Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,908
edits
Patron Saint: Difference between revisions
→Fan Fiction: -> "Fan Works"
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (→Fan Fiction: -> "Fan Works") |
|||
| (10 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
Line 4:
{{quote|''"Holy Hannah!" shouted [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] in ''Secret Defenders'' #6. ''Who'', you ask? Why, "Holy Hannah" is better known as St. Hannah of the Funnybooks, patron saint to [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] superheroes (As opposed to "Holy #%&* !", patron saint of [[Nineties Anti-Hero|'90s super heroes]].)''|'''Marvel Year In Review 1993'''}}
Some of us are believed to be [[Pals with Jesus|closer to the divine]] than others. In Catholicism and Orthodoxy, these special people are called "saints" and they can be called upon, via intercessory prayer, to intercede and/or create miracles on our behalf.
The process of being named a saint is canonization, a long and complicated process.<ref>Note that canonization does not ''make'' one a saint, as only God can do that. Canonization is merely the process by which the Church recognizes that a person has become a saint, and saints may exist who have not been canonized.</ref> For more information, just look up the relevant keyword(s) on [[The Other Wiki]].
Note that Catholics and Orthodox vehemently deny offering "worship" (''latria'') to the saints; what the saints receive is ''doulia'' or "honor"—or, in the case of the Queen of the Saints, the Blessed Virgin Mary, ''hyperdoulia'' or "extreme honor." One does not pray '''to''' the saints, but rather asks them to pray '''for''' you.
The idea behind the "patron saint" is simply that, for various reasons (usually involving the details of their human lives) certain saints might be considered more applicable to a given situation than others. Most Catholic and Orthodox churches and religious orders are named after saints, who would therefore be considered a patron saint of that community. An individual who has a saint's name might also consider them a personal patron saint. In many cases, official patron saints have been declared for countries. Most other patronages are not officially declared, but have evolved organically, as mere customs and practices.
In fiction, some of the most commonly referenced Saints are:
* The aforementioned Virgin Mary, who is astonishingly active in her post-Biblical activities, according to pious legend. She is, among other things, patroness of the United States, under the title of "the Immaculate Conception" (the US being hostile to Catholics until [[John F. Kennedy|one became President]], the American Church must have figured that they needed the biggest guns they could find). She is also the patroness of Mexico, under the title "Our Lady of Guadalupe".
* Saint Agnes, patron saint of girls
* Saint Anthony (of Padua—there are others), patron saint of people looking for things lost
Line 18 ⟶ 20:
* Saint Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals and the enviroment
* Saint George, the dragon-slayer, patron saint of England, Portugal, Greece, Bulgaria, [[Overly Long Gag|Catalonia]], Georgia, and...screw it, let's just say half of Europe; a ridiculous number of cities; [[Tank Goodness|armored units]]; and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|the Boy Scouts]].
* Saint [[Joan of Arc]], co-patron saint of France (Saint Denis is the original patron) and of women in the military, archetypal [[Action Girl]]
* Saint Jude, the patron saint of Lost Causes. [[The Untouchables|And police officers.]]
* Saint Michael the Archangel, highly regarded for being a [[Knight in Shining Armour]] and general of God's army. Patron saint of police officers.
Line 27 ⟶ 29:
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] ==
* Saint Francis Xavier tends to be referenced once in a while in anime, because he went to Japan to evangelize the heathens and generally speaking piss off [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]]. There's an alleged descendant of his who appears in ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'', for example. Xavi in the ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' games is also based on Xavier.
* Saint Francis (and Jesuit monks in particular) are posited as the origin of the Kappa myth in the author's notes of ''[[Hell Teacher Nube]]''.
== Art ==
* Patron saints were common subjects for artists throughout [[The Middle Ages]] and [[The Renaissance]] (as in the page image of the
** This tradition is continued in the (mostly Roman Catholic) phenomena of holy medals and holy cards and in the (mostly Eastern Orthodox) phenomenon of icons.
** This is also the most common theme of the stained glass window artwork in Roman Catholic churches.
Line 42 ⟶ 41:
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In ''[[Hellboy]]: The Nature of the Beast'', St. Leonard the Hermit and his slaying of the St. Leonard Worm are alluded to to when the eponymous Hellboy fights a similar creature, and just like in the legends, Hellboy's blood also causes flowers to spring up from the earth. Later, in ''Box Full of Evil'', St. Dunstan is mentioned, and his image used, in connection with a demon he had defeated and imprisoned centuries earlier.
* The Saint of Killers from the comic ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)|Preacher]]''
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* [[The Teraverse]] features, among a number of superheroes and their various sidekicks and support staffers, an entire order of Catholic nuns, one of whom is a telekinetic flier. They're called the Order of [[Joan of Arc|Sainte Jeanne d'Arc]], in a fit of [[Insistent Terminology]]: their foundress is a California girl, but bilingual in French.
== [[Film]] ==
Line 53 ⟶ 54:
* A St. Christopher statue in a car turned into a plot point in ''[[Crash (film)|Crash]]''.
* In the ''[[Hellboy (film)|Hellboy]]'' film, a statue of St. Dionysius was used as a prison for the monster Sammael, and later a finger bone of St. Jude is used to ward off the same monster.
* The entire plot of ''[[The Way (film)|The Way]]'' revolves around a pilgrimage to the shrine and tomb of St. James the Greater, which is in northern Spain.
== [[Literature]] ==
* Nicholas van Rijn (A.D. 2376 to c. 2500) is a fictional character who plays the central role in the first half of [[Poul Anderson]]'s [[Technic History]]. He swears by Saint Dismas (the Good Thief, appropriately), and has expressed the intention of burning candles in offering (to which another character responded "The Saint had best get it in writing").
* Leonard Cohen's ''Beautiful Losers'' is about a Canadian historian researching
* Several stories from Christopher Stasheff's ''[[Warlock of Gramarye]]'' series are
* St. Sebastian's connection to gay men led [[Yukio Mishima]], in his autobiographical novel ''Confessions of a Mask'', to write a lengthy "awakening" moment in front of a picture of the saint.
* A heavily fictionalized St. George is the hero of the first book of ''[[The Faerie Queene]]''.
* The English fairy tale of "The Seven Champions of Christendom" depicts the patron saints of seven prominent Christian nations as [[Knight in Shining Armor|knights errant]]: St. George (England), St. Denis (France), St. Patrick (Ireland), St. Anthony [of Padua] (Italy), St. Andrew (Scotland), St. James [the Greater] (Spain), and St. David (Wales).
* The founder of the monastery in ''[[A Canticle for Leibowitz]]'' becomes the patron saint of electricians once civilization gets back to that point. There is also a reference to Saint Raul the Cyclopean, patron of mutants.
* In [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Space Cadet (novel)|Space Cadet]]'', when persuading the hero that an apparent accident was a real one and not a [[Training Accident|put on job to scare the candidates]], someone asks him whether he has ever heard of St. Barbara, explains that she is the patron of those in dangerous occupations, and tells him that if he goes to the chapel dedicated to her, he will find that the priest is saying Mass for those who died in the accident. This convinces him.
* In [[Larry Niven]] and [[Jerry Pournelle]]'s ''[[The Mote in God's Eye]]'', a statue of St. Barbara aboard a spaceship has carefully constructed fans so the candles will continue to burn right in freefall.
* In ''[[Cell]]'', by [[Stephen King]], Denise successfully helps Clay find a necessary item by invoking St. Anthony's help. Clay himself borrows this idea at the [[No Ending|ending]].
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Chronicles of Chaos|Orphans of Chaos]]'', Boggins informs Amelia, "I, for example, am employed directly by Saint Dymphna's School and College for Destitute Children." Which is to say, after the saint of the insane and emotionally disturbed.
* In Mary Stewart's ''
* In [[Jim Butcher]]'s ''[[Dresden Files]]'' story "Aftermath", Murphy prays to St. Jude before her attack.
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter]]'' trilogy, Logistilla's home is on the island of St. Dismas.
* The ''Speaker for the Dead'' branch of [[Orson Scott Card]]'s [[Ender's Game|Enderverse]] includes the Order of the Children of the Mind of Christ (married but chaste monks who run schools on most Catholic colonies), founded by St. Angelo of Moctezuma (who in traditional Church logic would therefore be the Order's patron saint), an eccentric monk whose death Andrew had spoken [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|2000 years]] before the events of ''Speaker for the Dead''.
* St. Expeditus, a cult saint not recognized by the Church, is referenced in the ''[[Father Koesler]]'' mystery, ''Death Wears a Red Hat'', wherein he is noted both as the patron saint of avoiding procrastination and hurrying decisions and also in his role in Santeria of being used in rituals to dispatch foes.
* In ''[[1632]]'', the town of Grantville, West Virginia, travels back in time to 1630s Germany; as a result, the Catholic priest finds it necessary to rename the parish church, because its original patron saint, St. Vincent de Paul, ''isn't even dead yet.'' He also notes that many of the other saints commonly used for naming churches in the 20th century United States are either (like Vincent de Paul) currently alive, not canonized yet, not ''born'' yet, or politically sensitive... and finally renames it St. Mary (or possibly St. Mary Magdalene). In the various sequels, the original name is often referred to, particularly by a couple of high-ranking church officials who have had to deal with Vincent de Paul and are grateful that he doesn't know the Americans think he's a saint, because it would apparently make him more insufferable than he already is.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
Line 80 ⟶ 81:
* Like ''Joan of Arcadia'', ''[[Wonderfalls]]'' was inspired by Joan of Arc's story.
* ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' snarks at one of his patients when he spots a Saint Nicholas (I believe) medallion, whose patronage also includes prostitutes. She snarks right back that he's also the patron saint of the wrongfully accused.
* In ''[[Life On Mars]]'', Sam Tyler (who may or not be a time traveler) wears a St. Christopher medal.
** And appropriately enough, Gene Hunt (the copper to end all coppers) wears a St. Michael medal.
* The ''[[MythBusters]]''
** Alton Brown regarded [[MacGyver]] as his patron saint first, in a 2001 episode of ''[[Good Eats]]'', "Where There's Smoke, There's Fish." (he constructed a fish smoker out of a cardboard box...go figure.)
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' has the villains celebrate the Night of St. Vigeous, the patron saint of vampires. Since vampires are basically [[Exclusively Evil]], [[Fridge Logic|one has to wonder]] [[You Fail Religious Studies Forever|why the church approved of
* During an episode of ''[[30
{{quote|'''Elisa:''' How dare you say such things in front of the statue of Santa Lucia, the patron saint of judgemental statues!}}
== Poetry ==
Line 93:
== Radio ==
* ''[[A Prairie Home Companion]]'': at Lake Wobegon, the annual blessing of the animals on St. Francis's feast is a trial for the priest, who is allergic to animals.
** Not to mention the Catholic church in Lake Wobegon is named Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
Line 102 ⟶ 101:
* [[Warhammer 40,000|The Imperial Cult]], which is really just [[Recycled in Space|Catholicism IN SPACE!]] has numerous saints, one of the more famous being [[Gaunt's Ghosts|Saint Sabbat]].
* [[Indiana Jones]] is often referred to as the patron saint of player characters. "I don't know, I'm making this up as I go!"
* In [[Dungeons & Dragons]]' ''Book of Exalted Deeds'' sainthood was something a character could earn in game. By the standards of
* ''[[In Nomine]]'', being a game about the War between Heaven and Hell on modern Earth, of course has saints -- they're mortals who have died and gone to Heaven, and who have chosen to be reborn into new lives on Earth to serve Heaven's cause there.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Darklands]]'' has the saints, and their areas of expertise, as the foundation of their magic system based on prayer.
* ''[[Infamous (video game series)|In Famous]]'': {{spoiler|In the Good Ending to ''Infamous 2'', Cole is revered as one by the citizens of New Marais}}
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140104235428/http://st_dyphna.comicdish.com/ St Dyphn(i)a Academy]''—The students in attendance should have realized that something was [[Sealed Evil in a Can|very]] [[Eldritch Abomination|wrong]] with a school [[I Don't Like the Sound of That Place|named after]] the patron saint of ''the insane''.
* In ''[[Silent Hill: Promise]]'' the protagonist Vanessa swears by an increasing number of saints, in different situations.
* In ''[[Squid Row]]'', [http://squidrowcomics.com/?p=1344 Randi buys a statue of St. Luke, patron of artists, and buries it in her houseplant.]
== Other ==
Line 124 ⟶ 121:
* The patron saint of speedy delivery, prayed to by people in a hurry for something, is the possibly apocryphal Saint Expeditus. The story goes, he was a Roman soldier that was considering converting to Christianity; the Devil appeared to him as a crow and suggested he put it off until tomorrow, and Expeditus stomped the shit out of the crow and converted then and there. However, all of this may be completely fictional (as opposed to partially); some say that he was created when a crate of saints' relics showed up at a nunnery with no label except "Expeditus", as in "expedited delivery"; the nuns, not being familiar with the Medeival post office traditions, thought it was the saint's name. Nobody's sure if any of that is true, but St. Expeditus has a big following in Voodoo.
* Another fun saint is Santo Muerte—Saint Death. He's a syncresis of Catholic traditions and local indigenous religions of Mexico, and his cult is increasingly popular amongst the lower classes.
* And then there's the completely apocryphal Saint Josephat, an Indian prince that was shocked from his high-end life the first time he saw a poor beggar; he became an ascetic but found it unrewarding, and finally converted to Christianity. Replace "converted to Christianity" with "achieved enlightenment" and you get the story of Siddartha Guatama—the Buddha. The story had gradually made its way from India to Europe, where the word
* Things that never happened have occasionally been said to take place on Saint Tib's Day or the Feast of Saint Nunca.
* Saint Grobian is a fictional patron of vulgar language.
Line 134 ⟶ 131:
** And as such was celebrated in a poem by [[G. K. Chesterton]].
** The Russian Orthodox Church has, [[New Powers as the Plot Demands|by extension]], made her the patron saint of the [[From Russia With Nukes|Strategic Rocket Forces]].
* [[wikipedia:Emperor Norton|Emperor Norton]] is the only real-life person considered to be a
* St. Philip Neri is patron of the [[Yanks With Tanks|US Special Forces]].
* Lots of cities are named after saints: St. Paul, San Francisco, ''etc''.
** Saint Paul is interesting in that he gets ''two'' fairly-important cities named after him: the [[Twin Cities|capital of Minnesota]], and São Paulo (aka the largest city in the Western Hemisphere).
** It should be noted that in many cases - particularly, in former Spanish, Portuguese, and French colonies - the Catholic church established missionary churches with such names, and the cities built around the churches ''inherited'' the names.
** Not just cities, either. The Spanish and Portuguese explorers often used the ecclesiastical calendar to name geographical features. Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of California, is a good example: it was discovered on St. Catherine's Day.
* There are patron saints for, among others, Fireworks (St. Barbara) and Translators (St. Jerome).
* St. Sebastian, Patron Saint of snipers (well, archers) and plague victims. Also unofficial (for obvious reasons) patron of the gay community, as he is one of the few saints generally depicted in the (nearly) nude (unless, of course, one suspects an obscure "penetration" pun).
| |||