Saturday, August 4, 2007

St. Sithney, Patron of Grendel and other Mad Dogs

I am reliably informed by Nicholodeon (of the aptly named DOGma reVIEW) that today is the name-day of St. Sithney, patron saint of mad dogs, and this is confirmed by the 13th century martyrology of Exteter Cathedral. According to Nicholas Orme (no relation to Nicholodeon, I think) in The Saints of Cornwall, God offered to make St. Sithney the patron of young girls. Sithney, alarmed that he would get no respite from the young lasses pestering him for finery and husbands, wisely backed off, choosing a less dangerous tutelage, that of mad dogs!

Mad and sick dogs were taken to drink from St. Sithney's spring near Helston, in Cronwall, to cure them.

Here is a photo of my very own mad dog, Grendel the Misanthropic Dog.

3 comments:

Nicholodeon said...

Ah! Too wonderful. My 'mad dog' The Lady Mistable of St. George and St. Nicholas von Dachs-Dogburg-Gotha will not sit still long enough to be photographed.

Aghaveagh said...

Good Grief! I hope she has a nickname or she may starve before you call her to supper!

Nicholodeon said...

Well, Misty is what she gets most of the time, but most of the time she is the one calling me to supper! Yap yap