Today's saint is rather apt due to the fact I have recently landed in Tokyo and will be enjoying the sights and sounds of Japan until the 10th August.
"A Canaanite of gigantic stature, Christopher desired to serve the most powerful prince in the world. A hermit suggested he would do better to serve the needy, so he decided to help travellers cross a river. When he carried a child who revealed himself as Christ, he converted. He died a martyr"
Usually depicted as a giant with a staff and the Christ child on his back. Invoked against sudden death, hurricanes, hail and plague. Protects travellers of all sorts.
He's usually held to have died in the reign of the Roman emperor Decius which you might notice was almost three centuries after Jesus's Crucifixion.This is because he's a figure of legend and his story is demonstrative of Christ continual presence on earth (etc. etc.). When Christopher is carrying the supposed child across the river, the child gets heavier and heavier until it feels as though Christopher is carrying the world. The child then says he is Christ and to prove it, Christopher's staff is thrust into the earth and the next morning has turned into a fruit bearing palm tree.
Christopher's conversion and miracle story helped to convert many others and he was eventually incarcerated and executed.
Now this may have gotten you thinking about another famous Christopher, Christopher Columbus and yes - there is a connection. There were numerous political goings on around the time of the re-discovery of the Americas, one of which was the duty of the Spanish explorers to take their knowledge of Christianity with them and convert who they found.
Christopher took this to heart and by the end of his life was signing his name as "Christ bearer" and crediting himself with bringing conversion to the new lands.
Notes
St Christopher image: Book of Hours, France, Loire, ca. 1475
Morgan Library, MS G.1.II fol. 259r
Giorgi, R. Saints, A year in faith and art (New York, Abrams: 2005) p. 440
Bio of St Christopher:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03728a.htm
Christopher Columbus image:
http://www.josephsmithacademy.org/wiki/christopher-columbus/
Bio of Christopher Columbus:
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-christopher-columbus
"A Canaanite of gigantic stature, Christopher desired to serve the most powerful prince in the world. A hermit suggested he would do better to serve the needy, so he decided to help travellers cross a river. When he carried a child who revealed himself as Christ, he converted. He died a martyr"
Usually depicted as a giant with a staff and the Christ child on his back. Invoked against sudden death, hurricanes, hail and plague. Protects travellers of all sorts.
He's usually held to have died in the reign of the Roman emperor Decius which you might notice was almost three centuries after Jesus's Crucifixion.This is because he's a figure of legend and his story is demonstrative of Christ continual presence on earth (etc. etc.). When Christopher is carrying the supposed child across the river, the child gets heavier and heavier until it feels as though Christopher is carrying the world. The child then says he is Christ and to prove it, Christopher's staff is thrust into the earth and the next morning has turned into a fruit bearing palm tree.
Christopher's conversion and miracle story helped to convert many others and he was eventually incarcerated and executed.
Christopher took this to heart and by the end of his life was signing his name as "Christ bearer" and crediting himself with bringing conversion to the new lands.
Notes
St Christopher image: Book of Hours, France, Loire, ca. 1475
Morgan Library, MS G.1.II fol. 259r
Giorgi, R. Saints, A year in faith and art (New York, Abrams: 2005) p. 440
Bio of St Christopher:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03728a.htm
Christopher Columbus image:
http://www.josephsmithacademy.org/wiki/christopher-columbus/
Bio of Christopher Columbus:
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-christopher-columbus
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