Thursday, May 20, 2021

Today on the Almanac, we remember the saint after whom the largest county in the United States is named. #OTD #1517 #churchhistory

*** Notes for Today’s Show ***

It is the 20th of May 2021. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Trivia Time:

Today’s remembrance involves a significant saint whose name is also that of a United States city and county.

This county is the largest in the contiguous United States- bigger than Switzerland.

The first Mcdonald's opened here.

President Lyndon B. Johnson once worked here as an elevator doorman.

In 1979 I was born in this city in the hospital bearing the saint's name (St. Bernadine’s in San Bernardino, Ca).

St. Bernadine of Sienna

B. 1380

D. May 20, 1444

Noble birth but orphaned

Studied in Siena

Age 20- plague in Sienna

Worked 4 months in the hospital

Joined the Franciscans at 22

Priest at 24

12 years in solitude

Famous for his preaching tours, he turned down 3 bishoprics to continue his countryside preaching

Attended The council of Florence in 1439

3 THINGS:

Devotion to “the name of Jesus” IHS- Sacred Monograph- Gothic letters in front of a sun… sun worship was a pagan tradition and some prominent families used images of the sun on their family crests (FIRST 3 letters of Jesus’ name in Greek)

Critical of banking practices he considered usurious… would set the foundation for the Monti di Pieta- private loan societies

Apostle of Italy!

If you did PR for an Italian firm that did advertising for Gambling sites… you have a patron saint x4!

St. Bernadine died on the 20th of May in 1444

The last word for today comes from Philippians 2- the second half of the Philippians hymn. A few days ago we read about Christ’s descent, emptying and humiliation to the point of death on a cross. But Paul continues:

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

10

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 20 th of May 2021 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man for whom IHS stands for I Hate Socks, he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.

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