28 February 2013

28 February - Saint Romanus


Weather - St. Romanus bright and clear, indicates a goodly year

In the territory of Lyons, on Mount Jura, the demise of St. Romanus, abbot, who was the first to lead the eremitical life there.  His reputation for virtues and miracles brought under his guidance numerous monks.

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The Martyrology also remembers St. Caerealis  of Alexandria, patron of breakfast from a box, of which nothing more is known, not even the year that he was martyred with Pupulus, Caius, and Sarpion.

[I made up the part about his patronage]

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This being the eve of the first of March and St. David’s day, there are a few superstitions and traditions:

“If you wish to see a vision of your future spouse, walk silently three times around the leek bed tonight.” (No word yet on whether the vision shows up in the leek bed or in your bed (in your dreams, of course!))

“If you walk in the churchyard at midnight, you will see the corpse-candles floating above the graves of those families who will suffer a death in the coming year.” [The only person who might be interested is the sexton, who can plan his annual budget accordingly.  Oh, and heirs, of course.  Although the candles don’t exactly say who in the family is going to die…]

An Albanian tradition is to throw a clod of earth in which a few drops of wolf’s milk is kneaded, at the door of the barn so that the cows and goats will milk well that year…  [okay, who volunteers to milk the wolf?  It’s bad enough when Bossy doesn’t care to be milked – she merely plants a hoof amidships and calmly watches you stagger away in pain.  Madame Wolf has other ways of showing her displeasure to those who take unwarrantable liberties with her person, most of which involve her well-honed teeth.]

Another Albanian tradition is to wash with wine to prevent any vermin from touching them [take note, you who are terrified of bed-bugs] and then impale a flea on a new needle so that no other flea will dare to come near them [pour encourager les autres, no doubt]. 

The Albanians have the coolest traditions.

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Artwork:
The Capitoline Wolf, Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy, swiped from Wikipedia