St. Jerome

St. Jerome is one of the Fathers of the Church, a prolific writer and respected theologian. I know him best for his translation of the Bible into Latin which is commonly known as the Vulgate. It's a notoriously sketchy translation, but it made the Bible accessible to pretty much the entire continent of European scholars rather than just to those few people who could read both Greek and Hebrew.

Ironically, St. Jerome would probably disapprove highly of this blog since he had rather strong views on vainglory and fashion: "Let the words be ever on your lips: 'Naked I came out of my mother's womb and naked I shall return thither,' and 'We brought nothing into this world, and certainly we can carry nothing out.' Yet today you see many women packing their wardrobes with dresses, changing their tunics every day, and even so unable to keep ahead of the moth. The more scrupulous wear one dress until it is threadbare, but yet have their boxes full of clothes" (Letter XXII, To Eustochium)

Despite his criticism, however, I have designed an outfit in remembrance of him. He is the patron saint of librarians, so I came up with this:

This is one of my favorite shirts. You can't really see the pattern on it very well in the photo, but it's really very interesting up close. I've had this skirt for years - it used to reach all the way to my mid-calf and I never, ever wore it. But I got it shortened, and it's like a having a new skirt! The earrings are a hand-me-down from my friend Erin, and they are owls. For wisdom and knowledge. And librarians, I guess. Plus I have a librarian bun in my hair. This is one of my favorite outfits - I feel great in it!

St. Gabriel the Archangel

Today is Michaelmas which is the feast of the archangels Gabriel and Michael. Since I did Michael last week, I'm just focusing on Gabriel this week.

Gabriel is commonly known as the Messenger of God. He explains visions to Daniel in Chs 8-9 of the Book of Daniel, and he's the one who announces to both Elizabeth and Mary that they will miraculously give birth to their respective children in the book of Luke. But my questions about the sainthood of angels remain the same. Although, I will admit Gabriel makes more sense to me as a saint than Michael does. Gabriel at least interacts with human beings on earth. And, if fact, if you believe that angels have the ability to communicate with God, then Gabriel is the most likely one to serve in a real intercessory way. He gives godly messages to humans, so maybe that communication works both ways. I don't know. It's an interesting thought.

OK, so just like last week, angels = white and drapey, flowy clothes. My outfit is mostly brown today, but I put on this shirt that I have had for years, but have difficulty wearing. It has a drapey kind of neck that folds around itself and looks like old paintings to me. It is perhaps a little too early to break out the tights and boots, but I did it anyway:

Good King Wenceslas

St. Wenceslaus was a Duke of Bohemia in the 10th century. He was a Christian ruler, and his relatives who wanted to be in line for the throne murdered him while he was on the way to church. On the way to church!!!! So, now he's a saint. And the patron saint of the Czech Republic. There's a huge statue of him in Wenceslaus Square in Prague that "they" say will come back to life with the Czech Republic needs the saint's aid. Here's a photo:

So, today's outfit is gray for the statue with a little splash of red just for fun: