Patronage of Global Warming
The Patron Saints of Flood, Drought and Earthquakes
In times of global warming we look to Saint Florian Patron Saint of Flood, Saint Solange Patron Saint of drought and Saint Emygdius Patron Saint of earthquakes.
Flood, drought and earthquakes are poles apart but with global warming they are all growing concerns. Saint Florian, Saint Solange and Saint Emygdius are their Patron Saints.
Saint Florian is the Patron Saint of flood, battles, fire, firefighters, chimney sweeps, brewers, barrell makers, harvests and soap-boilers.
Saint Solange is the Patron Saint of drought relief, rain, rape victims, shepherdesses and shepherds.
Saint Emygdius is the Patron Saint of earthquakes
Saint Florian Patron Saint of Floods
Saint Florin was an officer in the Roman army. The Emporer Diocletian ordered him to execute a group of Christians but Florian, a secret Christian himself, refused and admitted to being a Christian himself. For his defiance and admission he was scourged, flayed and thrown into a river with a stone tied to his neck.
Florian is the Patron Saint of both fire and flood as one legend tells of him stopping a town from burning with a single bucket of water. Images of Saint Florian often show him either holding a small burning house or pouring water onto a miniature burning town.
Saint Solange Patron Saint of Drought
Saint Solange is one of the few female Patron Saints and was born in France in the 9th Century. Solange was a beautiful shepherdess. She was also a virgin and took a vow of chastity. She vowed that she belonged only to God.
Her landlord, Bernard, made sexual advances towards her but she refused. In a fury and believing himself untouchable as the son of a count, her landlord killed her. Sources are unclear whether she was stabbed through the heart or beheaded. She is now, for obvious reasons, a Patron Saint of rape victims. She is also a Patron Saint of drought relief as a field where she was known to pray has been named after her.
Saint Emygdius Patron Saint of Earthquakes
Saint Emygdius lived in the 3rd and 4th century and was a Christian bishop in Ascoli Piceno in Italy, though it is believed that he was originally a pagan. Emygdius is said to have cured many people through miracles, including a paralytic girl and a blind man. He also cured many sick in the Temple of Aesculapius where he was taken by the people of Rome who believed him to be the son of Apollo. He then, however, tore down the pagan altars and proclaimed himself to be a Christian. Emygdius converted many people to Christianity with his displays of miracles, one of which was to strike a mountain and cause water to gush from it. A local governor tried to convert Emygdius to worship Jupiter and offered him his daughter for marriage but Emygdius refused and converted his daughter to Christianity. The governor beheaded him.
Emygdius became the Patron Saint of earthquakes as in 1703 a violent earthquake occurred. Despite destroying all of the regions and villages around it Ascoli Piceno remained untouched. This was attributed to the protection of Saint Emygdius.
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