Wars are ugly things. The violent destruction of human beings, animals, vegetation, homes, hospitals, and communal gathering spots are always horrific. No known century since written histories have been compiled has ever been free of this scourge, and it continues this day, today, in our own lifetimes.

One saint honored for April 18 was named Galdin. He personally bore witness to the destruction of his own city of Milan, Italy, by the forces of the less-than-Holy Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Butler describes Frederick’s destruction of Milan in this way:

In revenge (for withstanding Frederick’s claims to domination), he razed the town, filled up the ditches, levelled the walls and houses with the ground, and caused salt to be sown upon the place, as a mark that this city was condemned never more to be rebuilt.

Enter Galdin. His first order of business was to care for the traumatized survivors who had lost loved ones and homes. Galdin took their pain seriously, listened to their stories, and cared for their needs. Next, Galdin personally worked to mediate the ideological (think “red and blue states”) schisms among people in the area, helping them to recognize their commonalities more than their differences, and to get them focused upon new life, on the value of working together toward a viable, desirable future for all.

Then Galdin hit the road–he went to nearby cities and met with their leaders. He made the case throughout all the region of Lombardy that rebuilding Milan would be not only a good thing, but the right thing. And, as Butler reports, these Lombard cities unanimously agreed to assist in the rebuilding project! In only five years (very quickly, as these things went in the Middle Ages), Milan was totally rebuilt and once more inhabitable–and today continues on as one of the most beautiful cities, not only in Italy but in all of Europe.

The message of resurrection is not that death can be avoided…but that it need never be the Last Word. This saint for today did not spend time decrying the enemies that brought destruction and imagine their destruction in turn, but jumped in with all his energies to help those who were hurt, to strategize how to bring people together, and to ignite a process for renewal.

A timeless and necessary three-point plan.