Well, I bear a slight resemblance to that "Big Nate" guy...

[deckardcanine]

I've been assigned to pick a patron saint. My early inclinations were Thomas More, author of Utopia and protagonist of A Man for All Seasons, and Antony the Abbot, whom I had learned from a calendar to be a patron of animals. Well, More was unrealistic for me personally -- I'm not likely to be a lawyer, for one thing -- and Antony turns out to be specific to domestic animals. I decided to put some actual research into it.

St. Francis of Assisi, being into animals and ecology in general, is a prime candidate. My hangups have been (1) his popularity, (2) his unsaintly earlier history, and (3) his name meaning "Frenchman." None of these reasons looks very important anymore. I know from Harry Potter among others that the ultrapopular choices need not be "beneath" me. I shouldn't hold early history against people; I almost always got on good terms, if not friendship, with my enemies in grade school, and I suspect that I would have hated many of my college friends in third grade. And rejecting neutral name etymologies is just too petty for picking among saints. I'm too liberal to hate things for being French, like Italian names.

Nevertheless, I browsed a patron saint index for topics more particular to myself. Francis de Sales is the patron of writers, editors, and journalists, so I shouldn't be surprised my sponsor suggested him. Just for good measure, I looked up the saints associated with peacemaking. Among them is a Francis of Paola. You gotta be kidding me, I thought.

So it looks like one way or another, my Christian full name will be Stephen Brouse Francis Gilberg. Not an attractive combo in my view. Ah well, it's not like I'd be using it all the time. Won't show up on my driver's license.

Comments

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

Good Lord. If I wanted to be Catholic I'd have to add another name? My signature already takes an embarrassingly long time to write. ;)

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

If you meet someone with a name like Mary Ann or Peggy Sue, it's usually a Catholic. Converts seem to have it differently. Since my current middle name is my mom's last name, my full name would look like two people. Good thing I'll basically never use it anyway, anymore than I expect to need my soon-to-be godmother as such.

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

Mary Kathleen is the most common one around here. ;) My name is already 7 syllables and 21 letters long. 'Mary' isn't too long, but if I showed a prediliction for say, St Cecilia, I'd never be able to use a credit card. ;)

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

Last night I learned that it's actually optional for Catholics. I'll take one anyway. Its use won't be required for any legal purposes, including credit cards.

[richardf8]

sic trasit gloria mundi - professions, even vocations, change, so don't bind what you do for a living up with your identity. A love of animals and the environment is likely to be a more enduring component of your identity than your profession is. I would go with Francis. Although, seems to me there is at least one other. . . spent his child torturing animals and then had a theophany and went on to treat them very kindly.

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

Good point. Even ambitions dating back to early childhood are risky for permanent investments, but my love for animals will surely never die.

Wilde Saints

[zombiechick.livejournal.com]

Do you have to choose a male saint? Just asking as I know nothing about it. Your post reminds me of an Oscar Wilde quote though which goes:

"The only difference between saints and sinners is that every saint has a past while every sinner has a future".

Re: Wilde Saints

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

That's one of the many Wilde quotes that gets lost on me, much as I love TIOBE.

As to your question, I was wondering the same myself, but I have yet to find the answer online. Hopefully I'll think to ask at the next RCIA meeting. In any case, I've pretty much decided on Francis of Assisi now.

Re: Wilde Saints

[zombiechick.livejournal.com]

I read the Wilde quote as referring to the fact that a saint is supposed to be someone who has put away earthly delights while a sinner is someone who chooses to continue in the practice of said earthly delights. I'm guessing that Wilde wasn't terribly pro-religion.

Re: Wilde Saints

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

I learned last night that the gender of the saint doesn't matter. This is evidenced in Latin American names like Jose Maria.