Vatican might name Saint Isidore of Seville the patron saint of Internet users and computer programmers.

February 6, 2001 9:25 AM

Vatican might name Saint Isidore of Seville the patron saint of Internet users and computer programmers. The world keeps getting weirder, doesn't it?
posted by christian (24 comments total)

That's not that wierd. Saint Fiacre is the patron saint of haemorrhoids, sterility, syphilis, and venereal disease (among other things).

Now that is wierd!

posted by tallman at 9:46 AM on February 6, 2001

tallman, technially speaking he's one of the patrons against the various inflictions you've mentioned, not of, though the page doesn't indicate that unless you let the title/alt (unsure which they used) appear.

Still amusing though. :-)
posted by cCranium at 10:00 AM on February 6, 2001

All I can say is it's about time we got a patron saint. I finally have something to put around my neck chain.
posted by leo at 10:32 AM on February 6, 2001

So syphilis gets two patron saints, but venereal diseases in general only get one, and they have to share him with box makers, cab drivers and infertility. Man, Chlamydia gets no respect!
posted by jpoulos at 10:36 AM on February 6, 2001

So there are magical people living beyond human comprehension who are concerned with Syphilis and cable modems? And people believe this?
posted by Doug at 10:48 AM on February 6, 2001

Well, naturally. There are little men in the television set who make the pictures move, and little men in automobiles who make the wheels move, so it seems like a logical next step that the little men would be concerned with high-bandwidth needs in urban areas as well as STDs.
posted by annathea at 10:51 AM on February 6, 2001

Jeepers, Doug, apply a little of that credo ut intelligam to the situation.
posted by leo at 10:55 AM on February 6, 2001

Thanks but no thanks, popie. I'll stick with Saint Dogbert or Swami Abdul for my spiritual protection on the Internet.
posted by bradlands at 11:34 AM on February 6, 2001

I thought Courtney Love was the patron saint of syphilis?
posted by bondcliff at 11:40 AM on February 6, 2001

I hope you're right, Bondcliff, otherwise I've wasted hours of prayer. And of course, the itching may never stop.
posted by Doug at 11:43 AM on February 6, 2001

Leo, I don't believe I get what you're talking about.
posted by Doug at 11:46 AM on February 6, 2001

Well, that's just it, doug. You have to believe in order to understand. It's a Saint Augustine kind of thing. Brad, here for example, feels that either Saint Dogbert or Swami Abdul will best look out for his interests on the internet. It's not rational, it can't be proved, and in fact, it sounds pretty absurd. Nevertheless, incredible as it may seem, by believing in it, we put ourselves in a better postion to understand it. (Of course the truth is Swami Abdul would do a far better job than Dogbert but it's not something I can prove).
posted by leo at 12:34 PM on February 6, 2001

by believing in it, we put ourselves in a better postion to understand it

I think that would be better phrased as "by believing in it, we put ourselves in a better position to delude ourselves into thinking we understand it."
posted by kindall at 1:07 PM on February 6, 2001

I thought Isidore was already the patron saint of librarians. Isn't he getting a little uppity?
posted by rodii at 1:11 PM on February 6, 2001

Doing a quick google search turns up a couple of mentions of St. Jerome and one of Andrew Carnegie. On the other hand, anyone who's ever been to Library School will tell you Ranganathan
posted by leo at 1:29 PM on February 6, 2001

Leo, I realized what it meant, I was being cheeky.

I would like to understand racism, and nazism, but I don't want to believe them. It also works from the presumption that christianity is accurate and real. When, really, it's the same as believing in Goblins.
posted by Doug at 1:29 PM on February 6, 2001

Not really, Doug.

Goblins don't have an ancient, mis-translated, interpret-it-however-you-please, book of fiction "proving" that they exist.

Unless you consider Tolkin to be scripture. I don't, but many net-geeks seem to.
posted by bondcliff at 1:36 PM on February 6, 2001

symbols are for the symbol-minded.

flame on!
posted by mathowie at 1:59 PM on February 6, 2001

There's nothing wrong with people believing in Goblins. Why, some of my best friends believe in Goblins. Personally I don't, but that doesn't stop me from going along -- particularly if the pagentry and music is up to snuff.
posted by leo at 3:36 PM on February 6, 2001

There's already an Isidore page at catholic.org. (This has actually been in the works for two years: the Church is, if anything, patient.) Note the prayer to be said upon logging onto the net ... in English and Latin ... and a long history of Isidore from the Catholic Encyclopedia, in case you're curious. (He was a tremendously productive Renaissance man, responsible for the first true encyclopedia -- which is kinda why he was chosen.)
posted by dhartung at 9:12 PM on February 6, 2001

Not really, Doug.

Goblins don't have an ancient, mis-translated, interpret-it-however-you-please, book of fiction "proving" that they exist.

Pow! Is this the zinger room?
posted by sylloge at 10:53 PM on February 6, 2001

I'm sorry, this is abuse. Zingers are down the hall. First left after the Argument room.
posted by bondcliff at 5:59 AM on February 7, 2001

:: symbols are for the symbol-minded.

And we are all symbol-minded, what's the big deal?
posted by tallman at 6:10 AM on February 7, 2001

So my question is: where can I buy a mini-statue of Saint Isidore of Seville to place in my office?
posted by daveadams at 9:45 AM on February 7, 2001