Expeditus

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Expeditus
Expeditus as patron of emergencies
Born	unknown
Died	303, Melitene, Turkey
Feast	19 April
Attributes	depicted as a Roman soldier, holding a palm leaf in his left hand, and raising a cross with the word "Hodie" (today) on it. His right foot is stepping on a crow, which is speaking the word "Cras" (tomorrow)
Patronage	Republic of Molossia, emergencies, expeditious solutions, against procrastination, merchants, navigators [1], programmers and hackers [2]
Controversy	Not confirmedly real.
Saints Portal

Saint Expeditus (or Elpidius [3]) was, according to legend, a Roman commander in Armenia who became a Christian and was beheaded because of it by Eastern Roman Emperor Diocletian in 303. It is said that, the day when he decided to become a Christian, the Devil took the form of a crow and told him to be converted the next day, but Expeditus stomped on the bird and killed it, screaming "I'll be a Christian today! TODAY!"

He is especially venerated in Réunion Island, Chile and New Orleans.

1 Catholic veneration
2 Réunion Island
3 Chile
4 Gallery
5 External links

[edit] Catholic veneration

Some church authorities question whether or not he actually existed, saying that he may have been inadvertently invented by a group of nuns in Paris in 1781 that received a shipment of relics labeled for "expedited" delivery. However, this story is contested, as he appears in martyrologies before that date. [4] Also, in the past Saint Expeditus was often called upon by believers to settle overly long legal cases. His acta have not been reviewed and demoted by the Roman Catholic Church, but his feast of April 19 is not widely celebrated.

[edit] Réunion Island

Large roadside altar

Expeditus, known locally as Saint Expédit, has a folk following on the French island of Réunion (in the Indian Ocean). Altars of Saint Expédit are built on the sides of roads. They can be as small as a box containing a small statue of the saint (represented as a Roman legionnaire), or as large as a small hut containing multiple statues, candles etc.; in all cases, they are painted bright red. Ex-votos thanking Saint Expédit for wishes are frequently found.

The worship of Saint Expédit takes the form of a syncretic cult, mixing unofficial Catholicism with other beliefs (from Madagascar or India). Saint Expédit seems like a simple recourse for many, mostly in the poorer classes of society. They go to Saint Expédit in order to ask for a divine favor: finding work, money... or some other less acknowledgeable needs. It is difficult to say how many do so, since the worship of Saint Expédit is socially shunned and people generally do not visit the altars in the open. However, the altars are widespread on the island and obviously well-tended.

[edit] Chile

A follower of Expeditus (San Expedito) brought an image of him to Viña del Mar, one of the most popular beach cities of Chile, and she asked some local priests for help to have a small church built for him. It's said that the idea was initially rejected by the local authorities, but the priests and the devotée lady prayed to Expeditus, and in less than nine days they had the local approval. Since then, the cult of San Expedito has become increasingly popular in Chile; from rich to poor people pray "novenas" for him, and the shrine in the Reñaca sector of Viña is a rather popular pilgrimage site, specially during summer.