And My Patron Saint For 2007 is...

...St Ambrose!

His feast is December 7th. I was delighted to see that he is the patron of candle-makers (I adore candles, and get quite peeved when I realise how they have become associated with dodgy liturgy!) The association with candles is because he was known as the honey-tongued Doctor, for his eloquence, and pictures often show bees... (bees = beeswax, wax = candles... come on, people, keep up!)

Ambrose was also a writer of liturgical hymns. Given his stance against the Arians, he would probably approve of my position on dodgy and heretical hymns, which must be why he picked me!

Of course, the most famous tale told about St. Ambrose is that he was Governor of Milan when two opposing factions were fighting over who should be their next Bishop. The legend tells how a young child cried out "Ambrose bishop!" and this was enthusiastically taken up by the surrounding crowds... Ambrose wasn't too keen, and promptly did a runner. On being persuaded to return, he pointed out that he wasn't even baptised, being only a catechumen. So he was baptised, ordained priest and consecrated Bishop within the space of a week.

And, last but not least, as Bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose helped to convert St. Augustine...

You can read more HERE and check out some of his writings.

Many, many thanks to Moneybags for doing this - there are an awful lot of Bloggers who want to be picked by their own personal saint, so the work involved is phenomenal!!

If you didn't spot my previous post on being picked by a Patron Saint, then pop on over to A Catholic Life and post a comment asking to have a saint allocated.