Wednesday 6 February 2013

More Thanks and St. Dorothy's Day

I am in the middle of cleaning the flat, packing, tying up my literary legacy in case the Atlantic Ocean gets me, so I am rather frazzled. But I must thank JW, BS, FK, ER,LW, ES, JS, NW, CD (who shouldn't have but she's a girl, so ok, xox), DB, CL,CB,MG, JV and RK. Onto the prayer list you all go.

Today is the Feast of St Dorothy, who has a particularly beautiful story, I am pleased to say.  After Vatican II, the Bollandists suggested that she never existed, but I found an altar with her remains underneath in Trastevere, so I say to Bollandists, whatev-ah! Talk to the hand.

In short, Saint Dorothy was a Christian girl in Cappadocia who got caught in one of the Diocletian persecutions and was brought to trial. A lawyer thought it a shame to execute such a cute Christian crumpet, and offered to marry her instead. She said, "No, thank you, I would rather go and die with the rest of my Extraordinary Form of the Mass parish fellow Christians, but thank you all the same. Would you like me to send you something from heaven?"

"Erm," said the lawyer, taken rather aback. "Sure. Send me some fruit and flowers."

Later he was at some deplorable Roman men-only supper where his friends joked at him for being turned down by cute Christian crumpet. But they all shut up when an angel appeared with a basket of fruit and flowers, (A) because, you know, angels and (B) because even in Ancient Rome fruit and flowers were rather scarce in February.

Among other people, Saint Dorothy is the patroness of brides, which I do not quite understand because she chose to die and go to heaven right away rather than to become a bride. However, I think  is must be because she is a gentle saint, and people should be gentle to brides, who are usually under a lot of stress, especially if they are the young and traditional kind.

5 comments:

c'est la vie said...

Haha. I like your retelling of St. Dorothy's story. You should do a "Lives of the Saints" in this style--a few paragraphs for each! Like the very ancient copy of "Saints for Boys and Girls" by Joan Wyndham, that I read as a child until it fell apart. Anyways I am sure you have enough people suggesting things to write!

I laughed at the crossed-out Extraordinary Form of the Mass parish too... how perfect.

Hope you have a great trip!

c'est la vie said...

Oh. And belated happy feast day.

Eliz... said...

I am going to encourage you to write stories about the saints, too.

I was talking with a friend about not getting into saints (and other churchy things) as a child and that I found stories that were magical and adventurous more interesting. The lives of saints aren't boring; it's just that they are written that way sometimes.

Seraphic said...

I love Joan Wyndham's stories!

Well, thank you very much. I will have to think about which saints I could write about in this funny way. I think of St. Dorothy as one of my best saint pals (for obvious reasons), so I think people wouldn't be scandalized. It might be different with St. Maria Goretti, although I am fond of St. Maria, too, and think she was very brave and forgiving.

c'est la vie said...

True--not all saints lend themselves to lighthearted accounts. But lots do... And it's awfully nice to hear the saints spoken of as human beings with a sense of humour. It's much easier to implore their intercession when you think of them as understanding the funny/awkward sides of humanity!