We got some ink in the Southampton Press in New York!

"Almost Famous in Hampton Bays!" http://t.co/xJxT4QfhfW
— Rob Clemenz (@SaintforSinners) August 8, 2013

Our Idea about Saint Richard of Chichester as "Patron of NASCAR" is Picking Up Speed!

Long ago, we proposed that Saint Richard of Chichester would be a great Patron Saint of NASCAR. Saint Richard did "race" his cart to market at harvest time. Now, a young man has jumped on the bandwagon! Read here:


http://scoutsofsaintgeorge.ning.com/members/031n8yiaawlx7

Celebrating the Patroness of the Disabled, Saint Germaine Cousins

        

Celebrating Saint Germaine Cousins

          Today, June 15,  is the Memorial for Saint Germaine Cousin, from Pibrac, France, who was a peasant farm worker and shepherdess known for her kindness to children, devotion to her Faith, and as a performer of many miracles.

         Germaine was born with a disability, known as scrofula, which left her with a severely deformed left hand. She was often mistreated and blamed for anything unpleasant that might have occurred. One time, she was accused of stealing food from the pantry and trying to sneak it out of the house in her apron. It was demanded that she release the drawstrings of her clothes and when she did an array of beautiful flowers were all the appeared. Her Stepmother assigned her the role of looking out for the sheep and she was always happy to be with the welcoming animals, rather than her family who shunned her.

         According to one legend, when young Germaine would hear the Church Bells tolling while she was in the fields tending to the animals, she would always go to Church. Instead of leaving the animals alone, she entrusted her Guardian Angel to look after them and not one animal was lost during Germaine’s mini pilgrimages to attend Church.

         The children of Pibrac often befriended Germaine during her work on the farm. She was devoted to helping them in any way she could.

         Germaine is known as a Miracle Worker and even performed a Miracle for herself one day. The Courbert River separated Germaine from the Church she attended and one day the river was especially unruly and rapturous. Germaine just walked across the water in order to get to Mass! She was especially adept at curing the disabled from blindness, deafness, and the plagues that afflicted many of the people. She never cured her own hand, however, preferring to live with her disability and helping others despite her frailty.  Saint Germaine has many patronages, but is most revered as patroness of the disabled.

http://saintsforsinners.com/medals/index.php/saint-germaine

A Brief History of Dog Parks in the United States

A Brief History of Dog Parks in the United States

     My girlfriend Dusty, First Deputy at www.SaintsforSinners.com and I were talking about the local dog park in City Park and we began wondering how, when, and where the first dog parks originated. So, we channeled Saint Rocco,  patron saint of dogs and dog lovers who told us to surf the Internet to get the answer. We looked up some articles and a lady named Jessica Gross had a short piece that gave us all the information we sought.

     It didn't surprise us that dog parks basically began in Northern California, near Berkeley, according to Ms. Gross. We believe it since lots of trends seem to have begun in the west, like television, and the Gold Rush, to name two. Apparently, around 40 years ago, the city of Berkely, California was building a new transit system and tearing down lots of buildings that were in the way. That left a lot of  open land which has come to be known as "green space." Two other ladies, Doris Richards and Gail Green ( Gail GREEN, things that make you go Hmmmmmm. ) got things rolling along and pretty soon the first dog park had been established.

     The first park was a bit of a lark and basically just thrown together, thanks to the initiative of these two lovely women. But once it got organized, the dog park sort of became its own town and in the mid 1980's it was officially incorporated. And like "The Field of Dreams," once the park got built the dogs and humans came. Everything was pretty hunky dory at the park and then the inevitable happened.

      Word spread about how cool the park was and pretty soon like-minded individuals ( mostly women, Dusty surmises ) were calling and writing the people running the dog park and asking how they too could create a dog park. Their model has now been copied in numerous cities throughout the world. In our home town, a great dog park called "City Bark," was created in City Park on March 27, 2010. According to its president, Mary Ann Cardinale, the 10 people who envisioned creating the park were all, you guessed it, women!

        It should be noted that one of the ladies, Doris Richards, who helped create the dog park was honored by the City Parks Department. They erected a giant functioning fire hydrant in her honor.  Before she died Ms. Richards wrote that she felt the fire hydrant honor was "funny and fitting." We do too! 

        

      

The Artisan State-of-Mind

The Artisan State of Mind

      The New York Times writer Stephanie Strom has offered a story, today claiming that the “Millennials,” that is, those in the age group of 18 -30, have cast a bit of a pall over the fast-food industry. According to marketing gurus and number crunchers, the Millennials are avoiding visiting fast-food chains like McDonald’s and Burger King, and instead opting for a more artisanal form of dining where they have clearer understandings of the food that they buy and eat. The younger folks seem to care about what ingredients they are eating and where the food came from in the first place.

         There has been some hullabaloo about the word “artisan,” with some in the Advertising Industry claiming artisan is the “hot” word of the day. “Use the word ‘artisan’ in your next advertising spread and poof, sales will escalate by great proportion. At www.SaintsforSinners.com we love that the word artisan is inching up in popularity and becoming more ameliorative. After all, we have been artisans and crafts-persons since the day our company became even a gleam in the eye.

         Art. Crafts. Uniqueness. Distinction. Quality.  These words have been our calling cards. Our story cards about the saints have always said something to effect that our imported Italian saint medallions are all painted by hand and one-of-a-kind. Sure, as we have grown and flourished we have had to alter our presentations about the uniqueness of our hand-painted saint medals, because, as we started to work with companies like www.fab.com and Group On and the like, we learned that when presenting photos of artistic renderings, the men, women, and children who buy our hand-painted saint medals tend to want the product they see, and straying too far and sending designs that are decidedly different than those that have caught a buyer’s eye, can cause disappointment. We have been painting and improving our designs for nearly 20 years.  It should not have been such a surprise to me that sometimes we serendipitously hit near perfection.  That may be because we have the artisanal saints guiding us on our venture.

         Saint Veronica, Papal patron of photographers and laundry workers, has recently joined our fold but since we paint with a broader brush than those at the Vatican, we broaden Veronica’s scope and offer her medal as a patron for artists and illustrators as well.

         Saint Luke is well-known as the Papal patron of painters and stained-glass workers, but we take him further, offering that saint Luke is surely the patron of artists too!

         Our Lady of Perpetual Help, also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Succor, is Papally inclined to everyone help not just when they need it, but at all times. That is indeed comforting, and our design of this Our Lady is nearly flawless in its beauty, but we had to add that Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a picture-perfect patron of artists and painters. Her wonderful story involved a magnificent painting believed to have been created in the 1200’s. It got lost and it got found and its rendering has been duplicated millions of times.

         And Our Lady of Guadalupe is all about a fantastically miraculous Tilma that was brought to the church by the peasant Juan Diego. The Tilma is such a magnificent and inspiring piece of art. How could we decline to present Our Lady as a patron of artisans and artists?

         Saint Elizabeth of Hungary is known as a patron of lace-makers and bakers. But doesn’t her reach extend to allow saint Elizabeth to be the patron of sewers and crafters and designers as well? We think so.

         We love the fact that the millennials seem to be bucking the trend of a “same ole, same ole” mindset.  They are embracing uniqueness. Saint Elizabeth of Hungary must be overjoyed that this new crew of people are rejecting cookie cutter sameness and embracing originality. At SaintsforSinners.com, we are doing the same thing and wonder, since we are over 18 years old but less than 30, are we not millennials too?