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CULINARY INFO
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"DISCLAIMER"
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St. Anthony of Egypt : Patron saint of butchers
AKA :
Feast : January 17th (Obligatory Memorial)
Born : 251
Died : 356
Canonised : Unknown
St. Anthony of Egypt was born in Egypt around 250 A.D. When his parents died he gave all of his property to the poor and began a life as a hermit.
His life style attracted many disciples and they laboured for the Church. He along with St. Athanasius of Alexandria gave support to believers during the Persecution of Diocletian and fighting the Arian heresy.
He died in 356 A.D. at age 105.
He is also the Patron Saint of basket makers, brush makers, domestic animals, grave diggers, and skin diseases
St. Fortunat : Patron saint of male cooks/chefs
AKA : Venantius, Honorius, Clementianus, Fortunatus
Feast : 14th December
Born : circa 535, Treviso, Italy
Died : circa 605, Poitiers, Gaul (natural causes)
Canonised : Unknown
Born to a pagan family, he converted to Christianity when still quite young. He grew up in Aquileia, in Italy and studied grammar, rhetoric, and law at Ravenna, Italy. While a student he became nearly blind, but recovered his sight by anointing his eyes with oil from a lamp that burned before the altar of Saint Martin of Tours. In gratitude to Saint Martin, he made a pilgrimage to Tours via the area of modern Germany, taking two years to make the journey from about 565 to 567.
In Tours he became a close friend of the bishop and lived in the Loire Valley for while, then settled near Poitiers. During his travels he often paid for his supper by reciting poetry, singing, or making up rhymes on the spot. From 567 to 587 he counselled a local community of nuns on matters spiritual and financial. He was an advisor and secretary of Queen Radegund, wife of King Clotaire I and eventually became Bishop of Poitiers (circa 600)
A wanderer up to then, when Venantius became a bishop he became a model of temperance and stability, and was known for his love of food and friends and joy. He wrote hymns, essays, funeral elegies, homilies, and metrical lives of the saints including Saint Martin of Tours (which runs to 2,243 hexameter lines), Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Saint Germanus of Paris, Saint Albinus of Angers, Saint Paternus of Avranches, Saint Marcellus of Paris, and Saint Radegund. His poetry and songs often concerned daily life and work and people and politics, and have become a valuable resource for historians of the era.
He is considered the last of the Gaelic Latin poets, and one of the first Christian poets to write works devoted to Mary.
St. Honore: Patron saint of bakers
AKA : Honoratus; Honortus
Feast : May 16th
Born : Porthieu, Amiens, France
Died : 30 September 653 at Porthieu, Amiens, France; miracles reported at his tomb, especially in 1060 when his body was exhumed
Canonised : Unknown
St. Honore was the Bishop of Amiens.
St. Honore is represented by a baker's peel or shovel; bishop with a large Host; bishop with three Hosts on a baker's shovel; loaves; prelate with a hand reaching from heaven to give him bread for the Mass
He is also the Patron Saint of bakers of holy wafers, cake makers, confectioners, candlemakers, chandlers, confectioners, corn chandlers, florists, flour merchants, oil refiners, pastry chefs
St. Lawrence : Patron saint of Chef de Rottiseurs
AKA : Lorenzo; Laurentius; Laurence; Laurent
Feast : August 10th it is usually celebrated with cold cuts.
Born : Unknown
Died : 258
Canonised : 1881
St. Lawrence was a from Huesca, Spain and called to Rome by the pope. He was a third-century archdeacon of Rome and "keeper of the treasures of the church" in a time when Christianity was outlawed. Emperor Valerian delighted in the persecution of Christians and on 6 August 258, by decree of Valerian, Pope Saint Sixtus II and six deacons were beheaded, leaving only Lawrence.
Before his death Sixtus greeted and reassured Lawrence that he was not being left behind; they would be reunited in four days. Lawrence saw this time as an opportunity to disperse the material wealth of the church before the Roman authorities could lay their hands on it.
On 10 August Lawrence was commanded to appear for his execution, and to bring along the treasure with which he had been entrusted. When he arrived, the archdeacon was accompanied by a multitude of Rome's crippled, blind, sick, and indigent; he announced that these were the true treasure of the Church.
Lawrence's care for the poor, the ill, the neglected have led to his patronage of them. His work to save the material wealth of the Church, including its documents, brought librarians and those in related fields to see him as a patron and to ask for his intercession.
His incredible strength and courage when being grilled to death led to his patronage of cooks and those who work in or supply things to the kitchen. He was martyred by being slowly burned on a grid iron; according to St. Ambrose he apparently told his torturers "Turn me over for I am cooked on this side".
Approximately 50 years after his death the Emperor Constantine had a Basilica built over St. Lawrence's grave. It was one of the seven major churches in Rome.
His mummified head may be in the Secret Archives of the Vatican Patronage
The annual Perseid meteor shower, one of the best known of the annually occurring meteor showers, and which occurs near his feast day in August, is sometimes called "The Tears of St. Lawrence" in Italy.
He is also the patron saint of archives, archivists, armouries, armourers, brewers, butchers, Ceylon, comedians, comediennes, comics, confectioners, cooks, cutlers, deacons, fire, glaziers, laundry workers, librarians, libraries, lumbago, paupers, poor people, restaurateurs, Rome, schoolchildren, seminarians, Sri Lanka, stained glass workers, students, tanners, vine growers, vintners, wine makers
St. Luke : Patron saint of butchers
AKA :
Feast : October 18th (Feast)
Born : Unknown in Antioch
Died : Unknown in Greece
Canonised : Unknown
St. Luke was born to a pagan family and possibly as a slave. He was converted to the faith by a fellow worker of the Apostle Paul. He was by trade a physician and artist, who legend says painted portraits of Jesus and Mary; but never have ever been substantiated. He lived in the city of Antioch.
Based on St. Paul's preaching he wrote the Gospel according to Luke. Also, he is the author of the Acts of the Apostles which tells of the beginning of the Church up to the time St. Paul first travelled to Rome.
He and St. Paul evangelised Greece and Rome. He suffered martyrdom toward the end of the 1st century. St. Luke is typified by an ox (one of the four living creatures in the vision of Ezekiel), because he begins his Gospel with the history of Zechariah, the priest, offering sacrifice to God, and emphasises the universal priesthood of Christ.
He is also the Patron Saint of artists, brewers, doctors, glass-workers, notaries, painters, physicians, sculptors and surgeons
St. Macarius : Patron saint of cooks, confectioners and pastry chefs
AKA : Macarius of Alexandria
Feast : 2nd January
Born : 4th century, Alexandria
Died : circa 401
Canonised :
St Macarius the Younger was a successful merchant in fruits, candies, and pastries in Alexandria, Egypt. He converted to Christianity and subsequently gave up his business in 335 to be a monk and hermit in Upper Egypt. For a while he lived near Saint Anthony the hermit and there are some amazing stories that grew up around the two.
After several years, he travelled to Lower Egypt, where he was ordained and lived in a desert cell with other monks, practicing severe austerities. For seven years he apparently lived on raw vegetables dipped in water. On feast days he would take a few crumbs of bread moistened with drops of oil.
He once spent 20 days and 20 nights without sleep; when burnt by the sun in the day, frozen by the bitter cold desert at night he said: "My mind dried up because of lack of sleep and I had a kind of delirium," the hermit admitted. "So I gave in to nature and returned to my cell."
He also is said to have spent six months naked in the marshes, attacked constantly by viscous blood-sucking flies and mosquitoes, all in the hope of destroying his last bit of sexual desire. The terrible conditions and attacking insects left him so deformed that when he returned to the monks, recognised him by his voice only.
St Martha : Patron saint of cooks
AKA : Wonder Worker of Southern Gaul
Feast : 29th July
Born : Unknown
Died : circa 80 A.D.
Canonised : Unknown
The sister of Saints Lazarus and Mary of Bethany. A known friend of Jesus and hostess to him in her house. She may have been part of an early mission to France.
Also the patron saint of butlers, dieticians, domestic servants, homemakers, hotel-keepers, housemaids, housewives, innkeepers, laundry workers, maids, manservants, servants, servers, single laywomen, travellers
AKA :
Feast : 17th May
Born : 24 May 1540, Torre Hermosa, Aragon, Spain
Died : 15 May 1592 (Whitsunday) at Villa Reale, Spain
Canonised : 1690
Son of pious peasants; Martin Baylon and Elizabeth Jubera. He worked as a shepherd from the age 7 until he was 24 and was a good influence on an often rowdy group.
A Franciscan lay brother with friars of the Alcantarine Reform, often serving as a cook or a doorkeeper. His charity to the poor and the afflicted, his unfailing courtesy and humility were remarkable even by Franciscan standards. While travelling in France, he defended the Real Presence against the blasphemies of a Calvinist preacher and narrowly escaped death at the hands of a Huguenot mob. Poorly educated, he was still a counselor that was sought by the rich and the poor alike. His cult status is especially strong in Spain, southern Italy, Central and South America.
Also the patron saint of Eucharistic congresses and organizations (proclaimed by Pope Leo XIII), Obado Bulacan Philippines
St. Peter : Patron saint of bakers
AKA : Simon, Cephas
Feast : 22nd February (feast of the Chair of Peter, emblematic of the world unity of the Church) 29th June (feast of Peter and Paul) 18th November (dedication of the Basilicas of Peter and Paul)
Born : Unknown
Died : circa 64
Canonised : Unknown
St. Peter was the first Pope of the Church. He was the brother of St. Andrew and a fisherman before being called as an apostle.
Renamed "Peter" (rock) by Jesus to indicate that Peter would be the rock-like foundation on which the Church would be built.
He died around 64 A.D. by crucifixion. However, St. Peter was crucified upside down because he did not feel he was worthy to die in the same manner as our Lord.
He has two epistles attributed to himself. St. Peter is mentioned in the Roman Canon. He is also the Patron Saint of against frenzy, bakers, bridge builders, butchers, clock makers, cobblers, Exeter College Oxford, feet problems, fever, fishermen, foot problems, harvesters, diocese of Jackson Mississippi, diocese of Las Vegas Nevada, locksmiths, longevity, diocese of Marquette Michigan, masons, net makers, papacy, archdiocese of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Popes, Poznan Poland, diocese of Providence Rhode Island, Rome, diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, ship builders, shipwrights, shoemakers, stone masons, Universal Church, watch makers
St. Radegonde : Patron saint of female cooks/chefs
AKA :
Feast : 13th August
Born : 518
Died : 587
Canonised : Unknown
Daughter of the pagan king of Thuringia who was assassinated by Clotaire I and who kidnapped, baptised, and married the 12 year old Radegunde, then badly mistreated her. She eventually left him and took the veil from Saint Medard. Founded and lived the rest of her life at the convent of the Holy Cross, Poiters, France. Spiritual student of Saint John of Chinon.
