, who will make them “shape up”. In reality, the saint is
terrifying. The one in Serra de São Macario is shown as a ragged old
man, dirty and starving. Worse, in his hand he is holding a skull that
is said to be the head of his father who he killed. It is difficult to
find a more sinister saint. He acts as a helper for the mothers in the
education of their children and also as a good example for children with
perverse instincts or with an unresolved Oedipus complex. His
pilgrimages in July are ascents of the mountain. In the Serra de São
Mamede two villages claim him as their son and each one has built his
sanctuary. The two are located on each extreme boundary of the village
limits. The pilgrims, who don’t participate in this dispute, visit the
two. On the climb up the beautiful mountain, they pick wild flowers that
they pile up in the chapels and on the altars of both sites.
In
one of the sanctuaries there is a cave “where Saint Macarius lived”.
It is a testing cave. Every good pilgrim should go into the cave,
because “he who refuses or is afraid to do so is suspect of having
desired one day to kill his father”. Because of this warning, everyone
makes an effort, crawling into the small space like children.
In
the Saõ Macario Mountains the days of pilgrimage are great popular
gatherings. Groups from the entire province climb the mountain on foot
and pick wild flowers, which they bestow on the saint. The “Macario”
in the Guardunha Mountains “cures seven illnesses of the body and
seven illnesses of the soul”, one of which is madness. On the
saint’s day the saint is dressed in a new robe, while the old one is
cut into pieces of one square centimeter and given out to the faithful
as a good luck charm, which cures several diseases, especially those of
the ear. The cutting up of the saint’s robe symbolizes death,
castration, and the eating of the father.
Saint
Macarius is the prototype of the man who is pursued by destiny, unhappy
and hapless, who ends up badly in everything he does no matter how hard
he tries. He is also the example of the person who doesn’t care about
his appearance (“Poor thing, he looks like a Saint Macarius). In
Mosteiro de Fráguas (Tondela), his celebration is on the Sunday of Lázaro.
Lázaro is another symbol of an unlucky man. Here they offer him wax
heads, which represent the “wisdom”, that they ask of him for their
naughty children.
In
the legends surrounding Saint Macarius of the Beira region we find all
the traits of Oedipus. It is the version of the Greek Oedipus. The
oracle tells him his destiny that he will kill his father; he has a
wayward life in his youth; he returns or he is found in another land
“well off”, as in all the heroic myths. He kills his father by
mistake, as in the Greek and Freudian myth; he commits an unconscious
act against his deliberate will. The Greek Oedipus blinded himself by
pulling out his eyes (blindness symbolizes castration), the saint of the
Beira castrated himself too: “He buried himself up to the waist.”
“The coals didn’t burn him”. He lived in a state of original
purity; the death of his father didn’t stain him; he was angelically
innocent. Killing his father by mistake was not reprehensible. The
unfortunate wretch only lost his original purity when “he peeked under
the skirts” of women, who represent the mother.
Saint
Marcos is another helper of the mother in the education of her children.
The mothers threaten “unruly or cry-baby children” with taking them
“to Saint Marcos’ bull”. Antão...or they take him to hit his head
against the cross of Idanha, etc. Often the names Romão or Antão are
enough to frighten the children.
Links
to More Information on Macarius—remember that often the Elder and the
Younger are confused.
Saint
Macarius the Elder
Saint
Macarius the Younger
Patron Saints Index - Profile of St. Macarius the Younger. Introduction | Macarius | Matthew | Bartholomew | Anthony of Lisbon | John the Baptist | Anne | Catherine | Mary Magdalene | Eulalia and Quiteria | Isabel of Portugal
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