October 13 is the anniversary of the “day that the Sun danced.” In 1917, having promised a miracle at end of her apparitions to Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their older cousin Lucia dos Santos, Our Lady delivered the Miracle of the Sun, which was the miracle witnessed by the most people since Biblical times. May 13, the day of the first apparition, is commemorated as the memorial of Our Lady of Fatima. In the current liturgical calendar, there is not a feast or memorial on October 13. However, on the Traditional Calendar, in effect until 1969, October 13 is the feast of St. Edward the Confessor.
St. Edward ruled as the last king of England before the Norman conquest (A.D. 1042-1066). He is referred to as the Confessor to differentiate from earlier King Edward, called the Martyr, who was assassinated in A.D. 978. Even before his death, Edward was considered saintly, and it was said that he had the power to heal the disease scrofula, a form of tuberculosis called “the king’s evil.” This healing is immortalized by William Shakespeare (himself a Catholic, albeit a secret one) in his tragedy Macbeth. After the eponymous Scottish lord commits regicide by assassinating Duncan and usurps the throne, Malcom, the rightful heir, flees to the English court of King Edward. When the tyrant Macbeth murders MacDuff’s wife and children, the latter joins his rightful king in exile. It is there that Duncan tells MacDuff of Edward’s famed power to heal.
Another English Catholic literary giant, J.R.R. Tolkien, incorporated this idea into his portrayal of Aragorn, the eponymous monarch in The Return of the King. When Faramir and Éowyn are brought to the Houses of Healing in Minas Tirith after their respective encounters with the Nazgûl, the wizard Gandalf overhears the words of Ioreth, an elderly woman, “Would that there were kings in Gondor, as there were once upon a time, they say! For it is said in old lore: hands of the king are the hands of the healer. And so the rightful king could ever be known.” (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” Chapter 7: “The Houses of Healing”)
After coming to Gondor’s aid and bringing victory in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, Aragorn is hiding his true identity as the rightful king of Gondor and has troops camp outside of Minas Tirith. At Gandalf’s request, he enters the city by night, disguised as a Ranger, and tends to all the wounded, especially Faramir, Éowyn and Merry. He alone is able to heal them by mixing an herb called athelas but nicknamed “king’s foil” in water and washing the wounds with it. (The film The Fellowship of the Ring hints at this by having Aragorn send Samwise to find king’s foil to try to heal Frodo’s poisoned wound.)
In addition to being a reference to the legends concerning St. Edward the Confessor, which would have been familiar to Tolkien, these healings further establish Aragorn as a figure of the kingly aspect of Christ. Like Christ, who kept His “messianic secret,” Aragorn is trying to hide his true identity until the appointed time of the final battle with Sauron, the Dark Lord. Also like Christ, when Aragorn does heal the wounded, the rumor of it spreads, causing the populace to claim that the King has returned. Indeed, the words of Aragorn to Faramir after he heals him “Walk no more in the shadows, but awake!” sound very similar to those he said to the daughter of Jairus (“Little girl, I say to you, arise”-Mark 5:41), the son of the widow of Nain (“Young man, I say to you, arise”-Luke 7:14) and Lazarus (“Lazarus, come forth!”-John 11:43).
Thomas J. McIntyre
Thomas J. McIntyre is a teacher and amateur historian. He holds an MA in History from Georgia Southern University. In addition to the Voyage blog, he writes for Catholic 365 and on his personal blog "Pope Damasus and the Saints." He resides in Louisiana with his wife Nancy-Leigh and daughters Kateri and Alice.