[TheForge] St. Clement patron saint of blacksmiths

[Rob Fertner]

Don,

Here's the Wikipedia link to St Clement's day:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Clement%27s_Day

And the link to the St Clement article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_I

This connection to blacksmithing seems to be an English invention. 
I prefer St. Eligius as my patron saint and I'm also open to St. Dunstan.
As a Catholic, I'll let you in on a secret...There is no cut and dried
logical process in deciding who is patron of what. In many cases, no rhyme
or reason for a certain saint to be a patron saint. For instance, St.
Sebastian was nearly killed by arrows, so now he's the patron saint of
archers. I would think he should be the patron saint of those wanting to
survive attacks from archers. Saints become patrons because people decide to
associate them with something. It was mostly a bottom up process. The Church
hierarchy tried to proclaim certain saints patrons of certain things, but
for the most part the people for whatever reason started believing certain
saints were good for certain things. 
Let us know how your article comes out.

Rob


-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of rfertner at cox.net
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 9:11 AM
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
Cc: PlumDon at aol.com
Subject: Re: [TheForge] St. Clement patron saint of blacksmiths

Look up St. Clement's day on wikipedia. It has the blacksmith traditions
associated with that day. However, when you look at the wiki article about
St Clement, there's nothing about his connection to blacksmithing. Part of
his emblem is the anchor (he was drowned tied to an anchor) and since
anchors were forged?? That's a pretty tenuous connection. There is no good
explanation provided for the blacksmith traditions associated with his
saint's day.

Rob
Wichita, KS

---- PlumDon at aol.com wrote: 
> 
> I have been trying to find a nice write-up  on St. Clement but have had no

> luck with general on-line searching. I would like  to include something in

> an up-coming publication. 
> 
> Does anyone recall  seeing it anywhere...perhaps in another publication, 
> book, magazine,  etc.
> 
> Kindest thanks for any suggestions
> 
> Don  Plummer
> Phoenixville.  
> 
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