Remember how I argued that Saint Paul’s brand of Christianity ultimately won out because he was so good with his mouth?
Well, that’s apparently why he’s venerated in Sicily:
In her study of supernatural patrons in Sicilia, Gower reports that … patronal relationships can also be established with groups that are distinguished only by common behaviors, and these need not be behaviors that carry the approval of the Church. Thus in Palermo, San Pantaleone was the patron of those who played the lottery, while in the commune of Casteltermini, San Paolo (Saint Paul) was the patron of those who practiced cunnilingus. (Michael P. Carroll, Madonnas That Maim: Popular Catholicism in Italy Since the Fifteenth Century pg. 38)
Tagged: christianity, italy, saint paul
