The 5 Weirdest Patron Saints

If you've been canonized and have some special proclivity or talent on your resume, you could be named a special protector or guardian of a particular illness, occupation, church, country or cause. St. Isidore of Seville, who reputedly wrote the first encyclopedia, is in hot contention to become the patron saint of the Internet. But Izzy is far from the only quirky patron saint out there -- there's also

1. Saint Drogo (1105-1185), a Flemish nobleman who was reportedly able to bilocate, maintaining his presence in two locations at once. Witnesses claimed seeing Drogo working in fields simultaneously, and going to mass every Sunday. He is the patron saint of coffee and coffeehouses, we suspect because his peculiar talent for multitasking. (He's also the patron saint of those whom others find unspeakably repulsive, but that's another story altogether.)

2. Saint Anthony the Great (251-356), an Egyptian Christian monk who lived in a tomb for some years to overcome the temptation of "boredom, laziness and the phantoms of women," and thus is known (among other things) as the patron saint of gravediggers.

3. Saint Lawrence of Rome (225-258), having been martyred by being roasted alive on a gridiron, is the patron saint of cooks and tanners.

4. Saint Nicholas, commonly associated with Santa Claus, is said to have aided the poor father of three marriageable girls who could not afford their dowries. To save them from a life of prostitution (a common fate for unmarried women in third-century Asia Minor), he dropped three sacks of gold down their father's chimney late one night. (Sound like another St. Nick we know?) Thus, he is known as the patron saint of prostitutes.

5. French saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897), known as "The Little Flower of Jesus," who wrote "Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love." She is the patron saint of flowers.

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