Saved By A Saint

AUTHOR’S NOTELike a great number of other people, I always have a medallion of St. Christopher in my car. I believe it keeps me safe from accidents and I would not be without it. St. Christopher, who was born around the third century, is the Patron Saint of travellers. He was martyred under the Emperor Decius about A.D. 250. He has always been the hero of many legends, which represent him as a giant who, after being converted to Christianity, dedicated his life to carrying travellers on his back across a wide fast-flowing river. One day when he was at work a very small child asked to be taken across the river. In midstream the child became so heavy that Christopher staggered under the weight of him. “If I had borne the whole world on my back,” he said, “it could not have weighed heavier than you.” “That is not surprising,” the child replied, “for you have borne upon your back the world and He who created it.” That is the reason why the St Christopher medallion usually depicts him carrying the Christ Child on his back. His Feast Day is 25th of July in the Western Church, and 9th of May in the Orthodox Church.