The only saint for December 1 in Butler’s calendar from the 1700s was Eligius. After reading about Eligius, his life left me annoyed and bored in a low-level sort of way. Held in high regard by French/Gaulish monarchs in the late 500s and early 600s, Eligius was noted for his piety, wise counsel, and righteous ways, and though he never amassed a fortune (because he gave the goods bestowed upon him by kings to the  poor), he was “fortuned” enough to live in luxurious apartments provided by these same monarchs. The more that anyone became jealous of him or spoke ill of him to these kings, the more they asserted their support of Eligius.

As a bishop, Eligius sought to make people behave. He is particularly known for insisting that new converts utterly change everything about their lives, and for speaking out boldly and persistently against dancing–“which the people made a frequent occasion of many sins.” This disdain of dancing did not make him popular and also failed miserably to end this sinful pastime! Thus Eligius felt compelled to damn all those dancing fools (referring to them as the children of Belial), and excommunicated them. In what is, I imagine, intended as a testament to the sanctity of Eligius, Butler reports of these excommunicated spawn of Satan (aka those who still wanted to dance):

Fifty of them were afflicted by God, and made visible spectacles of his judgment (i.e., anyone anywhere could see clearly how God had afflicted these sinners): but upon their repentance (e.g., turning in their dancing shoes), were cured by the saint. St. Owen mentions many blind, lame, and sick persons who received the benefit of their health, and use of their limbs, by the prayers of St. Eligius.

So perhaps this is the appropriate segue to a television show from the 1980s, St. Elsewhere. The show centered on a run-down teaching hospital located in Boston that took in all cases that no one else wanted. The actual name of the hospital in the series was “St. Eligius,” and the conceit behind the show’s name is that if some doctor, some ambulance, some facility, or even a cop, did not know where to send someone in desperate need of medical care (who, most likely, did not have a good name, money, insurance, and/or a significant support network) elsewhere…a kind of medical NIMBY. You know–send ’em to St. Elsewhere when you didn’t want to take responsibility for them yourself.

There seems to be little evidence that the original Eligius, for whom the hospital in the television series was named, was quite so willing to take in all comers. For that original Eligius, he wanted them to be leading the “right kind” of Christian lives as a precondition for his healing services.

So here, today–World AIDS Day, no less–I state my gratitude for the St. Elsewhere’s, and all the Saints in solidarity with such institutions, who never ever required of ANYONE a particular way of living and loving, an ability to pay, insurance, or an agreement to give up dancing in order to receive health care. These are the ones who embody living godliness.