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  •  Well, I've got my Saint Christopher medal.. (none / 0)

    Even though he's not a real saint now.. Call me superstitious.  Must be a Catholic thing.  Anyone else notice that Kerry has a rather uncommon number of talismans and good luck charms?

    on strike.

    by daria g on Mon Sep 27, 2004 at 09:20:45 PM PDT

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    •  Saint Christopher (none / 0)

      What do you mean, Saint Chistopher isn't a real saint anymore? I didn't get the memo. I'm not religious, but having mostly grown up in a Catholic country (France), I do have a superstitious attachment to Saint Christopher, patron saint of travelers.

      In regards to the diary, I can't join you all, but go for it! One of the most profound comments on religion and politics that I heard during this campaign was John Edwards quoting Lincoln during the primaries: "The question is not whether God is on our side. The question is whether we are on God's side."

      by Helen in MD on Mon Sep 27, 2004 at 10:57:41 PM PDT

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      •  In the Catholic tradition, he's now.. unofficial, (none / 0)

        I guess - this is from Catholic.org:

        In 1969, the Church took a long look at all the saints on its calendar to see if there was historical evidence that that saint existed and lived a life of holiness. In taking that long look, the Church discovered that there was little proof that many "saints", including some very popular ones, ever lived. Christopher was one of the names that was determined to have a basis mostly in legend. Therefore Christopher (and others) were dropped from the universal calendar.

        Some saints were considered so legendary that their cult was completely repressed (including St. Ursula). Christopher's cult was not suppressed but it is confined to local calendars (those for a diocese, country, or so forth).

        on strike.

        by daria g on Tue Sep 28, 2004 at 06:16:24 AM PDT

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        •  Retroactive decanonization (none / 0)

          Wow, interesting, I had no idea. I don't think people are going to give up on him anytime soon, given the amount of cars I used to see that had St. Christopher medals in them (even if they weren't visible they were usually in the glove box).

          It's also interesting because until very recently France had this rather restrictive rule that kids could only be given saints' names. One of the first court cases that challenged this was a couple who wanted to name their daughter "Megane", I think. Of course, there was also a car called Renault Megane at the time which confused the issue (I actually don't know the end of the story). Anyway, I wonder what the saint purge did to French birth certificates. (Did they burst into flames?) I know plenty of French Christophers born after 1969, so obviously the name was left on the list.

          Plus there is now no official patron saint of travelers. This was really not a time for the church to get technical, I think. Oh well, at least we still have St Jude.

          by Helen in MD on Tue Sep 28, 2004 at 09:47:57 AM PDT

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