Feast of St. Anthony the Abbot, January 17

 

I nearly missed this one! St. Anthony the Abbot is called the Father of Western Monasticism. When he was 20 years old, he gave away everything he owned and moved in with some local anchorites. At the age of 35, he moved to an abandoned fort in the desert and barricaded himself in. That didn't stop his admirers; they broke down the barricade. St. Anthony's reputation as a healer and spiritual counselor made him extremely popular but ran up against his desire to be left alone so he could get on with his praying.

Here's the cool thing - St. Anthony is often painted with a pig near by. Why? At the time (the early 300s) pork fat was used to soothe skin irritations. As a healer, St. Anthony had use for it. Somewhere along the line the reason for the pigs being in the picture got garbled, and St. Anthony the Abbot became...

The PATRON SAINT OF SWINEHERDERS AND PIGS! Oh, and HOGS, too!