Today is the feast day of.........

This story turns up in other mythologies as well, with variations on the detail, but the same basic story.

in the detail, not on

Well, I like this one!

You'd have thought that meeting a talking stag that warned him of his destiny would have struck him as unusual and put him off hunting. Oh no – of course not. While his wife – a rich older woman (what a canny man) – was busy being hospitable to his parents, he was out chasing deer. So he'd only got himself to blame. That he thought he was killing his wife is not the strongest defence I have ever heard – and what was he doing out after dark anyway?

Then the smooth talker who has already justified his patricide and matricide as being his unavoidable destiny as predicted by an animal not renowned for its conversation, claims that he has been hospitable to a leprous angel.

This doesn't begin to compete with stories of maidens protecting their virginity and walking about carrying various lopped-off bits of their bodies after punishment by rapacious but powerful men. The Catholic church is really not trying with this one.

jings Find a more interesting saint please.

Quirky little tale. Captures my imagination.

I think Julian knew it was his parents in the bed all along - Oedipal issues.

A moment ago the thread titles read as "Today is the feast day of...." "Horsemeat"

So let me get this straight. Murder your parents, set up a hospice, become a saint. Hell that's easy. Usually there's at least a little torture involved

vamp

Aw, absent, let jingle enjoy her fairy tales . Loved fairy tales when I was ten/eleven years old. Dead scary. I don't like them now.

The Franciscan 'Saint of the Day' (not the same as a Feast Day) is St Apollonia, patron saint of dentists and people with toothache. Because she was beaten up and had all her teeth knocked out by some Romans and then immolated herself rather than deny Christ.

Lilygran I thought suicide was regarded as a sin.

Not when it can be called martyrdom.

They were going to throw her on the fire anyway. That's right, Bags!

Sound a bit like the Oedipus story.
JO have you been at the Woodland schools website again? All these saints and things?

"let jingle enjoy her fairy tales".

patronising effing git.

I will let HQ work out whether I was joking with that or not.

Nelliemoser no.

Surely that's not the point. She chose to jump on the burning fagots or whatever they were, not wait to be thrown on them. Doesn't sound very convincing anyway. Wouldn't they tie her to a pole or something before setting light to the aforementioned faggots. You can't jump about when tied to a pole. There's definitely something fishy here. I think we should be told…

Sounds a bit too gruesome for me, absent. I think I'd rather not know. It's obviously a story about nutcase fundamentalists anyway.

Flattered, jings, positively flattered!

She seems a strange person to be the patron saint of dentists if she had all her teeth knocked out – it's not as if she then invented dentures. Who chooses patron saints?

DH' s filling fell out this morning . He managed to get an appointment at 3pm. Thanks be to St Apollonia

There is often only a tacit link. My favourite saint is Dymphna. She's the patron saint of loonies (hence she suits me lol) because her dad was insane.

I wanted to take the name Dymphna as my confirmation name but the bishop wouldn't let me so I took Irene instead. Somehow the name of a young girl who was beaten, put in a brothel and finally burnt to death was far more appropriate

Ash Wednesday today but I shan't be struggling through the snow to the service. [mildly guilty emoticon]