My Saint’s Day
Photo by Allan Ferguson
Whaddya know. I’ve had his name for almost 40 years, and I didn’t even know Moses’s brother Aaron from the Old Testament was a saint. It turns out today is his feast day. I guess it’s a minor one, though; he doesn’t even rate a commemoration in my missal. (On the other hand, my middle name happens to belong to the guy who taught Jesus how to use a hammer, so it balances out.)
I don’t think I was named after any particular Aaron; I think my parents just liked the name. (Incidentally, I’ve never understood why people have a hard time spelling it. Didn’t everyone read those Bible stories at least once as a kid? I mean, I’m not named Adam, but I know it’s not spelled Adum.) I’ve never felt much attachment to Old Testament Aaron, since the main thing the Bible says about him is that he was a good public speaker. He also had to carry around a staff that would turn into a snake when Moses said so. Sounds like a rough job.
There are other saints named Aaron I could claim as a patron, but they’re even more obscure. One was a hermit on a French island in the sixth century. Sounds like my kind of guy. But so many people came to learn from him that he wound up as abbot of a monastery. Another was the first archbishop of Krakow, Poland, in the 11th century. He’s only “blessed,” though: a step away from being canonized as a saint. Another was marytred under Emperor Diocletian (along with lots of other Christians) in 303 A.D., and may have been the first British martyr.
I think I’ll go with the guy who tried to be a hermit, Saint Aaron of Brettany. His feast day is June 21, so I’ve got lots of time to prepare for the next one.
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