A Bolt From the Blue

We've bid Sister Julie a fond farewell, but she may return. We've heard whispers and discussion.  Our rosaries are clanking with excitement at the prospect!

Dear Sister Mary Martha,
Is there a patron saint of electrical linemen, the men who climb poles and put their hands on electrical wires? I looked around on the internet, but did not find anything.
I really enjoy your explainations with examples, such as the free will entry. Thanks!

There is not a designated saint for electrical linemen.  But there are patron saints for people who climb tall poles and patron saints to help you not get electrocuted. Those would work, don't you think?

First, we have our old buddy, St. Simeon Stylites, who not only climbed onto a tall pole and sat there for 37 years (his entire life after he scaled the pole), he actually started a whole group of pole sitters.  So, have your choice of St. Simeon Stylites the Elder or the Younger.  And Daniel the pole sitter.

They did all kinds of things up on their poles. St. Alypius, stood up for more than 53 years, until his feet gave out.  Then her lay on one side for the rest of his life, fourteen years.  All on top of his pole.  They preached.  They argued theology by shouting at each other.

And then, for protection from lightening (which is electricity) we have several choices.  St. Barbara might be just the ticket for you.  For one thing, she lived in a tall tower, locked away like Rapunzel by her father, who was trying to keep the boys away from her.  St. Barbara had a devotion to the Faith and her tower had two windows in it.  She had a third window installed, to represent the Holy Trinity.  Her father was away when she called the contractors, and when he returned and saw the window, he became convinced that she had it put in there to let the boys in. He tried to kill her, but she escaped.

But not for long.  He tracked her down and killed her.  He was instantly struck down by a bolt of lightening.  She is the patron saint against lightening. But she is also the patron saint of people who put together those fireworks displays and firefighters.  We like to think of her on the Fourth of July.  I think she might be the patron saint of Cuba, too.  Sister Julie would know!  Meanwhile...there's Google....

But if that doesn't make you happy, you could go with St. Erasmus, more popularly known as St. Elmo.  As in St. Elmo's fire, which is some sort of lightening at sea.  He is the patron saint of lightening because of two lightening incidents.  The first: He was preaching and a lightening bolt struck the ground beside him.  Great way to punctuate a speech, back in the days before Power Point.
The second: His martyr's death was particularly long and gruesome. Don't Google it while you're eating.  Before he went the way of Mel Gibson in "Brave Heart",  he had every other kind of torture applied to him, and in the middle of it all, lightening struck everyone around him and killed them all.

Wouldn't you stop if that happened while you were torturing somebody?  I would have thought that would have caused him to be left alone.

But a martyr's death is a glorious thing. So be it.

This also happened to St. Catherine of Alexandria, by the way, but she is better known as the patron saint of people who make wheels.  I would have said "wheelwrights'  but no one knows what that means anymore. Her list of patronages is really long and includes spinners and spinsters, librarians and scholars, but no lightening.