Saints
And some macabre stories about their lives
I’m writing a proper post today because I have visual aids.
A couple of days ago I was listening to a podcast on by Gone Medieval on St. Nickolas and how different stories of him from different places contributed to his becoming Santa Claus. It was pretty interesting, but not at all spooky, so I’ll link it, rather than describe it.
It made me think of another podcast I listened to a while ago from Bone and Sickle about saints with, somewhat different expressions of wholesomeness. So I wanted to tell you some of these macabre tales, as well as some others I dug up. These stories may seem disturbing to us from a modern perspective, but the actions they depict were thought of as expressions of great faith, so keep that in mind.
Íte of Killeedy was an Irish nun who is still celebrated today. She died around 577 after allegedly keeping a pet beetle who ate away at her side until it grew to the size of a pig. Modern scholars think that this description of Íte’s death is a metaphor for cancer, which to be honest makes perfect sense.
I really wanted a depiction of Íte and her beetle, but I have to say this window is absolutely beautiful.
St. Macarius of Alexandria
St. Marcarius died around 395 and is said to have struggled with lust. At one point, in order to banish the last of his stubborn sexual desire, he spent six months nearly naked in the marshes. There, he was eaten by mosquitoes and biting flies to the point that he was left physically deformed. When he returned to his monastery, it is said he could only be recognized by his voice.
This is just a normal picture of St. Marcarius, I couldn’t find one with the flies. Maybe that’s for the best.
Rita of Cascia
Rita’s wound wasn’t self-inflicted, but was rather a form of partial stigmata. When she was around sixty she was meditating before an image of Christ and a wound appeared on her forehead, as though inflicted by a thorn from Christ’s crown. From then until her death in 1457, the wound lay festering on her brow. In her hagiography, written in 1610 by Father Agostino Cavallucc, he claims the wound was infested with worms that occasionally fell from her forehead. These, she called her little angels.
Here is a depiction of Rita with the wound on her forehead.
Rita’s remains are also on display at the Church of Saint Rita in Cascia.
St. Lucy
As is common of many saint’s stories during the time when Roman persecution of Christians was at its height, St. Lucy was betrothed against her will to a pagan Roman. When she refused to marry him, either he turned her in to the authorities as a Christian and they plucked out her eyes, or she did it herself to avoid the marriage.
St. Lucy’s story is a sad one, but I love this painting. The eyes on the plate are so creepy.
St. Roch aka St. Rocco
When St. Roch’s parents died, he gave all of his inheritance to the poor and became a holy man. At one point he almost died of starvation, but was saved when a dog brought him bread. He is also said to have had sores on his legs that were healed when licked by dogs.
I mainly included this one because I love the saucy pose in this depiction. It’s so dissonant to what’s actually happening. In most of the images I found, St. Roch is pointing to a wound on his leg, while a dog follows him with bread in its mouth.
Show me your weird saint art or tell me your weird saint stories. Or just weird holy people in general. I know there are more out there.
And while you’re here, check out some of these other fine, and ver macabre writers.
Eulalia of Merida, patron of strong-willed children.
Apparently she lived during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian; story is her worried parents took her to their country estate, because asMeg Hunter-Kilmer puts it, “Their concern wasn’t so much that their sweet daughter would be caught by government officials as that their indignant daughter might go out looking for the persecutors to reprimand them.”
Which she eventually did, of course, thereby martyr.
Saint Eligius supposedly was asked to help with a horse that wouldn't let itself be shod. St. Eligius cut off the horse's foreleg, put a shoe on the amputated leg, then re-attached the leg to the horse.
Saints Crispian and Crispin (twin brothers) were thrown in a river with millstones around their necks. They survived, so the emperor Diocletian had them beheaded!