Saint Christopher

Saint Christopher (Greek: Άγιος Χριστόφορος) is a saint venerated by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, listed as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd century Roman emperor Decius (reigned 249 - 251). He is the patron saint of travelers.

Christopher's story

The story of this saint's life is astoundingly different, depending upon whether one consults Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox church sources.

Roman Catholic view

One legend states that Christopher was a very tall and physical Roman man, originally named Reprobus, who was referred to as a giant by those who knew him, and vowed to serve Jesus and became a Christian. Other sources say his name was Offero, and that he was born in Canaan.^[1] He sought out a Christian hermit to inquire as to how he could better serve Jesus. The hermit directed him to a path with a dangerous crossing point at a swift river, and suggested that the man's great size and strength made him a good candidate to assist people in crossing the river. Reprobus began ferrying people across the river on his back.

One day, a small child approached the river and asked to be carried across. Reprobus began to comply, only to discover that the small boy was far heavier than any other passenger he had taken. The child revealed that he was in fact Jesus Christ, and that his unusual weight was due to the fact that he bore the sins of the world. The boy then baptized Reprobus in the river, and he acquired his new name, Christopher, which is Greek for "Christ-carrier" (from Christos, "Christ", and pherein, meaning "to bear").^[1]

The child then told Christopher to plant his staff in the ground. The staff miraculously bloomed into a fruit-bearing tree. This miracle converted many. Enraged at these conversions, a local king (or by some accounts, the emperor Decius) had Christopher imprisoned, where after cruel tortures he was beheaded as a martyr.

Eastern Orthodox view

The story as accepted among the Eastern Catholic/Orthodox is somewhat more prosaic (albeit still with fantastic elements).

During the reign of the Emperor Decius, a man named Reprebus (or Reprobus) was captured in combat against tribes to the west of Egypt and was assigned to the numerus Marmaritarum or "Unit of the Marmaritae", which suggests an otherwise-unidentified "Marmaritae" Berber tribe of Cyrenaica. He was of enormous size and terrifying demeanor, being a cannibal with cynocephaly (the head of a dog instead of a man), like all the Marmaritae. Traditional Orthodox iconography depicts him as literally dog-headed. Regardless, Reprebus accepted baptism and began to preach the faith.

Eventually, the governor of Antioch (or in some versions, the Emperor himself) decreed that Reprebus was to be executed for his faith. He miraculously survived many attempts at execution, eventually permitting himself to be martyred after converting multitudes. His body was then taken back to Alexandria by Peter of Attalia.

Historical verifiability

The veneration of this improbable figure was sharply criticized by Erasmus in his Praise of Folly. Christopher's feast day was downgraded by the Vatican to a purely local commemoration in 1969 based on a lack of specific historical evidence regarding the details of his life. Contrary to popular belief, he was not "de-canonized" or declared not to be a saint. He is still considered to be a saint in the Catholic Church.

While surviving accounts of his life are replete with miracles and events that do not mesh well with modern historiography, enough information has been preserved to present a possible account of a St. Christopher that would be amenable to modern historical sensibilities.

The first hurdle to consider is the idea that he was a dog-headed cannibal. This can be understood in the light that the surviving accounts of St. Christopher are contemporaneous. The practice of the time was to describe all people outside the "civilized" (Greco-Roman-Persian) world as cannibals, dog-headed, or even more bizarre things, albeit often metaphorically. A later generation could then mistake a metaphor or hyperbole for a literal statement.

However, the man in question is also said to have been assigned to a military unit made up of Marmaritae. The Marmaritae were the independent tribes of Marmarica (now in modern Libya), who would have been pushed to the frontier region after Roman settlement. Since he was from a frontier tribe, describing him as being from the land of dog-headed people would have been a literary convention of the day.

The various miracles attributed to him in the Eastern stories could be explained as ordinary embroidering typical of hagiography, especially regarding saints of the early centuries of Christianity.

Finally, we have the statements that he was killed in Antioch and his body taken elsewhere by a bishop. St. Christopher could not have been killed in the fourth year of the Emperor Decius, as Decius only reigned for two years. However, before ascending to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire, Maximinus was known as "Daza" before rising to power. Unfortunately, there is no record of a visit to Antioch by Maximinus in the fourth year of his reign (308). It is, of course, possible that St. Christopher was executed in Antioch during this year by the order of a lower authority; a personal trial before one of the Caesars could be a later embellishment.

Unfortunately, none of this information permits identification of the actual man. Christopher is simply Greek for "Christ-bearer", and it refers, in the Eastern tradition, to St. Christopher's willingness to "take up the cross" -- a common metaphor for converting to Christianity. Reprebus or Reprobus simply means "wicked person", so saying that Reprobus became Christopher amounts to saying "A wicked person became a Christian." Furthermore, no place claims to be the burial site of St. Christopher, very unusual for a martyr.

It has been speculated that St. Christopher could be the same man known as Saint Menas among the Copts, for whom a 4th century burial site is known but has no verifiable details about his life or martyrdom attached to him. However, there is no conclusive link.

Veneration and patronage

Veneration

After having been held in Constantinople, the relics and the head of the saint were moved to the island of Rab in Croatia. When Normans tried to invade the islands and besieged the city, its inhabitants placed the saint's relics on the city walls. Miraculously, the winds changed and the bows and ships were blown away from the city. One of the city's largest medieval squares is named after the saint.

Christopher is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, and the patron saint of travelers. Despite his removal from the calendar of saints, devotion to Saint Christopher remains popular among Roman Catholics. Medallions issued in his name, which are worn to show devotion to a certain saint and ask for that saint's prayers, are fairly popular among Catholics. They are frequently displayed in automobiles.

General patronage

Christopher has always been a widely popular saint, being especially revered by mariners, ferrymen, and travelers. His feast day is July 25, except in Greece, where it is celebrated on March 9. In modern times a major center of his following has been in Italy and among Italian-Americans. Saint Christopher medals and holy cards are more difficult to find now,^{[citation needed]} but they are still being manufactured and many Mexican and Italian Catholics still believe that his image is the best amulet to carry in one's wallet, wear on a necklace while on a journey, or hang from the rear view mirror attachment of one's car.

Among Roman Catholics, Saint Christopher is revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. He holds patronage of things related to travel and travelers: people who carry things; against lightning; against pestilence; archers; automobile drivers; bachelors; boatmen; bookbinders; epilepsy; floods; fruit dealers; fullers; gardeners; hailstorms; for a holy death; lorry drivers; mariners; market carriers; porters; sailors; surfers; toothache; transportation; and transportation workers.

Patronage of places

Christopher is the patron saint of the following places: Baden, Germany; Barga, Italy; Brunswick, Germany; Mecklenburg, Germany; Rab, Croatia; Roermond, The Netherlands; Saint Christopher's Island (Saint Kitts); Toses in Catalonia, Spain; Agrinion, Greece; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Havana, Cuba.^[1]

References in popular culture

In the movie The Spirit of St. Louis, (1957), James Stewart stars as Charles 'Slim' Lindbergh, the first man to fly non-stop from New York City, across the Atlantic Ocean, to Paris, France. Lindbergh is given a St. Christopher medal before his big flight, which he refuses to accept, to save every unnecessary ounce of weight. His friend instead hides the medal in the aircraft, to make sure that the Saint would be with him for the long and dangerous trip. Whether this short scene is based in fact, or a product of the Hollywood Film Industry is unknown.

It is notable that the largely-built, African-American healing protagonist John Coffey of the Stephen King novel and movie The Green Mile is given a medal of Saint Christopher on a necklace after healing a woman. It could be considered symbolic, since both men are large, have extraordinary abilities they use for good, and that some accounts report that Saint Christopher was from Libya or elsewhere in Africa, making him of African descent, the same as John Coffey.

Tom Waits wrote the song "Hang on St. Christopher", released on the album Franks Wild Years in 1987, in which he implores Saint Christopher to watch over him as he pushes his hot-roded cars and motorcycles to their limits.

In the 2004 movie Crash, Peter Waters carries around a pocket sized statue of saint Christopher. Waters' character hitches a ride from a cop who has the same statue figure. When he laughs at the thought that he has one too and reaches to pull his statue from his pocket, the cop suspects a gun and shoots him. Later the cop finds out he was pulling the statue out after he shot him to death.

Notes

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