The Omnifarium - Bowling/StChristopher.html

St. Christopher

Category: Bowling
Thu, 24 Feb 2005, 22:04

One evening a week, I bowl in a five-pin league. Sometimes I do well, but other times not. Some days I make a minor change to my technique, get into a groove, and then think I have the game figured out. But then the bowling gods get annoyed by my impertinance, and my game goes downhill yet again.

There are, of course, no bowling gods. Bowling wasn't around yet when the gods were invented. But what about the next best thing, a patron saint?

Googling turned up a few on-line retailers selling medallions with Saint Christopher on one side and a bowler on the other. Several varieties of Saint Christopher bowler medals are available, with either a man or a woman bowler, with or without a chain. Saint Chris is very popular, being patron saint of a variety of activities. Most commonly, he's associated with travellers. But he's also popular with archers, cab drivers, mariners, bachelors and sportsmen.

Christopher made a name for himself by carrying the baby Jesus across a river. This was a laborious task for Christopher since the baby Jesus himself carried the weight of the world. I suppose this makes Chris an appropriate patron saint for bowlers, who have to lob heavy spherical masses down the alley.

Further research on Saint Christopher turned up another interesting fact. It turns out that he was dropped from the roster of saints for the simple reason of not actually having existed. This might come as a shock to many travellers and bowlers. But more significantly, if actually having lived is a hard and fast requirement of sainthood, several other popular early saints should also have their sainthood taken away. But that's a topic for another weblog category.

Anyways, keep your balls out of the gutter!

Hans

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