I was looking to try to find the patron saint of flying. I always thought it was Saint Christopher, patron saint of travellers, but it turns out there’s a few options.
Joseph of Cupertino
‘Remarkably unclever’, but experienced miraculous levitation [my personal preference]
Our Lady of Loreto
For the house of the Virgin Mary, which miraculously flew from Palestine to Loreto in Italy
Saint Barbara
For those who face the danger of sudden and violent death at work; usually explosives, but also includes helicopters
Thérèse de Lisieu
Popular in the 1914-1918 period, venerated especially by contemporary French pilots
Internet research found a few more options. Some of the serious ones are quite funny, and I’ve added a few more by extension. Any others to add? Many of the associations come from how they died, and some of the methods of execution in early Christian times were quite creative. There might be a market for a range medals and icons for each aviation-specific problem.
Avgas
Honoratus or Honoré of Amiens (holy oil miraculously appeared on his forehead)
Avionics
Hubert of Liège (precision instruments, unknown why)
Customs & immigration
Matthew (a (hated) tax collector)
Difficult spouses
Gummarus (unable to convert his wife, so they separated)
Falling, parachutes
Venantius (was thrown off a cliff)
Forced landings
Anthony of Padua (was shipwrecked)
Gliders
Clare of Assisi (can’t find why)
Good finances
The Infant Jesus of Prague
Hangars
Guy of Anderlecht (normally protection of sheds)
Holds, holding
Catherine of Alexandria (killed on a wheel)
Navaids
Venerius (normally lighthouse keepers)
PA28s
Sebastian (normally archers and arrows)
Passengers, regular or repeat
Bona of Pisa (made frequent pilgrimages; normally flight attendants)
Radio communication; radar vectors
Joan of Arc (she heard voices in her head telling her what to do)
Spins
Paraskeva (spinners, spinning wheels)
TKS fluid
St Januarius (his blood becomes liquid at regular intervals over the centuries)
Traffic avoidance, visual
Bernard of Clarus (normally short-sightedness)
Turbulence
Erasmus (put inside a spiked barrel and rolled down a hill)
VFR; good weather
Medard of Picardie (he was sheltered from the rain by an eagle’s wings)
Victims of UK CAA infringement policy
Raymond Nonnatus (ransomed by Mohammedans; normally the unjustly accused)
Probably ingenuity and persistence.
Haha, nice. Where I live Loreto keeps the shiny side up.
In the old days (pre GPS :)) most Spanish speaking air forces had a metal badge of our Lady of Loreto on the panel.
I have one but in my flight bag, but it was on the ‘panel’ on the Super Cub.
Capitaine wrote:
Our Lady of Loreto
For the house of the Virgin Mary, which miraculously flew from Palestine to Loreto in Italy
Thank you @Capitaine for bringing this up.
As @aart says, at least in Italy, Argentina and Spain, She’s The One.
Myth says the House was transported by angels hence the aviation patronage. In the late 13th century , crusaders actually transported “the Holy House” stone by stone via Croatia , where it resided for some time and then across the Adriatic on to Loreto near Ancona. It was rebuilt, an image of Our Lady was then placed inside
, a huge bassilica built around it
, and a whole worshipping and pilgrimage complex including an Aeronautica Militare museum centered on it.
You can read a more complete wikipedia account in Italian
A close-up:
RobertL18C wrote:
metal badge of our Lady of Loreto
On special occasions, I do wear my medal of Our Lady, representing Her carried under the angel’s wings symbolized by a speedy eagle
I am then frequently asked by unknowing persons why I am wearing a nazi SS insignia, but hopefully the visual difference is readily apparent
and represented values humonguously appart
Our plane carry the name of Our Lady of Loreto,
we have also the local Rijeka (Fiume) Trsat story/legend
about that angels “fuel stop” in Croatia (mentioned above)
Any way, we are quite happy with that name, because the small MS880B made half
Med ferry flight last year without single glitch. You have the story on Rallye topic.
I had forgotten about this complete account in the forums by @nuccio
