----- Original Message -----
From: "Phyllis Jestice" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2000 6:16 PM
Subject: patron saints
> when did it become common to attribute special patronage for
> particular saints? Is there a time that there is a shift from
multi-purpose to specialized?
>
> Phyllis
>
> Phyllis G. Jestice
> [log in to unmask]
I don't know the precise answer to your question, but I suspect that either
what a saint died/suffered from or what s/he helped people with in life
played a large role. The assumption would be that the saint would not want
others to suffer the same torment. If I may digress a bit, I read somewhere
(which we all know makes it a fact) that Saint Elmo was a patron of sailors
and was always pictured with a coil of rope around a capstan or some such.
People mistook the rope for his intestines and assumed he'd been martyred by
being disemboweled. Hence he's also the patron of stomach aches - or rather,
people with stomach aches. If this fable is just that, please let me know.
I know this isn't as amusing as Elasticus' material, but I'm trying to fill
in.
Kwildchild
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