BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints

Subject: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Aug 04 - 06:57 PM

I've somehow gotten into the hagiography of the Catholic church lately, so I thought a brief quiz might be nice. I'll post the answers on Wednesday. (Some of these folks are better known for other patronages....)

1. Patron saint of hanged people, he was killed in Austria. Feast day is October 13.

2. Patron saint of mine collapse and hat makers, she was martyred by her father, Dioscorus.

3. Patron saint of grocers and cops, his feast day is September 29.

4. Patron saint of haymakers, he was martyred with his brother, Gervase. His day is June 19.

5. Patron saint of hogs and swine, a hermit and a friend of St. Athanasius, he lived in the Egyptian desert, sometimes in a tomb. Feast is January 17.

6. Patron saint of hospital public relations, the feast of this prolific writer is June 29.

7. He was stricked with an illness that made him physically repulsive, so he was made the patron saint of unattractive people. April 6.

8. May 30, patron saint of French and American soldiers, and well thought of by Mark Twain and George B. Shaw.

9. This relative of Alfred the Great has his feast day on July 31 and is the patron saint of fish.

10. Honored on September 1, this Irish hermit never allowed women to enter the enclosure of his French hermitage -- he's the patron saint of venereal disease.

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 03 Aug 04 - 10:14 AM

My favorite is still St. Dismas

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: GUEST,mack/misophist
Date: 03 Aug 04 - 10:46 AM

Dismas is patron of right wing republicans, isn't he?

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Aug 04 - 10:51 AM

not specifically or officially- but most people agree they fall under his jurisdiction.

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: PoppaGator
Date: 03 Aug 04 - 11:22 AM

#2 "mine collapse and hat makers," eh? Pretty random pair of patronages!

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Aug 04 - 11:42 AM

the hats protect one from the mine collapses?

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Aug 04 - 01:07 PM

I can't speak to why the Catholic church gave 'em the patronages, I just put 'em in the list.

I kinda like Dismas, too. Also Phillip Neri.

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: PoppaGator
Date: 03 Aug 04 - 02:02 PM

Here in New Orleans, there is a widespread devotion to one (nonexistent) St. Expedite, of whom a statue is prominently displayed in Our Lady of Guadeloupe Church on Rampart and Conti, just outside the French Quarter.

The story is that sometime in the 19th century a statue of some unknown saintly figure was shipped to N.O. from Italy in a wooden crate marked "Expedite," i.e., Italian for "Rush"! The statue was installed in the church as "Saint Expedite," tracts were printed with prayers beseeching the intervention of St. E. -- the whole nine yards.

Our Lady of Guadeloupe Church, which serves as home base for the chaplain of the local police and fire departments, is also the home of regular devotions to one of my favorite patron saints, St. Jude, patron of hopeless cases.

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Aug 04 - 02:06 PM

That's St. Expeditus, who was actually shipped to some nuns in France. Patron saint of Federal Express, I guess. There's also St. Uncumber, patron saint of women who don't want to be involved in relations with men (really!).

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: PoppaGator
Date: 03 Aug 04 - 03:35 PM

Thanks, Rapaire -- I didn't know that our local St. Expedite had a counterpart in the mother country, France. This might explain how/why he (she?) was so quickly and universally accepted

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 03 Aug 04 - 04:40 PM

It is always a pleasure to remind my mother-in-law that her birthday (May 15) is the feast day of St Dympna, patron saint of the insane.

CHEERS

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: mcgrathof altcar
Date: 04 Aug 04 - 12:27 PM

Saint vitus is the patron saint of........

actors, against animal attacks, against dog bites, against lightning, against oversleeping, against storms, against wild beasts, comedians, comediennes, Czechoslovakia, dancers, dog bites, dogs, epilepsy, epileptics, Forio, Italy, lightning, oversleeping, Prague, Czech Republic, rheumatic chorea, Saint Vitus Dance, snake bites, storm

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: DMcG
Date: 04 Aug 04 - 01:23 PM

It sounds like St Vitus should also be the patron saint of multi-tasking.

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Aug 04 - 03:04 PM

Here are the answers:

1. Colman of Stockerau. There were several saints named Colman, none of whom have anything to do with mustard.

2. Barbara. Also the patron of artillery people, fireworks, explosives, and so on. I do not know how she was associated with hats.

3. Michael. The Archangel. Also soldiers, Marines, and parachutists.

4. Gervase. His brother, who was killed with him, was named Protase. To me they sound like amino acids.

5. Anthony the Abbot. Not to be confused with Anthony of Padua, Anthony the Great, et al.

6. Paul (nee Saul) of Taursus. The guy who wrote all those epistles.

7. Drago.

8. Joan of Arc, a/k/a La Pucelle. There is some evidence that she really wasn't burned and was later given a pension by Charles IX.

9. Neot.

10. Fiacre. He's also the patron saint of hemorrhoids, and for that I think he should also be the patron saint of computers.

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: mack/misophist
Date: 05 Aug 04 - 02:57 PM

I'm not sure if they've actually done it yet but computers are supposed to belong to Isadore.

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 05 Aug 04 - 03:25 PM

Hey ... how come atheists don't get a patron saint? ;o)

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Aug 04 - 03:43 PM

I suspect that the Vatican would assign Jude to atheists. Patron of the impossible, you know.

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 05 Aug 04 - 03:53 PM

Jude is badly done by IMO. Just coz he shares the name Judas with that other guy, he gets be the last f*cker whose intersession you'd invoke on anything. Hence, the patron saint of lost causes -- not atheists.

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Aug 04 - 05:30 PM

Jude, also Thaddeus: Patronage
    desperate situations, forgotten causes, hospital workers, hospitals, impossible causes, lost causes

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Aug 04 - 04:02 AM

As far as I can tell, the process of investigating and documenting every aspect of the life of a prospective saint is relatively new. Until the last century or two, most of these patron designations, and the life stories of the saints, were primarily folklore. When you look at these stories as legend and folklore, it adds a completely different perspective - then you can really enjoy the stories, instead looking at them as some insidious form of religious propaganda.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Aug 04 - 03:17 PM

And even make up your own. St. Tammany, for instance. St. Expiditus.

Did you know that Santa Monica was so called by the Spanish because a spring there that was constantly dribbling water reminded them of the constant tears of St. Monica, St. Augustine of Hippo's mommy?

Subject: RE: BS: Short Quiz: Patron Saints
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 07 Aug 04 - 02:51 PM

I like to think of Our Lady of Guadalupe. If the word comes from the Spanish (with its "Moorish" influences) it means River of Love. If it comes from the native Central American (Mayan? Toltec? Olmec?)the phrase that becomes Guadalupe means the same thing almost. To me, she signifies God telling the Spanish conquerors "I can talk to the people here any time I need to, and get them to do what I want without your interference." It was, in fact, the Spanish (arch?)bishop who kept refusing to build the cathedral, and the native who kept bringing proofs of the instructions being from God Itself.