Saint of the Day! Dec 1 St. Eloy, Patron Saint of Farriers, Blacksmiths, goldsmiths, taxi drivers and mechanics. There are many French farriers today who still regard this day as a holiday and celebrate by not shoeing a single horse. St. Eloy was made the patron saint of farriers and blacksmiths, thanks to a popular legend about him shoeing the severed leg of a horse. The legend says that one day, St. Eloy was trying to shoe a particularly difficult horse, a horse that acted as if he had the devil in him. To make the horse easier to shoe, St. Eloy cut the leg off of the horse and proceeded to shoe the detached leg. When he was finished, the saint reattached the leg to the horse by simply making the sign of the cross. Other versions of the story maintain that Jesus came to Saint Eloy and aided him in replacing the severed leg. It is doubtful that St. Eloy would recommend that others try this horseshoeing feat. In some versions of the legend, St. Eloy is said to have been very proud and boastful of his skills at the forge and in shoeing, causing Christ to appear before him as a stranger and ask St. Eloy to accomplish a feat of horseshoeing that no man could accomplish. The stranger removed the leg of a horse, shod it and then replaced the leg without harming the horse. St. Eloy was so confident in his skills that he tried to follow the stranger’s example and chop the leg off a horse and then shoe it. His attempt was far less successful than the stranger’s and Christ revealed himself to save the life of St. Eloy’s horse, now bleeding to death from having its leg severed. In doing this, Christ is said to have taught St. Eloy to be more humble.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 10:55:58 +0000
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