Patron Saints and other such randomness
So we have discussed myth in movies since the first day in class, but I really believe that myth is literally in everything. This goes beyond Callsso's "precedent behind every action" because it pervades the usually quite secular dull of professions and domestic appliances. Maybe I should back up and explain what I'm talking about. One of my close friend and I were watching MythBusters (avery mythical, or would it be de-mythical, show) when one the hosts said something about the patron saint of ballistic gel. My friend and I, both being religion dorks, looked at each other and went over to the computer to look up if there was possibly a patron saint of inadminate objects.
So we looked it up, we found patrons saints of criminals, arms dealers, against oversleeping, bar staffs, cholera and cake makers just to name a few out of the millions. That started to make me think that if things like cholera could have patron saints in the world's most powerful religion, what was it like in the time Homer? I know that rivers were gods and could be anthropomorphic, but in I've never heard of a Greek god that was personally attached to cake makers or bacterial diseases. Same with Roman deities, I know that in the Roman pantheon, there were over 40 gods dealing with wheat alone, however specific that is, it still doesn't compare to this massive list. We claim that mythology only affects us indirectly, with gods "screwing up our lives", but to know that their in a canonized saint for the most random collection of things, makes me wonder about how much mythology one could have in their life. Then I remembered learning about Saint Guinefort...who is a greyhound and realized that saints and mythology are mind boggling to say the very least. Personally I can't reconcile how the ideas of patron saints can rule over people lives so completely. But I also do have to admit how cool it is.
If you're curious about the site, it's:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/patron00.htm
So we looked it up, we found patrons saints of criminals, arms dealers, against oversleeping, bar staffs, cholera and cake makers just to name a few out of the millions. That started to make me think that if things like cholera could have patron saints in the world's most powerful religion, what was it like in the time Homer? I know that rivers were gods and could be anthropomorphic, but in I've never heard of a Greek god that was personally attached to cake makers or bacterial diseases. Same with Roman deities, I know that in the Roman pantheon, there were over 40 gods dealing with wheat alone, however specific that is, it still doesn't compare to this massive list. We claim that mythology only affects us indirectly, with gods "screwing up our lives", but to know that their in a canonized saint for the most random collection of things, makes me wonder about how much mythology one could have in their life. Then I remembered learning about Saint Guinefort...who is a greyhound and realized that saints and mythology are mind boggling to say the very least. Personally I can't reconcile how the ideas of patron saints can rule over people lives so completely. But I also do have to admit how cool it is.
If you're curious about the site, it's:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/patron00.htm