The Dark Knight and St. Swithun

One of my favorite movie trilogies is the Dark Knight trilogy. Not only is it wonderfully filmed, written and acted, but it has so many powerful images of the Catholic faith (even if the writer and director did not intend it as such). One point that I have often found fascinating is the fact that the orphanage where "Robin" was raised was St. Swithun's (whose feast day was last week), and it was Bruce Wayne who founded it!

There are two possible reasons why that name was chosen. First there is a miracle attributed to St. Swithun where he restored some broken eggs to some poor children. Second (and maybe the more powerful for the movies) is that St. Swithun, when he was a Bishop was known far and wide for restoring old churches, and building new ones. Is that not the underlying message of Batman in the trilogy? He is the one who restores what had fallen into criminal corruption, and also builds a new society as a result of his sacrifice.

St. Swithun and Batman; what a combination that is! I do not know how deeply that Christopher Nolan thought about these things, but I do not think it was an accident (even if only by God's providence). Listen again to the heart of the story: when society goes awry, God calls up someone to fix what is broken, to build anew, and to do whatever he can to help others. Let us all learn from that and be like St. Swithun (and maybe a bit like Batman as well).