St Narcissus

The official Patron Saint of the Elderly is St Anthony of Padua, who is in some ways a strange choice, given that he died at the age of 35 or 36. A more convincing candidate for the job might have been St Narcissus of Jerusalem, whose saint’s day falls on 29^th October. As he appears by some accounts to have been around 117 at the time of his death, he surely knew a heap more about old age than St Anthony!

Narcissus, who was apparently born in around 99 AD, was a Greek who was appointed to lead the Christians in Jerusalem at the age of 80, being the 30^th bishop to hold this office. He was a strong bishop who, despite his age, did the job very well and had no time for slackness on the part of either clergy or laity.

During his time in office he presided over a council of bishops that decided that Easter would always be celebrated on a Sunday, thus breaking the direct link with the Jewish Passover.

After some years in the role he decided that he wanted some time to meditate and pray in seclusion so he resigned his office and left Jerusalem to lead a hermit’s life in the desert. There had been some dissatisfaction with his rule, including a false accusation of a terrible crime, and this may also have been a reason for wanting to get away.

However, without him in charge things did not go so well for the Jerusalem Christians and, when Narcissus came back to the city after several years’ absence, he was persuaded to become bishop once again, despite his extreme old age at this time.

Narcissus needed help with his duties and so he appointed a deputy named Alexander to do most of the donkey-work. Narcissus died in office in around the year 216, after which Alexander continued as bishop on his own.

Saints need to have performed at least one miracle (preferably two) before they are allowed to be so named. Narcissus apparently turned water into oil in order to keep the church lamps burning at Easter-time (see picture). He was therefore a practical as well as a very long-lived saint!

© John Welford