St. Clarus(es)

As I was doing my research for today, I realized I made a mistake when I was planning out the outfit! There are, apparently, 2 different St. Claruses (actually, more than that, but two in particular that I happened to confuse). One of them has his feast day today - Nov. 4, but the one I took my inspiration from has his feast day on Jan. 1. The particular details of their lives have not survived, though, for either of them, so I'm just going to write about them both today.

1) The St. Clarus whose life is celebrated on Nov. 4 was an Englishman who served as a missionary to Normandy in the late 9th century. He was assassinated by order of a noblewoman whose advances he had refused. That's a very interesting turn of events, I think, considering the number of female saints who died as a result of their potential suitors becoming angry and their chastity and killing them (St. Thecla, St. Winifred, etc.). St. Clarus is the first male I've come across who has suffered this kind of victimization.

2) The St. Clarus whose life is celebrated on Jan. 1 was a French monk. He lived an entirely monastic life and died as the abbot of St. Marcellus monastery in Vienne, France. He is, apparently, the patron saint of tailors, although I'm not sure why.

So, I chose for my outfit a skirt that I wore exactly one time to a conference and then never wore again because it made me feel like an old lady. It was just too long and not very flattering. So, this summer, I had it shortened by my tailor (see the connection?), and it's like having a new skirt. I never in my life thought I would ever say, "No, that skirt's too long. I need it to be shorter," because in general I don't like my legs and try to cover them as much as possible. But shortening this skirt was exactly what it needed:

Before and After