26/05/2002 - 11:42 a.m.

He died without complaint, he should be made a saint.

Here's a little random information about Saint Louis, mostly for Ren's benefit, but, yes.

St. Louis, MO (hee hee, MO) was named by the French for their Catholic Saint. St. Louis stood by the part of the river the French liked to call "The Greasy Bend" (translate as you will). The correct pronunciation of the city, then, is not Saint Lou-is, but Sanne Lou-ee. The French pronunciation rather than the English (I wonder why we don't get a Spanish name, Spain owned it when the French gave it up before the Louisiana Purchase).

There are about thirty St. Louis', but the one they are probably referring to is either St. Louis, King of France, or St. Louis IX. But St. Louis IX isn't patron saint of anything so we'll go with the other. St. Louis, King of France was the patron saint of French soldiers, Sculpters, French monarchy, Masons, Marble workers, Franciscan tertiaries, Button makers, and Barbers.

Here is a little St. Louis, King of France history pinched directly from Patron Saints.

St. Louis, King of France, patron of Tertiaries, was the ninth of his name. He was born at Poissy, France, in 1214. His father was Louis VIII, and his mother was Blanche, daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castille, surnamed the Conqueror. At the age of twelve he lost his father, and his mother became regent of the kingdom. From his tenderest infancy she had inspired him with a love for holy things.
In 1234, he married Margaret, the virtuous daughter of Raymond Berenger, Count of Provence, and two years later he took the reigns of government into his own hands. In 1238, he headed a crusade, in which he fell a prisoner among the Mohammedans, but a truce was concluded and he was set free and he returned to France. In 1267, he again set out for the East at the head of a crusade but he never again beheld his native land. In 1270, he was stricken by the pestilence at the siege of Tunis, and after receiving the Last Sacraments, he died. His feast day is August 25th.

I see this as one more reason I'm glad I'm not Catholic, but, you know, whatever.