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The Sensational Saints of Folklore Thursday

The Sensational Saints of Folklore Thursday

Last updated on: March 15, 2019 at 2:53 pm by Andrew Chesnut

The Sensational Saints of Folklore Thursday 2019-03-15T14:53:46-04:00 Andrew Chesnut

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Folklore Thursday is one of my favorite twitter accounts, which true to its name curates tweets on folklore-related topics. Last Thursday’s theme was saints and miracles, so as an unabashed hagiophile I have collected the top tweets on Catholic saints….

Bone and Sickle‏ @boneandsickle Mar 14

“Cephalophores” (head-carriers) are a class of saints said to walk about after martyrdom by decapitation. France has St. Denis, UK St. Edmund (whose bodiless head was guarded by wolves). Hear more starting with John the Baptist here. #FolkloreThursdayhttps://www.boneandsickle.com/2018/06/18/episode-6-lost-heads/ …

Fran Staines‏ @StaBoFr Mar 14

In the 1600s, saint and mystic St. Joseph of Cupertino entered into a religious trance and began hovering over the crowds. Later, he repeated the feat in front of Pope Urban VIII. As a result of his flying exploits, this mystic is the patron saint of pilots. #FolkloreThursday

SelineSigil‏ @SelineSigil9 22h22 hours ago

“Shrine of St. Patrick’s Tooth” once contained an actual tooth Patrick lost while visiting the ancient church of Killaspugbrone. The tooth has since vanished.During the 14th century, a wooden box coated in gold, silver, and amber was assembled to hold it. #FolkloreThursday

Katherine Langrish‏ @KathLangrish 22h22 hours ago

And here is St Margaret emerging from a very dyspectic dragon. When it swallowed her whole, she prodded its innards with a crucifix until it disgorged her. #FolkloreThursday #saints @FolkloreThurs

Aaron Kelly Anderson‏ @AKAstorytweet 22h22 hours ago

Remember — you may be badass, but unfortunately never quite as badass as #StBartholomew carrying his own skin suit. This apostle of Christ was flayed and beheaded and is today the #PatronSaint of dermatologists. #FolkloreThursday #LoreOfSaints @FolkloreThurs

Darren Butler‏ @DarrenB502 Mar 14

Saint Barbara. Arrested and condemned to death, her father carried out the sentence. He was immediately struck dead by lightning. Barbara, martyred for her faith, became the patron saint of miners, artillerymen, and builders and “those who work with explosives”. #FolkloreThursday

Maria J Pérez Cuervo‏ @mjpcuervo 22h22 hours ago

Our Lady of Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa) is often depicted with with seven daggers piercing her bleeding heart. The 1st sorrow is the prophecy of Simeon, the 7th, the burial of Jesus. #FolkloreThursday

MagpieintheMoonlight‏ @MagpieMoonlight Mar 14

St. Fiacre, a 7th century Irish monk, is the patron saint of haemorrhoid sufferers. He cured his own crop by sitting on a sacred, healing stone and praying. Haemorrhoids were once known as St. Fiacre’s curse #FolkloreThursday #saints

**David Castleton (Author)**‏ @david_castleton 19h19 hours ago

#Brittany has a large number of weird & wonderful saints. St Noyala crossed the English Channel on a leaf, but was beheaded after reaching Brittany. She simply picked up her head & walked for several days till she came to the right spot to found a monastery. #FolkloreThursday

Amy Courage‏ @amycourage7 20h20 hours ago

St Hildegard of Bingen was a 12th c. abbess and mystic who began having visions at age 6. She wrote on the connection between the spiritual world and the body, herbal medicine, and composed music and plays. “I burn in the sun, the moon and the stars.” #starstuff#FolkloreThursday

Maude Frome‏ @frome_maude Mar 14

St Margaret of Antioch, (born c.289 AD), is the patron saint of childbirth. She was swallowed by a dragon, (Satan in disguise), but emerged at once from its belly unscathed due to the crucifix she was carrying. Women in labour prayed to her for an easy delivery. #FolkloreThursday

**Emma ♥ ♡ ❥ ( ͡º ͜ʖ ͡º) ꧁꧂ °l||l° �**‏ @howellshetweets Mar 14

Maybe one of the coolest Saints of all Saint Gertrude of Nivelles the patron saint of Cats and Cat lovers #Folklorethursday

About Andrew Chesnut

Dr. R. Andrew Chesnut earned his Ph.D degree in Latin American History from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1995 and joined the History Department faculty at the University of Houston in 1997. He quickly became an internationally recognized expert on Latin American religious history Professor Chesnut was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Bishop Walter Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at VCU in 2008. The chair was established as the Most Rev. Walter F. Sullivan was nearing retirement as the 11th bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond to honor his nearly thirty years of service. For Professor Chesnut the chair became a unique opportunity to develop Catholic studies in a global context and at a large public university. Professor Chesnut’s early work, Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty (Rutgers University Press, 1997), traces the meteroric rise of Pentecostalism among the popular classes in Brazil following the disestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church. His second book, Competitive Spirits: Latin America’s New Religious Economy (Oxford University Press, 2003) focuses on the three groups that have prospered most in the region’s pluralist landscape, Protestant Pentecostalism, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and African disasporic religions (e.g., Brazilian Candomble and Haitian Vodou). Professor Chesnut's most recent book is Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint (Oxford University Press, 2025). It is the first in-depth study of the Mexican folk saint in English and has received widespread media coverage. You can read more about the author here.

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