Fantastic interview. I just learned about Michelle at my very first FOCUS Conference in St. Louis in January. Thank you for sharing more about her Father. I was helping my friend's daughter with research for her Confirmation saints and remembered Michelle's story. Although I'm unsure if Servants of God can be Confirmation saints, I'm hoping my friend's daughter will at least want to learn more about her.
Thank you Fr. Brian for sharing. I do pray to Michelle Duppong and ask for her intercession. I’m so blessed and forever grateful to her. I may not have known her personally but she made a huge impact in my life. ❤️🙏🏻
I have a question about non-martyred Saints. In this interview, Father Brian mentioned that Michelle had a boyfriend. For young people, the strongest temptation is the temptation of the flesh. For non martyred Saints, is there a period of sexual sobriety like 3-5 years of not committing sins of the flesh (e.g. solitary sin) before death?
No, there's no such period of sobriety. Instead, there needs to be proof of, "heroic virtue". So among other things, a saint under investigation would need to be seen to have practiced the virtue of chastity to an heroic degree. This practice of heroic chastity would certainly include abstinence from fornication and the solitary sin. On the other hand, you need to consider that some saints have sinful lives before their conversion, like Saint Augustine. What is necessary is that at the point of death, they have heroic virtue. Obviously in the case of St Augustine, he overcame all his vices and it was obvious because of years of living a virtuous life. But I want to point out that the essence of Christian perfection doesn't consist in anything except the virtue of Charity. This virtue is usually proven by the practice of other virtues. Does that help?
