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Saturday, August 10, 2019

My Brother in the House of Saints

My brother, a remarkable character in travels and other experiences, had a recurring job house-sitting for a person who traveled much and was mostly blind. The house was simple and spare, and contained, due to the owner's theological interests, some number of antique statues of assorted Saints from the Catholic tradition, mostly Spanish, and carved from wood, and in various states of preservation. All were valuable.

My brother had done this gig so many times that he actually knew the names of the Saints the statues were of. I discovered this when I visited him "on the job" one day for some reason. He toured me through the house, knowing my appreciation of sculpture. He named each statue by name as we sauntered through the house, talking of the works there and relating our own relationships to religion, as both of ours, which is now very evident, had some deeply moving experiences away from.

But all that stopped when, in the living room, I pointed to a work depicting a kindly looking soul with his hand raised forward apparently in some gesture of blessing. Suddenly my brother seemed stumped and puzzled. But he recovered quickly. He informed me that "Oh, that's Saint Preposterous, patron of comedians!" We both cracked up. I got him to make a slide of the statue with the intention of producing a Holy Card, featuring "Wholly Preposterous" intended for wide distribution. Sadly, it never materialized.

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