Saint-wise today is another four-fer-one which includes:
1. Saint Andronicus (of silversmiths). No miracles here, just a silversmith from Antioch who lost his kids suddenly and resolved with his wife to separate and become hermits. Years later he met his ex and didn’t recognize her because she was masquerading as a male hermit. They became great friends and he only learned of her true identity after she died and left him a note. This is the Saint version of true romance.
2. Saint Denis (of France; invoked against headaches and frenzy). Saint Denis was the first bishop of Paris, sent from Rome to straighten out the Gauls in 90 AD. As these things often go he then got his head chopped off. However, not wanting a bunch of pagan Gauls to have the last word, he picked up his head and carried it to the site where his cathedral now stands. According to Saint Denis’ severed head: “The first step was the difficult one.” And who was going to argue with him?
3. Saint Ghislain (invoked against twitching). Saint Ghislain was a seventh century Frankish monk who got his clothes stolen by a bear. His miracle was that an eagle led him to the bear’s den where he got them back. I suppose if anyone knew about twitching…
4. Saint Louis Bertrand (of Columbia). Saint Louis was a 16th century Dominican friar who spent six years traveling around central and South America. He didn’t speak any of the native languages but was said to have “the gift of tongues” (oh my) so the natives all understood him anyway, those lucky ducks. Upon his return to Spain he attempted to tell the authorities about the horrible treatment of the natives by the Spaniards but nobody there understood him either.
Quick! Where's Ichabod Crane?!
