St. Sebastian

St. Sebastian is easily one of the most recognizable saints because he is almost always depicted with arrows sticking out of him, like so:



It is actually a misconception that he died being shot by those arrows. A widow found him - still alive - and nursed him back to health. When Emperor Diocletian found out Sebastian was still around, he had him arrested and beaten to death in prison. For good, this time.

Sebastian was a high-ranking soldier in the Roman army before his Christianity was discovered. He is credited with strengthening the faith of many others and several instances of healing the sick. His martyrdom is supposed to have occurred in 287.

So, today I am dressed for Sebastian. Polka dots for arrow holes and, when I was explaining it to someone today, I said, "In the pictures, he's always wearing a sort of...miniskirt." I realize it's not a miniskirt, but I can't think of a good word for it - Loincloth? No, that sounds like cavemen or something. Diaper isn't a word I want to use either, although that's what it looks like. I mean, it's basically just a piece of cloth there so the painter doesn't have to paint him naked, I think. A modesty cloth? I'm sure there's an actual word for it, but it's simply not coming to mind. So, anyway, I wore a miniskirt:

Chair of St. Peter

So, when I was doing research for this day, I was very surprised to learn that Jan 18 is the feast of the "Chairing of St. Peter at Rome." What on earth? So, I looked into it, and it's basically a celebration of the office of pope. The chair is actually the chair on which the Pope used to sit in St. Peter's cathedral. Here's a picture:

I'm studying for a Latin exam that I have to take this semester, and to prepare I'm translating the Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend) which is a collection of saints' lives from the 13th century. So, I'm basing my outfits around the saints in that book and the stories it tells about them. The Golden Legend doesn't include a section on St. Peter's chair in Rome, but it does have an entry for St. Peter's chair in Antioch. That feast day is usually Feb. 22, but I'm using it today.

As you can see, the chair of St. Peter in Rome is a rather elaborate affair. It's actually kind of a plain wooden chair, but in the 17th century, a baroque reliquary was built for it made of bronze.

So, I took that ornate decoration as my inspiration:

I'm actually wearing two pairs of tights. The undertights are shiny and gold. The overtights are patterned netting. This was a fun outfit to wear and very comfortable!

St. Hilaire de Poiters

The semester has just started, and I'm already behind! And unhappy with my pictures so far. But, anyway, this is from last Thursday.

St. Hilaire de Poitiers was bishop of Poitiers in the 4th century. He was known as a very pious man who despised heresy. The story about him in the "Golden Legend" is that the pope, named Leo, had been corrupted by heresy and he summoned all the bishops together to discuss church doctrine. Hilaire was not invited to this meeting, but he found out about it and showed up anyway. The pope began to ridicule him, but Hilaire stood up for himself and accused the pope of heresy right to his face. When the pope excused himself to obey nature's call, he was stricken with dysentery, pooped out all of his intestines, and died. Hilaire then took control of the assembly of bishops and the heresy was stopped.

The Golden Legend claims this story is true despite the absolute lack of any documentation of the incident and the fact that there was no pope named Leo in the fourth century. Hmm.

So, rather than taking inspiration from the pooping incident as entertaining as that might have been, I went with the French theme. I don't really have any real Frenchified accessories like a beret or cute little neck scarf, but I do have a striped sweater. So, here goes: