@BillyBones

Better question: What accessory would YOUR posthumous artwork be rocking, if you became a saint?

(Skin's taken!)

I've always found St. Martin de Porres' broom to be pretty rad, myself. :) You don't mess with a man with a halo who can sweep!

@stueytheround @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@MLClark Get him onto the curling team!
My Holy Relic would be a motorbike!
@BillyBones @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@MLClark My avi *is* my posthumous artwork. I just got it in early so it was officially approved by the source 🤣

@stueytheround @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@MLClark @BillyBones @stueytheround @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian
Mine might be my ears, since we're apparently allowed to detach body parts once we attain sainthood. 😁

@MLClark @BillyBones @stueytheround @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

Heh.
I'm picturing a trans saint holding boobs in one hand and a penis/balls in the other.

I *have* been reading a lot of horror stories this month.

Though really, for me, it'd likely be a nice fluffy blanket. Or a cat.

@tyghebright @MLClark @BillyBones @stueytheround @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian
That would be great, though, a trans saint! I wish there was one. Saints already are gory, also. You can't get much gorier than flaying.

@tyghebright If Clive Barker did Sainthoods... 😝

@MLClark @stueytheround @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@BillyBones Some of the last moments in the lives of the saints would make Clive Barker look like "See Spot Run" 🤣

You know about Catherine wheels, yes?

@tyghebright @MLClark @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@stueytheround Yes - well, I know the Wheel 🤢 😢

Which leads to another question that I could be in the right place for...

I probably don't know the full story of St Catherine in particular, but wasn't the story that the wheel fell apart at her touch? (As you can tell, I don't do too well with most stories of 'miracles')🤔

@tyghebright @MLClark @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@BillyBones Gosh I'd have to look it up. I learned about it when I was in primary school 🤣🎇🎆

@tyghebright @MLClark @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@stueytheround I thought I remembered learning about her being set on fire on a wheel, but that might have just been someone's Dad telling spooky stories one Bonfire Night

I looked for more info some years back and there were all sorts of dodgy stories like Jesus visiting her in her cell and angels tending to her wounds. But spirits never rescue these people, which would be even more miraculous.

@tyghebright @MLClark @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@BillyBones The Lives of the Saints, much like the Bible are full of important truths (plural) but also like the Bible, there's room for interpretation, allegory, metaphor etc.

Stories of endurance and faith under duress are probably more encouraging in many respects than stories of being rescued by angels, though such things *are* littered through the Bible.

@tyghebright @MLClark @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@stueytheround 👍
That's where a lot of my issues with all of this come from. One bit must have happened because it's in the Bible & that's the 'Word of God', where others aren't to be taken literally and refer to any manufacturers of dairy products

I'm not singling Christianity out btw. It's an issue I have with just about anything where we're told "It's just how it is". I was the "But WHY?" 3 year old 😝

@tyghebright @MLClark @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@BillyBones

As an atheist who lives in a very Catholic country, I hear you, Billy. These stories deepen me in my humanism, though, because they remind me that we're a pattern-seeking species, very quick to create causal relationships in the world around us.

Saints' tales speak to our best use of that trait: to bestow hard lives with meaning, and to give meaning to how much we care for those already gone.

@stueytheround @tyghebright @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@MLClark Beautifully put!

And thanks to you & Stuey for this. I hope you can tell I'm not looking for a fight and not picking at beliefs. I'm genuinely someone who feels that "It's just how it is" is wholly unsatisfying. I never even treated my daughter like that when she was little. If she asked something I'd tell her or find a good answer, rather than just answering with "Because". 💜

@stueytheround @tyghebright @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

Lovely piece by Helen De Cruz today, reflecting on the value of saints' tales, moral exemplars, and having a shared vocabulary for virtue.

She's a philosophy prof going through treatment for serious illness, so she's in a thoughtful mood about suffering in her posts as of late--but this one fits so neatly into yesterday's chat I could've sworn she'd been spying on us! 😅

@BillyBones @stueytheround @tyghebright @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

https://open.substack.com/pub/helendecruz/p/yeah-ive-got-some-arrows-sticking

@BillyBones Yes. You were right. Patron Saint of philosophers, too.

https://catholicism.org/catherine-wheel-named-after-saint-catherine-of-alexandria.html

@tyghebright @MLClark @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@stueytheround Oh wow! That doesn't happen often enough for my liking! Ta mate 👍

I think she's also the Patron Saint

@tyghebright @MLClark @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@BillyBones

The "miracle" story that always makes me chuckle is one of the few for Aquinas.

When he was dying, he was asked if there was anything he'd like, and he said “Well, I wouldn’t mind some herring.” But the town usually only had salted sardines. Nevertheless, there were herrings at the fishmonger, fulfilling his last request! A MIRACLE!

It's amusing to think what the equivalent would be today.

@stueytheround @tyghebright @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@MLClark Another version has the Saint being given the sardines and declaring "These are the best herring I have ever tasted!" meaning the sardines *must* have turned into herring. MIRACLE!

@BillyBones @tyghebright @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@stueytheround And now you've just taught me the origins of "God bless us and save us said Old Mrs Davies..." 😆

@MLClark @tyghebright @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian

@stueytheround

Yes!

I chuckle, Stuey, but I really like the message the Church ascribed to this miracle story: the idea that even the most illustrious scribe for the faith, a man venerated for his intellect and writings, was still only human, so *of course* would have been just as moved by the little miracles in life as by the lofty--at least, if one was going to argue that he had lived a truly saintly life.

@BillyBones @tyghebright @janallmac @Mauve_matelot @LiberalLibrarian