A guest post by Asombra:
A new patron saint for Cubans?
The idea for this post comes from Carlos Eire. We were discussing an interesting 19th-century French painting of St. Sebastian being tended to by Christian women after his martyrdom, which departs from the usual iconography of him standing tied to a post or tree as a target for archers. Carlos said this:
“In many ways, he is a good candidate for a new job: patron saint of Cuban exiles. I always feel like I’m walking around with a bunch of arrows sticking out of my soul.”
St. Sebastian is the patron saint of archers, athletes and plague victims. Then it hit me: plague victims. Surely Cubans qualify, for we are the victims of the Castro plague.
Maybe we should start lighting a candle to him now and then.
Not just for exiles, but all Cubans who want deliverance from their plague.
The paintings, by the way, are by Mantegna (top), ca. 1480, and by Ribot (bottom), ca. 1865. Mantegna, who lived in a time of frequent plagues, painted at least two other versions of St. Sebastian:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Andrea_Mantegna_089.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/St_Sebastian_3_Mantegna.jpg
To be Cuban, or not to be Cuban,
Cono! That is the question,
Whether it’s nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows
Of outrageous fortune…
yada yada yada…
Think about it: aren’t “those people” like walking targets? Doesn’t everybody get to take shots at us, including very cheap shots, with pretty much complete impunity? Don’t we have “shoot me” written all over us? Is there any other minority that is even remotely as much of an arrow magnet? I think St. Sebastian is an inspired choice for a patron saint. If we had a cardinal that was worth something, he’d be all over this.