Early Autism

These saints struggled greatly with their behavioral difficulties, but persevered and followed God's will in the midst of it all.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects millions of individuals around the world, and more and more children and adults are being diagnosed each year. It is a condition characterized by “difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors.”

In the past individuals who possessed these traits were highly misunderstood and often badly treated. They were viewed as different, “quirky,” or in severe cases locked in mental institutions.

However, with all the struggles of being on the autism spectrum, there is hope that this apparent defect can be united to the cross of Christ and lifted up to become a great benefit to others. There have been many saints over the centuries who struggled greatly with their behavioral difficulties, but who persevered and followed God’s will in the midst of it all.

Having such little information about the life of a saint makes it difficult to make a certain diagnosis of autism (indeed, the spectrum is broad enough that diagnosis is complex under the best of circumstances), but there are a few individuals where a positive diagnosis may have been likely. For the purposes of this article here are three saints who, if they lived in the 21st century, may have been labeled as “on the spectrum.”

Servant of God Brother Juniper

Brother Juniper

One of Saint Francis of Assisi’s original followers, Brother Juniper was well loved by Francis for his devotion and profound humility. However, according to the Little Flower of St. Francis, Juniper did not always understand the accepted standards of social interaction.

Once while visiting a sick friar, Juniper asked him if he could be of any service. The friar asked for pig’s feet to eat, as it would give him great consolation. Brother Juniper, feeling compelled to help the sick friar, took a knife from the kitchen, went into the forest and found a group of pigs feeding. Juniper caught one of the pigs, swiftly cut a leg off, and ran back to the kitchen to prepare it (leaving the rest of the pig in the forest). Unknown to Juniper, the man in charge of the pigs was standing there watching it all happen and quickly informed his master of the situation.

When St. Francis confronted Brother Juniper, he was entirely confused why the master of the pigs would be upset at what he did. In Juniper’s mind, he was doing a charitable deed and there was nothing wrong with cutting off a pig’s foot to help someone else out. Brother Juniper was eventually able to win over the angry master with his humility and simplicity.

There are many other similar stories regarding Brother Juniper’s inability to recognize social cues that make it possible he was “on the spectrum.” In the end, despite his apparent defects, Saint Francis was famous for saying, “Would to God, my brothers, I had a whole forest of such Junipers.”

Servant of God Léonie Martin

Born the middle child, Léonie was difficult, unattractive and sickly. Her mother, St. Zelie Martin, wrote in a letter to her sister-in-law, “The poor child worries me; she has a very undisciplined nature, and mentally she is underdeveloped.”

Léonie was expelled from school on multiple occasions for being unruly and disruptive. It took Zelie’s sister (who was a Visitation sister) great effort to discover how to teach the young child.

Even after trying different approaches to understanding, Zelie remained challenged by her daughter. She wrote in a letter, ”I am fairly pleased with Léonie; if we could only subdue her obstinacy and soften her character, she would be a good girl — faithful and unafraid of the suffering she must endure. She has a will of iron; when she wants something, she will fight her way past any obstacle to reach her goal.”

Léonie’s struggles continued throughout her childhood and into her adulthood. However, she was able to persevere and, encouraged by her sister Thérèse, she learned the “little way” of sanctity. On account of her many struggles and mental challenges, the Leonie League for the Advancement of Autistic Persons has taken her as their patron.

Saint Joseph of Cupertino

Throughout his life, Joseph was highly misunderstood and ridiculed by everyone. His frequent visions and sudden outbursts of anger made him an object of mockery. Additionally, Joseph was very absent-minded, awkward and extremely sensitive to his surroundings. When the school bell rang, Joseph would jump and drop his books on the ground.

In school, Joseph earned the nickname “open-mouthed” because his mouth was always open. He could barely read or keep focus and often would forget to eat his meals. However, even though he barely progressed in education Joseph didn’t seem to mind or notice and sought to gain entrance into a monastery despite this deficiency. Joseph figured that at least he could beg for bread as a Franciscan.

This also did not go well for Joseph. The community did not understand him and his inability to complete simple tasks without breaking something, and the experiment proved too difficult to handle. He was expelled from the monastery, but with nowhere to turn, Joseph came back and begged the community to at least hire him as a servant. The Franciscans consented, enrolled him in the Third Order and assigned him the task of taking care of the monastery mule.

Joseph’s joyful demeanor was infectious and over time they gave him a second chance and allowed him into the community. Joseph was eventually ordained a priest and is most famous for his ability to levitate while saying Mass (they tied a rope around his leg so that he wouldn’t fly into the ceiling). Despite his lack of education, awkwardness in social situations and inability to complete basic tasks, Joseph was widely known for his extreme piety, simplicity and humility.

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John Bellamy Comments:

Joan of Ark has also been spoken about as being on the spectrum as when we now look back on peoples behaviour from years past, we can now diagnose all sorts of mental health that we knew nothing about back then.

In 1972 - running my own hotel with my lover - a family with a 13 year old son in the mixed dining room full of families with other kids, the son stood up and shouted ' FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK ASSHOLES BUM BUM BUM' and sat back down again and everyone's mouths just fell open in amazement, disgust, wonder of WTF ? We laughed but could not have this in a dining room full of families.

We knew nothing about Tourette's at all as in those days people were still shut away in institutions and the general public was ignorant as to so much. When Maggie Thatcher closed a lot of these institutions for ' Care In The Community' - the public had a lot to learn and here we are 50 years later and we know so much more about mental health and how many - in fact everyone - has a form of mental health even if just someone who worries excessively, has panic attacks, is anxious or even depressed... and the extreme variants of mental health are more ' in your face' than decades ago and where - hopefully - people are more understanding and sympathetic.

We spoke to the parents who told us what it was and we agreed to feed the boy earlier than everyone else and they were completely agreeable to this, and we did suggest self catering in future as some could / would be offended even though innocent. ( There is ALWAYS one who takes offense... )

Many with serious mental health were seen as ' special' - as when God channels through someone - the wisdoms are filtered through that persons ability to cognitively string it all together - BUT when channelled through someone like Brother Juniper - and where there is no one in - no real consciousness filtering the words and meanings - these words and meanings are pure and unsolicited through Brother Juniper rather than someone else and he was well respected for this.

Many of the great spiritual leaders and teachers - many of the great painters and famous people from history have now been recognised as being on the spectrum and while this was seen as a gift from God, it was also hard on the individual to live amongst ' normal people' or more the other way round - it was hard for ' normal people' to know how to cope with mental health at a time when no one knew anything about it. Today we have so much knowledge and yet there are still abuses and difficulties and where governments and councils give nothing more than lip service and if not for parents, many would be isolated and suffering alone.

Everyone has some form of mental health. EVERYONE. It does not need to be noticeable and the person involved may be unaware - as many are high brain achievers - many have an OBE or an MBE and have books and letters after their names for whatever it is they specialise in, but outside of the home or work or university they love in and are looked after 24 / 7 - they often have poor communication skills and an inability to cope well within a normal setting.

Anne Hagarty

We have all see her on the telly, was diagnosed with Asperger's at the age of 45, and says that although her parents were "probably doing their best", her mother didn't understand her. Asperger's is a development disorder which can affect the way those diagnosed with the condition can behave – with social interaction being a difficulty and many will struggle until a diagnosis is given and then understanding and compassion follows. Peoples ignorance can hurt and many are not diagnosed until later in lifer although these days, a lot of attention is given to children.