So today is Valentine’s Day, a day that lovers exchange flowers, chocolate, gifts and personal sentiment. All in the name of St. Valentine. Who was St. Valentine anyway and why is this day attached to him? Well, there is no definite explanation as the history of today is shrouded in mystery. What’s interesting is where my curiosity has taken me. I have realised that there is a Patron Saint for almost everything. There are such Saints as Saint Magnus of Fussen, the Patron against Caterpillars (no joke), Saint Agatha of Sicily, the Patron of Nurses or Michael the Archangel, Patron of the Greek Air Force. There are Patrons everywhere for every day it seems. So, what about us in the advertising world? Is there a Saint for us? Guess what. There is and he is Saint Bernadine of Sienna (also called Bernadine).
Our Saint was an Italian priest back in the 1400’s. He is the Saint of advertising, communications, compulsive gambling, respiratory problems and any problem involving the chest area (what a combination). For more than 30 years, St Bernardino preached all over Italy. He was very popular and played a great part in the religious revival of the early fifteenth century. Bernardino lived in the early days of print and was the subject of portraits in his lifetime, as well as a death-mask, which were copied to make prints, so that he is one of the earliest saints to have a fairly consistent appearance in art.
So when is the feast day of Saint Bernadine of Siena anyway? 20th May.
