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I have been assured by a devout electrician that St. Elmo is the patron of his brotherhood. A candidate? St. Barbara, her of the bolt of lightning, is assumed to be in reality Shango (or Chango, depending on the nationality of the speaker. In all cases accent on the o), the West African, Caribbean and Brazilian god whose attributes and powers include war, male potency, and lightning. He is patron of iron, and his favorite residence is in the crown of the royal palm, which is distinguished from other of its genus by the long stem protruding straight up from among the fronds--sword, phallus, and lightning rod--many are struck by lightning--but also fountain of lightning bolts that shoot _out_ from it. Go into any botanica (source for herbal and magic remedies, witchcraft items and other religious paraphernalia) in any North American city (the cult has spread with the Black Diaspora) and ask for a figure of Shango and without hesitation you will be given a Saint Barbara. The apparent transvestism of this most _macho_ god's Christian disguise troubles no one. It's not uncommon for women to be followers of Shango. When the god "rides" them and they go into a trance state the women become shamelessly male, rather graphically acting out the crudest of masculine sexual behavior. At 05:29 AM 10/20/1999 +0100, you wrote: >(I found on the Internet this:) > >Patron Saint for Computer Users? > >Q: My students are asking if some saint is identified as the patron of those >who use computers. Is there? > >A: No one has been officially assigned. St. Isidore of Seville (d. 636) has >been suggested, probably because he compiled one of the first encyclopedias, >a summary of knowledge in his day. > >St. Jude, patron of impossible cases, could be helpful on certain days. So >could St. Anthony of Padua, finder of lost objects. I nominate St. Peter of >Alcántara (d. 1562), a Franciscan with a reputation for extraordinary >patience! >Comments welcome! Please send to: [log in to unmask] > > > > > > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%