St Christophers Close, Salisbury

Saint Christopher is, famously, the patron saint of travellers.

There are a dozen or so significant episodes in Christopher’s life:

Birth

The wife of a pagan king prayed to the Virgin Mary for a son. Her prayers were granted, and she named the son either Offerus or Reprebus.¹

Reprebus, according to Wikipedia, is the derivation of the word reprobate, although I would have thought myself that reprobate was related to ‘probity’, meaning honesty.

Gigantism

Offerus grew into a man of huge strength and size.²

Incidentally, Salisbury’s Gigant Street has no connection with giants – according to Martyn Whittock’s book ‘Wiltshire Place Names’ the root of the word is gigour, which is a Middle English word for ‘fiddler’³. Whether this is in the sense of somebody playing the violin, or somebody who is ‘on the fiddle’, or doing something ‘fiddly’ I don’t know

The search for the strongest master

Offerus, being a strong and powerful man, resolved to serve only the strongest and most powerful of masters.

He found the most powerful king in the region, but discovered him to be afraid of the devil, so Offerus decided to serve the devil.

He came across the devil in the company of a group of robbers, but found that the devil, in turn, cringed before a wooden cross by the side of the road. Offerus resolved therefore to server Christ.⁴

Baptism

He was instructed in Christianity by a hermit, who baptized him Christopher and told him that he could serve the Lord best by helping people across a fast flowing stream.⁵

Carrying Jesus across the stream

One day a small child needed to cross the river. Christopher carried him on his back, but as he crossed the river the child grew heavier and heavier. Once they had crossed the river, Christopher asked why this was, and the child replied “You had on your shoulders not only the whole world but him who made it. I am Christ your king, whom you are serving by this work.”⁶

The staff

After revealing himself as Jesus, the child told Christopher to plant his staff into the ground. He did so, and on the next day the staff had turned into a fruiting palm tree.⁷

Imprisonment and martyrdom

Christopher’s story caused many to convert to Christianity.

The king, or prefect, of the area had Christopher locked up. He sent two beautiful women to try to tempt Christopher away from the faith, but Christopher converted them to Christianity too.

The king had Christopher beheaded.⁸

Patron saint

Christopher became the patron saint of travellers.

Traditions arose about carrying the image of Saint Christopher – one being that ‘Whoever shall behold the image of St. Christopher shall not faint or fall on that day’⁹

Wikipedia is good on the place of Saint Christopher within Christian and popular culture.

In 1969, there was some controversy because many believed Christopher had been stripped of his sainthood. Wikipedia says that the comedian Denis Leary mentions in one of his routines that ‘the Catholic church “kicked” St. Christopher out.’¹⁰

However, this does not seem to have been the case. According to Thomas Craughwell, in his book ‘This Saints for You’, the basis of the controversy was a change to the Roman Catholic calendar of special days. In the new Roman Catholic calendar of 1969, it was stated that on July 25th (Saint Christopher’s Day), Catholics should celebrate Saint James the Greater. This was not because Saint Christopher was being ‘demoted’ from his status as a saint, though, it was because Saint James, as an apostle ‘outranks’ Saint Christopher. In fact it was stated that parishes with some special connection with Saint Christopher should continue to venerate Saint Christopher on July 25th. ¹¹.

Footnotes

1. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Christopher – Wikisource [↩]
2. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Christopher – Wikisource [↩]
3. Wiltshire Place Names,Martyn Whittock, Countryside Books, 1997 ISBN 1853064866 [↩]
4. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Christopher – Wikisource [↩]
5. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Christopher – Wikisource [↩]
6. Saint Christopher – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [↩]
7. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Christopher – Wikisource [↩]
8. Saint Christopher – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [↩]
9. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Christopher – Wikisource [↩]
10. Saint Christopher – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [↩]
11. Thomas J. Craughwell. This Saint’s for You!: 300 Heavenly Allies Who Will Change Your Life, Quirk Books,US (1 Nov 2007). ISBN 978-1594741845 [↩]