St. Christopher

Who they were

Christopher is the clearest case in this database of a saint whose devotion is enormous and whose historical record is almost nothing, and the honest thing is to lead with that.

What is reasonably attested is that a martyr of that name was venerated in the eastern Mediterranean from at least the fifth century, with churches dedicated to him. Everything else is legend, and the legend is worth knowing because it is the whole reason for the patronage.

The story says he was a giant of a man who wanted to serve the greatest king there was. He served a king, then left him on discovering the king feared the devil. He served the devil, then left him on discovering the devil feared Christ. Told he could serve Christ by using his size to carry travellers across a dangerous river, he took up that work. One night a child asked to be carried. Midway across, the child became almost unbearably heavy, and Christopher struggled to the far bank. The child told him he had carried the weight of the world and its maker. The name means Christ-bearer.

In 1969 the reform of the Roman calendar removed his feast from the universal calendar, because the historical evidence was too thin to sustain a universal observance. That is often reported as the Church saying he was not a saint or that he was decanonized. Neither is accurate. His veneration was left to local and optional observance, and the medals never stopped being made.

Why people turn to St. Christopher

The patronage is a straight reading of the legend: a man whose work was carrying people safely across dangerous water became the patron of everyone in transit. The medal in the car is one of the most widespread Catholic objects in the world, and it is not a charm. Nothing about carrying one substitutes for a seatbelt or for driving carefully, and no Church teaching suggests otherwise. What it is, at its best, is a reminder at the start of a journey that you are not the only one responsible for it.

How to ask their intercession

Ask him before a journey, for the people travelling and for everyone else on the road. Given how the historical record actually stands, it is worth asking honestly: the request is that a saint pray with you, and the value of the devotion does not rest on the details of a legend being literally true.