Boing Boing guestblogger Mitch Horowitz is author of Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation and editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin publishers.
One of the most interesting aspects of folk religion in America is the enduring figure of Saint Expedite - a youthful, Roman-garbed saint barely tolerated or acknowledged within the upper echelons of the Catholic Church but the subject of loving circles of worship throughout Latin America and many parts of the United States. (I've encountered his statue in a Catholic Church in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.) Simply put, Saint Expedite is the patron of those who need help in a hurry: with jobs, relationships, money, etc. In Brazil, he is the venerated helper of people looking for work; in America, so says Wired magazine, he is the "patron saint of the nerds," i.e., a figure who can help untangle internet connections and the keep communications networks flowing; to church authorities he is merely an icon of "popular religiosity" who never historically existed.
The story of Saint Expedite's existence dates back to logs of martyrs kept in the Roman Empire, where the surname appears. Some speculate that the Saint Expedite cult got started when a box containing the statue of an unnamed Roman sentry got labeled "expedite" for shipping purposes and fell into the hands (and hearts) of a Paris convent. Whatever the case, church authorities step carefully around Saint Expedite, not wanting to alienate his devoted following among many Latin American Catholics; Saint Expedite is also a focus of devotion among practitioners of the African-American magical tradition called hoodoo, among some New Agers, and followers of Santeria.
For the story of Saint Expedite, check out LuckyMojo.com and Wired magazine. I also write about him in Occult America.
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Thanks to St Expedite for answered prayers
still better to worship a mislabeled piece of rock than a "real Saint" Cyril of Alexandria, murderer of Hypatia
I use to live in Reunion Island and all the people was devoted to that little statue
http://images.google.ca/images?q=saint%20expedit%20la%20reunion&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
The put it in little cage like that.
"an icon of "popular religiosity" who never historically existed."
Oh! You mean like Jesus!
That is so cool that I had to double check that today is not the first of April.
Fascinating. My upbringing was steeped in Catholicism and I've never heard of this guy, I guess because he's not official. And they actually have statues in New Orleans and everything - I guess he's just not big in the Northeast.
I wonder if there is a Saint Fragile, or Saint This-End-Up ?
I never thought I'd see Lucky Mojo on BoingBoing.
You see him here in the grocery stores right along with Anima Sola and the occasional Holy Death (my personal favorite).
I grew up in New Orleans and recall hearing the story of misattributing the saints name with lettering on the shipping box. In addition to St. Expedite there is also St. Fragile.
Saint-Denis / San Denys anyone?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalophore
@edgore
Actually, there probably was a historical Jesus. His spooky powers, on the other hand...
Saint Expedite is also worshipped as "Saint Expédit" among the Creole population of Reunion Island, a small french island in the indian ocean.
Altars and small chapels are built on the side of roads, always painted in red. People go there to ask for a favor, pray and make an offering (rum and cigarettes, if memory serves). If the wish is granted, they have to go and build another altar somewhere else.
Here are some examples, on flickr :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bouckenooghe/3335433478/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stef974run/2153339921/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bezombes/3155203785/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zanimo/3659353991/
Patron saint of nerds? I thought that was St. Vidicon.
Saint Denis? His full name is Saint Do-Not-Fold-Spindle-Or-Mutilate.
Well, maybe his biggest miracle is answering prayers without even EXISTING!
That's got to be the biggest miracle of all!
But, of course, that's honing in on God's claim to fame.
@Daemon
please cite sources other than the bible and similar religious texts
This is an delightful "life imitates art" parallel for the wonderful science fiction novel "A Canticle for Liebowitz".
For all of his non-standard saintly needs, the Manolo prefers the incomparable Gauchito Gil, or in the pinch, the Difunta Correa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauchito_Gil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difunta_Correa
For at least the first 1500 years or so of the Catholic Church, Saints were largely not endorsed by the Vatican and the recognition and development of Saints was mostly a local thing. Although the veneration and communion of saints was certainly part of the Catholic Church as a whole, a relatively few saints were recognized at the top levels.
Santo Expedito Pixel:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32364234@N00/416014256/
Obrigado Santo Expedito pelas graças alcançadas.
@Lizardman
Josephus?
I love these horseshoe amulet lucky charms plastic sealed saint prayer cards for your doorway things. I picked up something similar at a roadside market in Mexico along with a red and gold painted clay devil figurine, and a couple little clay prostitutes with glittery dresses, cigarettes, and enormous clay breasts...
@2: Cyril of Alexandria seems like a modest person compared to the patron saint of jurists, Giovanni da Capistrano. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_da_capistrano
I remember reading in the SAINT-A-DAY GUIDE, by Kelly and Rogers, that the church appropriated a saint from Asia. Someone pointed out to the church, later, that the stories they had heard (and had no record of) could be attributed to Buddha. They quickly crossed this new saint out.
#8: Santita Muerte is the first thing I thought of when I saw this lol
#15: lots of religious tradition (little of it Christian) has no problem with praying to or invoking a fictional construct, whether it's St Expedite or friggin' Cthulhu. The real issue isn't whether they exist, it's whether people believe in them enough to pray to them (and if so, how fervent and reality-changing that belief is).
@21 Davegroff:
Josephus is not without problems on the point of Jesus. The "Testimonium Flavium" was heavily modified (if not an wholly forged) some time between 240 and 324 AD.
@25
It's an aphorism that Man creates God in his/her own image. Some schools of Neo-Pagan cosmology would assert that if enough persons believe strongly enough for long enough in any figure, the collective energy of their belief can create a new godform on the astral plane. If you sign on to that belief then St. Expedite certainly exists now as a metaphysical being capable of effecting change - regardless or whether he ever had an actual human existence.
This theory also explains why Jedi mind tricks sometimes work for real.
It seems a far greater stretch of the imagination to believe that Jesus did not exist.
Some people come to church to pray, some to mock... some people stay home and shingle the roof.
"Historians are nearly unanimous in accepting Jesus' baptism as a historical event."
And therefore his historical existence too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus#Historical_views
Malgas addressed Josephus.
@Ito - curious as to why you would say that. On what basis does one measure what takes more or less imagination? If it is verifiable evidence, well...
For almost all my life I took the historical Jesus as a given (though always denied his divinity) until a couple years ago when I started looking into and now I think its a hard call but forced to bet I would put my money on there not having been one.
This is a basic primer for questioning the most commonly cited sources:
http://nobeliefs.com/exist.htm
It is far from perfect but definitely a start. My experience with academia and the world at large makes it very easy for me to believe that many will not push this issue for worry of blowback and that others overdo their push for it just for that reaction.
At the end of the day, I sincerely doubt it matters if there was a jesus or if he was constructed from myth and/or the lives of others but it is an amusing diversion to explore
Ted8305@~7: Tee hee! ...or St. HANDLE WITH CARE. Who knew Catholicism was a cargo cult after all?
Lizardman, entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, Sir William of Ockham.
Recently, I heard some people express disbelief in the existence of a Lizardman (I'm not making this up, it was in Borders bookstore) and dismiss pictures and firsthand accounts as obvious forgeries. Similarly people who don't want to believe in a historical Jesus can dismiss Tacitus - "Oh, he wouldn't have used those words, it must be a forgery".
My daughter and I, however, do believe in the Lizardman. (^_^) Now I must beg pardon, but I am off to fix a roof!
Would it actually make any difference if he (either of them) were based on real people? There were a lot of "Yeshuas" running around, and probably one or two got crucified. I think its safe to say none of them were born of a virgin or rose and walked after being dead for 3 days. Someone named "expedite" is probably more suspect, but hey, who knows?
@Ito
In matters of human behaviour, especially religious matters, the razor is often not the best tool as needless complications seem to be common. But for a simple & practical explanation the idea that men created a single figure out of many to exemplify principles and tell their story v the idea of one truly extraordinary man, I see history full of the former and with very few of the latter. But the view is probably different from your roof. I don't dismiss Tacitus as forgery so much as I suspect he was simply parroting - he comes along too late anyway.
As to those who doubt the existence of a Lizardman, I keep hearing there are more rather than none but I haven't confirmed anything.
There *is* a St. Fragile. She's Italian, and the only know renditions are of her stocking-clad leg...
@Ito: Damn, I thought a cephalophoric saint would have more tentacles!
In Spain, mostly in Seville and Madrid, you can find "huesos de santo" or "huesitos de San Expedito" ("saint bones" or "Saint Expedite's little bones"), a fried mixture of flour, sugar and yolk with some icing sugar on top. They're named after a story about some bones sent in a box to a convent in Paris with the word "spedito" (italian for "express mail") written on it.
But all this could not be true, you know.
St. Expedite takes a lot of prayers. When it's not critical, I go with Saint Two-Day.
And then there's Saint Return-to-Sender, patron of kids who chant "I'm rubber, you're glue" whenever someone insults them.
Unfortunately, Signature-Required and Delivery-Exception never made it to sainthood.
Thank you St. Expedite for your help and for answering my prayers for a speedy settlement.
fran
thanku St. Expedite 4 ur blessings, i luv u!
Thank you St expedite.... for answering my prayers and i spead your name with love and glory
SPU