General Chat

St Christopher was demoted.

No, I meant how do they get to be a patron saint of, say, stamp collectors or something, if we are talking about sticky endings.

They still come to a sticky end though.

I think it was easier in the old days, but now to be a saint you have to
perform two miracles after death.

An eclectic mix of saintly employments, species, ethnicity and afflictions. I wonder how these saints get selected. Perhaps there is a committee that sits in the depths of the Vatican and randomly sticks pins in an encyclopaedia. Or maybe there is some form of petition that you can fill in. Mysterious ways.

Wonder how many of the far right read this in The Independent? :-D

"This St George’s Day, we should remember that the patron saint of England was an immigrant. Saint George was born in Turkey to a Turkish father and Palestinian mother. He lived in the Middle East and died at the hands of the Romans who persecuted him because of his faith."


Busy chap for someone whose life is surrounded in a haze of mystery and uncertainty........he is also patron saint of...

Agricultural workers; archers; armourers; cavalry; chivalry; Crusaders; equestrians; farmers; horsemen; horses; knights; lepers and leprosy;Oder of the Garter; riders; Romani people; saddle makers; Scouts; sheep; shepherds; skin diseases; soldiers; Teutonic Knights.

:-D :-D :-D

"Saints preserve us!"

I don't see much benefit in being saintly. They all seem to come to a pretty grim end.

An honourable profession, was a merkin maker. I think their patron saint is Saint Louis, who died of dysentery, bless him.

I had wanted to call our ginger cat Merkin but Fred would not have it so he stayed as Tommy.

Speaking of hair pieces and syphilis:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/743/what-is-a-merkin

True. He is probably the patron saint of shopping lists and hair pieces really.

Easy mistake to make if there's a language issue.

He didn't realize they rode the dragon into town where the action was?

I suppose you could put it that way, depending on where you insert a comma.....

I was thinking that being a lonely soldier far from home........who are we to judge?

What, like, oh bugger the dragon?

That's a point. I wonder if the dragon story has anything to do with it? I mean, we don't really have any first hand accounts of this act of derring do. It brings to mind a character from Shrek and possibly an allegorical medieval warning of the dangers of dragon intimacy. Just a thought.

So, how did he get the pox and cold sores office in the first place? Did he have to have them himself?

Probably for the best. A few bubbles may get burst if it was done honestly :)

St George has not been researched enough.