The most hallowed day to all jokesters and pranksters actually has roots in the Catholic Church (and it should). With a community of “holy fools,” the church has a long history of men and women who, in light of their smallness beside the Lord, refuse to take themselves too seriously.
The tradition of April Fools began when Pope Gregory XIII adopted his self-titled “Gregorian Calendar,” moving New Year’s Day from the end of March to January 1st. The uneducated and uninformed who continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1 were ridiculed for being “April Fools,” a day that inspired the same mocking and pranking that takes place today.
The church has always espoused a certain pride in being a “fool for Christ,” a person who appears small, humble, unintelligent, or unremarkable yet is marked by a profound relationship with Christ. In the middle ages, this person wasn’t overly-fixated on worldly matters, and often appeared strange to outsiders who saw them in hair-shirts or talking to animals. Their devotion imbued them with humility, freeing them find humor in themselves.
Humor shares the same root word as humble, coming from the word humus meaning “earth” or “ground”. To be humorous is to be humble. Knowing you are a small, silly, child of God and refusing to care what people think of you makes you free to make jokes, pranks, laughter-- all in the joy of being fully alive as God’s child. The Saints were not the morose frowning dolorous gray statues we perceive them to be. They were pranksters. They told jokes. They were quick-witted and clownish. They drew the joy out of life in every way because they knew how blessed they were. Let’s take a little lesson from the greats.
Smart-mouth Martyrs:
While being burned to death on a grill over hot coals, St. Lawrence, one of the earliest church martyrs, called out to his executioners “This side is done. Turn me over and have a bite.”
In a similar way, Sir Thomas More laid his head down before he was beheaded he moved his beard out of the way telling his executioner, “My beard has done no harm.”
Saintly Stooges:
St. Philip Neri loved to make himself the butt of every joke. He would shave his beard and hair on one half of his head and parade around “shivering” in a heavy fur jacket on the hottest of summer days, or wear his clothes inside out on a regular basis.
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was a real prankster who would always shortsheet the beds of his friends and priests on retreats, making them think they had grown astronomically in the span of a day.
St. Francis of Assisi so seriously convinced two young novices in his community that they needed to plant cabbages upside down that they did so to the whole garden despite their protest that “it was customary to have the roots planted firmly in the ground.”
Pontiff Pranksters:
St. Pope John XXIII’s quick wit served him well in interviews. When asked by a journalist how many people worked in the Vatican, he replied, “About half of them.” At one point when meeting with the lythe Archbishop Fulton Sheen he said with a sigh, “We will both have to say a prayer to God, beseeching him to remove half my excess fat to give it to you!”
Pope John Paul II was known for the occasional silly moments: hide-and-seek with children of Vatican workers in the Papal villa, peering through invisible binoculars at a crowd in St. Peters, trying on Bono’s trademark glasses and modeling them, and having the Vatican gardens irrigation system rigged to surprise many an unsuspecting visitor. When interviewed by TIME magazine, he joked, “I see that in the past you have given this honor also to Stalin and Hitler.”
Consecrated Clowns:
In the 12th century, St. Bernard of Clairvaux poked fun at the overly serious monks. When the monks were dedicating a new abbey in France a huge swarm of pesky flies filled the church. The monks were swatting and shooing the flies away dramatically. Bernard sat still and watched amused saying, “I hereby excommunicate all of you.” The monks all laughed at St. Bernard’s joke and settled down, but the next morning hundreds of dead flies lay on the church floor.
St. Teresa of Avila, known for her humor and occasional snark and bemusement, often said, “I am more afraid of one unhappy sister than a crowd of evil spirits.” When St. Teresa was a superior in a convent, her sisters were upset with her for instructing them to alter their pampered lifestyles. St. Teresa overheard them saying that she doesn’t deserve to sit in the prioress’ chair at dinner. That night she placed a large statue of the Virgin Mary and sat right next to it; a practical joke with a point to make.
St. John Bosco was known as an eccentric; he juggled, performed magic tricks, and did acrobatics in the streets. Many fellow priests thought he was unstable and planned to commit him to a local insane asylum. When John heard of their plan he played along with them and pretended to follow them into the carriage that was to take him. As soon as they were in he slammed the door, urged the horses to move and told the carriage driver, “Take them to the asylum! They’re expected.”
Happy April Fools Day! May your day be like the days of our Saints: full of laughter, joy, and little bit ridiculous.