Today’s saint–Bruno, who took the name of Leo when he became Pope–was, literally, marked since birth to become a holy man. Butler writes the Bruno “was born in Alsace in 1002, with his body marked all over with little red crosses: which was attributed to the intense meditation of his pious mother on the passion of Christ.” (There is, in Butler’s work, a footnote about subsequent physicians who sought to explain away those red marks on the baby’s body, but that their explanations were scarcely more convincing that what he–Butler–regards as the most obvious explanation of Bruno’s mother’s deep spiritual inclinations.)

Whether or not Bruno was born with a skin condition that would be treated differently today, he was–as far as his family was concerned–born with a calling to serve God. It’s not clear that Bruno even had any choice other than becoming a priest…indeed, become THE priest (i.e. Pope) from his cradle. It brings to mind the former number one women’s tennis player, Martina Hingis. Her mother–Melanie Molitar–has named her daughter “Martina” because the number one women’s tennis player at that time was Marina Navratilova, and Ms. Molitar had already determined that she would mold her daughter into the best tennis player in the world. Marked from birth, Martina Hingis–like Bruno–rose to the top of the mother’s chosen profession.

It is too facile to paint Bruno or Martina’s mothers as domineering, as forcing their children into lives that they did not or would not have wanted. After all, parents direct their children all the time…though rarely through a one-channel option. And maybe one doesn’t just “become” Pope or the best tennis player in the world without a lot of pre-adolescent preparation in that direction. What I wonder about, instead, are those with parents who also want them to be “the best” but who do not achieve the heights of sainthood or election to a sport’s Hall of Fame. What happens when the expectations of any of us are so high? When the expectations come from those responsible for our development? When it is all about perfection, not progress alone?