[MR] Christopher is allegorical not fictional was RE: Book of Days?

[Janie]

Sorry, I've done some reading on this:  Christopher wasn't "completely
fictional".  His name was Minas.

A professor at Cork College, Ireland, did extensive research and bases his
conclusion on these few basic facts.  Home town perspective:  Minas was the
soldier who went away to fight for the Roman army, became a Christian, was
martyred, and his bones were brought home by the pope. Rome's perspective:
Christopher was the foriegn-born boy who came to fight for Rome, became a
Christian, was martyred, and the pope returned his bones to his home town.
Minas and Christopher can be placed by surviving documents in the same
places within a ten-year time frame.

Final conclusion:  Minas took the "allegorical" name of Christopher or
literally "The Christ Bearer" upon his baptism to complete the break with
his old life and begin his new life as a Christian.  Taking a new name upon
baptism was widely done at the time.

The things one learns by searching the internet for the name St.
Christopher....

Lady Gwendolyn Fitch
whose son is named Christopher


-----Original Message-----
From:  On Behalf Of Craig Levin

<snipage> Some, like Christopher, were completely fictional people. Others
were local martyrs or philanthropists or preachers whom the neighborhood
recognized as obvious saints, & the bishop was happy to go along with it.
Still others may have been baptized versions of the local religion's
pantheon-I believe that some of the stories surrounding St. Bridget of
Ireland have roots in pre-Christian Irish legends.

Pedro