Historical Nonfiction

Saints Preserve Us!

Some funny and quirky facts about everybody’s favorite miracle-wielders of the Catholic Church

• St. Simeon Stylites (ca. 386–459) spent the last thirty-nine years of his life sitting on top of a pillar 70 feet high. He holds the longest-standing individual record in the Guinness World Records book for doing so.
• Slavery ended in Western Europe in the 7th century, when a British girl, Bathilde, was taken as a slave and sold to Clovis II, King of the Franks (638–655). Clovis fell in love with and married her. Bathilde became ruler as regent for their sons when he died, and used that power to outlaw slavery. She was later canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
• St. Cuthbert’s death shroud, in Durham Cathedral, reads “There is no God but Allah.” At the time, most silk was imported from Islamic lands to the east, and since they couldn’t read Arabic all writings were ignored. Hence, this gigantically ironic fact.
• In the Middle Ages, the skulls of saints were used as drinking cups on ceremonial occasions.
• When investigating candidates for sainthood, the Catholic Church would have someone to argue against canonization. This role was officially called “Devil’s Advocate”

(Source: allfunandgames.ca)

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