Bernardine of Siena

You think there is no patron for compulsive gamblers? Wanna bet? Saint Bernardine of Siena is also the patron of public relations & advertising. How ever shall these be reconciled?

According the the index, he was very popular with the ladies. As a preacher. No, really. & the primary subject of his sermons was the damage done by gossip which could lead to vendettas by aggressive males. It sounds to me like he might have been preaching to the choir. A lot of preaching to the choir, as he is also invoked against hoarseness.

Actually, I have deliberately misled you. Initially, Bernardine was hoarse & therefore did not preach (despite having joined an order dedicated to missionary preaching) but he was moved by devotion to Mary & his hoarseness was cured & then he could preach. Or so the story goes. He was very unpopular with many other preachers (if you have been following my other saints posts you might notice a trend), but drew large crowds wherever he went. & quite the show it was, what with the collective weeping & exorcisms. Am I the only one who hears shades of Neil Diamond here?

Today, Bernardine's insignia is much better known than the man himself. He adopted the symbol IHS as his own, ultimately displacing many other standards (& the preachers that went with them, no doubt). Here we are back to jealousy, gossip & aggressive men. Where would the church be without them?

I am not really sure what the message is here. Let symbols & slogans do your talking for you? Make your weakness your strength? Pretend your strength used to be a weakness? Forget about separation of church & state & work on separating them both from theater? Or maybe just be reconciled to the world, keep your head, use your brain & try not to make everyone around you crazy.

Or maybe it is to give the dice the best shake you can & roll hard.

//originally I linked to the Atomic Fireballs cover of Luck Be a Lady, but it has been removed. Too bad, but it gives me cause to just order you, my useless minions to go & buy Torch This Place & Birth of the Swerve. If not for me, do it for the economy, because if we stop buying jazz, the terrorists win. Or wait, maybe fraudulent investment executives win...? I get confused. Did I mention whats-his-face is also the patron of ad men? I did? Well, it never hurts to say these things twice.