This calendar of saints is drawn from several denominations, sects, and traditions. Although it will no longer be updated daily, the index on the right will guide visitors to a saint celebrated on any day they choose. Additional saints will be added as they present themselves to Major.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

October 29 -- Feast of Saint Bond of Sens

His name is Bond.  Saint Bond.
 Yeah, it is a cheap and predictable joke, but I could hardly resist it, especially when I read that the saint is also known as Baldus and Baldi. 

There's not much to tell about this saint, but I must tell what I know to justify the lame joke above. 

Bond had committed some sort of crime; we are left to imagine what it was.  In his penitence, he sought to live as a hermit, directed by Bishop Artemius (later Saint Artemius).  The good bishop, employing the familiar instructions, gave Bond a well-seasoned staff, stripped of all bark, and told him to plant it on the top of the hill, right by the chapel of Michael the Archangel .  Artemius told Bond to carry water from the river every day to water the staff before praying in the chapel.  He did, of course, but unlike most of the other stories, there's no mention of the staff ever becoming a living tree but the path he beat into the hillside became known as the Pas de Bond.

A devil tempted him sorely while he prayed.  One day, exasperated with the devil's temptations, he seized the little demon by its long ears and dunked it into a stoup of holy water that he kept in the chapel.  Then he slapped his breviary down on top of the little fiend's head, effectively trapping the tiny tormentor until the saint released him.  The homunculus remained in his watery little prison for a fortnight, suffering his own penance right beside the penitential saint.

And that's about all I know about Saint Bond, but that's about all one should know about the patron of secret agents. 


5 comments:

  1. Kevin James Bond BauerAugust 3, 2017 at 2:56 PM

    I picked St. Bond as my Confirmation saint from the Catholic Church of St. James

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    Replies
    1. Do you know what he is the Patron Saint of? THANKS!

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    2. I don't find anything about him being a patron. Sorry

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  2. According to Baring Gould: "The story goes that he was a Spaniard, who had murdered by mistake his father and mother." (maybe a case like St. Julian - Feb 12)

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  3. Bond. Also an orphan, with demons. Fleming goes a little deeper than I thought.

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