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I was at a concert about a week ago, Irish musician Susan McKeown, when she made a quip about the Patron Saint of Patience. For the record, it's St. Monica, best known as mother of St. Augustine, who'd try anyone's patience. But that got me wondering, who's the patron saint of potters?
We used to joke about this, back in my undergrad days at Viterbo, a Franciscan-run liberal arts college. The general consensus was in favor of Joan of Arc, who would at least understand the firing process.
But we didn't have Wikipedia back then.
Meet St. Spyridon. He was a Cypriot shepherd turned monk after his wife died. He eventually became bishop of Trimythous, and is remembered for using a pot shard to explain the Trinity to a classical philosopher. As he expounded, the shard miraculously burst into flame, poured out water, and rendered to dust in his hand, combining three aspects of the trinity with three of the four classical elements.
I shall have to invoke him whenever I manage to blow up something in the kiln.
We used to joke about this, back in my undergrad days at Viterbo, a Franciscan-run liberal arts college. The general consensus was in favor of Joan of Arc, who would at least understand the firing process.
But we didn't have Wikipedia back then.
Meet St. Spyridon. He was a Cypriot shepherd turned monk after his wife died. He eventually became bishop of Trimythous, and is remembered for using a pot shard to explain the Trinity to a classical philosopher. As he expounded, the shard miraculously burst into flame, poured out water, and rendered to dust in his hand, combining three aspects of the trinity with three of the four classical elements.
I shall have to invoke him whenever I manage to blow up something in the kiln.