Beautiful Faces
theophilus May 22nd, 2009
Today is the feast day of St. Rita of Cascia. She was a wife and mother in 15th Century Italy who, after her husband and sons died, entered an Augustinian convent.
She is known for being a patron saint for many things. I looked her up on CatholicCulture.org and found she is the patron saint of abuse victims, against loneliness, against sterility, bodily ills, desperate causes, difficult marriages, forgotten causes, impossible causes, infertility, lost causes, parenthood, sick people, sickness, sterility, victims of physical spouse abuse, widows, and wounds. I also happen to know that she is the patron saint of baseball.
But I think she should be the patron saint of another cause – facial deformities.
One day, St. Rita was praying before the Crucifix when a thorn became embedded in her forehead. It would stay there the rest of her life; foul smelling and unsightly. She was even ostracized by her fellow sisters.
When that thorn became a permanent mark on her forehead, St. Rita became one of many who live with a facial deformity.
I was born with a cleft lip and other cranio-facial deformities. I’ve had surgeries to close the lip and make the other deformities less pronounced, but you can still see that my face isn’t quite right (or as I’ve had others tell me, “you look funny”).
But, my deformities don’t hinder my life in any meaningful way. I look different, my eyes are screwed up and one of my ears is shot, but God left all of the important parts fully functioning. And I know I am designed as God intended.
And I know that I’m not alone. According to the CDC, cleft lips and cleft palates are the most prevalent form of birth defects in the U.S. Approximately 6,800 babies are born every year with one or the other (Down Syndrome is 2nd with 5,500 babies). These statistics do not include those who are born with other facial deformities. These deformities can affect much more than appearance; they can drastically impact speech, eating, hearing, sight, breathing; basically any bodily function between the throat and the brain. And then, there are the stares and double-looks; the snide comments from the malevolent and the innocent questions from the curious.
The good news is that these deformities can be minimized with surgery. Lips and palates can be closed; other facial deformities made less pronounced; bodily activities for the most part restored.
For more information about facial deformities (or cranio-facial birth defects), go to AmeriFace.org and cleftAdvocate.org.
Of course, the U.S. isn’t alone in having kids born with these facial deformities. There are kids in every part of the world who are born with some type of facial birth defect. Except for them, these defects may not be treatable because of the medical care in their country. Their only hope are organizations like Smile Train and Operation Smile who focus on repairing cleft lips and palates in the poorest of nations.
The work of these organizations is sorely needed. They are doing the work of Christ.
And next time you see someone with some facial deformities or scars, think of what they must go through; and then say a little prayer to St. Rita. I bet she already has the beautiful faces of these precious children in her sights.
