While wandering the streets of Lucca, my companions and I stumbled across a crowd gathered on the steps of San Michele in Foro basilica. Turns out the local townsfolk were commemorating the annual feast day of St. Giovanni Leonardi.
Born in Lucca in 1541, ol' John seems to have more than earned his saintly stripes, caring for the sick and eventually succumbing to the influenza that swept Italy in 1609.
Leonardi was canonized in 1938 and a couple of years ago became a patron saint of pharmacists, having worked as an assistant to one. Which got me thinking, decades from now one of the ESIs, say Fourth Dwarf, could become the patron saint of bloggers. Of course, 6th Apostle may have something to say about this.
Top illustration: http://www.pjonline.com/
