Tuesday, July 27, 2010

St. Expeditus (? to 303)


I'm awaiting positive news about a fun project that I've been working on this year. And although I know the outcome, I've asked St. Expeditus to intercede for me with some type of confirmation. He is the patron saint of prompt solutions.
I thought it was a joke at first, too. Probably because of expedia.com, the travel reservation website. But, since I need his help fast, I called upon St. Expeditus this morning.
He was thought to be born in Melitene, Armenia although there are also accounts of a St. Expeditus from Rome, Italy or Acireale, Sicily. The whole story "took off" when some Parisian nuns received a package from Rome with the remains of a martyred saint and a statue (now said to be in New Orleans, Louisiana). It was marked "spedito" which they translated as the Latin name Expeditus or today's equivalent of priority mail.
Word quickly spread about the martyr. He is usually depicted as a soldier but perhaps we'd recognize him today in brown shorts. There are illustrations of what he looked like from Germany and he has a cult following on Reunion, a French island. St. Expeditus died in 303 and his feast day is April 19.
He's been with me all day. When I filled out my passport renewal form it said if I want to receive a new passport within 2 to 3 weeks, to mark "expedite" on the envelope!

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