Expeditus
Encyclopedia
Information concerning Saint Expeditus can be found only in martyrologies, so precise details about his existence cannot be obtained.
From the Geronimian Martyrology
:
April 18th: "Romae Eleutheri episcopi et Anthiae matris eius et Parthenii, Caloceri, Fabii, Proculi, Apollonii, Fortunati, Crispini, Expediti, Mappalici, Victorini, Gagi."
April 19th: "In Arminia Militana civitate Hermogeni, Gagi, Expediti, Aristonici, Rufi, Galatae una die coronatorum."
Saint Expeditus is commemorated in the martyrology on April 18th and on April 19th, but the first date seems to be a mistake (mistakes were very common in martyrologies. The only facts that seem to be certain concern the day, April 19th, and the place, Melitene (now Malatya
, Turkey), of his death; nothing can be said about the circumstances or the period of his martyrdom (it has been said that he died under Diocletian, but this is not substantiated.
Many theories try to deny the existence of Saint Expeditus. According to Delehaye, the word "Expeditus" is a misreading of "Elpidius"; another has stated that "Expeditus" is only an adjective referring to a person and not a personal name; others have stated that this adjective referred to Saint Minas. None of these theories has been substantiated, least of all those which try to identify Expeditus with another saint.
There are also many versions of another legend, according to which the name "Expeditus" is recent and derives from the writing "Spedito" on a box containing relics of an unknown saint.
The name "Expeditus" has certainly evoked puns, so he has become the saint of rapidity. At first, he was invoked for urgent causes; he has since become the patron of dealers, sailors, students, and examinees; he is also implored for success in lawsuits.
He is portrayed as a soldier (the Latin word "expeditus" was also the name of a category of soldiers) with a crow with the writing "cras" ("tomorrow") underfoot. In Germanic countries, the saint indicates a clock, whereas in the rest of the world (especially in recent representations) he has a cross with the writing "hodie" ("today") in his hand.
The veneration of this saint, contrary to what is usually said, is not quite recent (the cult did not initiate in Germany and Sicily in the seventeenth century: it was already developed in Turin in the Middle Ages. At the beginning of the twentieth century, some bishops tried but failed to abolish the cult of Saint Expeditus.
centurion
in Armenia
who became a Christian and was beheaded during the Diocletian Persecution
in 303 A.D. The most popular legend surrounding the saint says that the day when he decided to become a Christian, the Devil
took the form of a crow
(a snake in some versions of the legend) and told him to defer his conversion until the next day, but Expeditus stamped on the bird and killed it, declaring, "I'll be a Christian today!"
Many stories commonly circulated about the saint's origin say the cultus of Expeditus began when a package marked expedite arrived with unidentified relics or statues. The recipients assumed that the statuary or relics belonged to a Saint Expeditus, and so veneration began. One of these stories is set in 1781, when a case containing the relics of a saint who was formerly buried in the Denfert-Rochereau
catacombs of Paris
arrived at a convent in the city. The senders had written expedite on the case, to ensure fast delivery of the remains. The nuns assumed that "Expedite" was the name of a martyr, prayed for his intercession, and when their prayers were answered, veneration spread rapidly through France and on to other Roman Catholic countries.
Another version of the story takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana
. This story says that the chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe
received a large shipment of statues of various saints, one case of which did not have an identifying label. However, the crate did say Expedite ("Expédit" in French), so the residents assumed that must be the saint's name. In New Orleans, Saint Expédit still figures prominently in the local creole folklore and is revered through amulets, flowers, candles, and intercessory prayers.
However, the legitimacy of these stories is easily disproved, since Expeditus appears in martyrologies in Italy before 1781. There is also a tradition in the past that Saint Expeditus be called upon to help settle overly long legal cases. His acta have not been reviewed and demoted by the Roman Catholic Church
, and his feast of April 19th is not widely celebrated.
with the word cras ("tomorrow" in Latin
) emerges from the crow's mouth. Although the English language
tends to mimic a crow's cry as "caw caw," Italian renders it as "cra cra.", and the ancient Romans rendered it as "cras cras".
Saint Expédit has a significant folk following on the French
island of Réunion
in the Indian Ocean
. Stories about the origin of his veneration there follow the typical formula: a mysterious parcel marked with expedit arrived as an aid to instill pious virtues in the people. However, another version of the story maintains that Expédit acquired his name through his expeditious help in placing vengeful curses. Decapitated statues of the saint are often found, the defacement inflicted in anger for a request not carried out or in order to break an existing curse.
Road-side altars dedicated to Saint Expédit can be as small as a box containing a small statue of the saint, or as large as a hut, containing multiple statues, candles, and flowers. In all cases, these altars are painted a bright red. Also common are ex-voto
s thanking Saint Expédit for wishes granted and favors received.
In Réunion, the cult of Saint Expédit takes the form of a syncretic
cult, mixing Roman Catholicism with other beliefs from Madagascar
or India
. Saint Expédit is a popular saint, revered by Reunionnais regardless of age or religion. It is difficult to say how many people visit the island's ubiquitous altars, since the worship of Saint Expédit is considered taboo - people do not generally visit the altars in the open. Even so, the altars are widespread on the island and obviously well-tended.
que su sangre en la Armenia vertió,
cuyo nombre en el cielo fue escrito,
y de mártir el laurel alcanzó.
—Himno a San Expedito
A thousand hymns to glorious Expeditus,
Who shed his blood in Armenia,
Whose name was written in the sky,
And gained the laurel of martyrdom.
—Hymn to Saint Expeditus
Veneration in Chile is said to have begun when a devotee of Expeditus (or locally, San Expedito) brought an image of him to Viña del Mar
, one of the most popular beach cities of Chile. She then petitioned some local priests for help to have a small church built for him. It is said that the idea was initially rejected by the local authorities, but the priests and the devout lady prayed to Expeditus, and in less than nine days they had the approval. Since then, the cult of San Expedito has become increasingly popular in Chile; from rich to poor, people pray novenas to him, and the shrine in the Reñaca sector of Viña is a rather popular pilgrimage site, especially during summer.
, the spirit of death.
The saint is also often invoked in the African-American magical tradition of Hoodoo, where it is customary to make an offering to him of a glass of water, a bunch of flowers and a pound cake. He is believed to grant any request within his power on the provision that the petitioner recommends his invocation to others, thereby spreading his cult. In this tradition his image is used in gambling charms and rituals believed to bring down curses on others.
From the Geronimian Martyrology
Martyrologium Hieronymianum
The Martyrologium Hieronymianum was a medieval list of martyrs, one of the most used and influential of the Middle Ages...
:
April 18th: "Romae Eleutheri episcopi et Anthiae matris eius et Parthenii, Caloceri, Fabii, Proculi, Apollonii, Fortunati, Crispini, Expediti, Mappalici, Victorini, Gagi."
April 19th: "In Arminia Militana civitate Hermogeni, Gagi, Expediti, Aristonici, Rufi, Galatae una die coronatorum."
Saint Expeditus is commemorated in the martyrology on April 18th and on April 19th, but the first date seems to be a mistake (mistakes were very common in martyrologies. The only facts that seem to be certain concern the day, April 19th, and the place, Melitene (now Malatya
Malatya
Malatya ) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of its eponymous province.-Overview:The city site has been occupied for thousands of years. The Assyrians called the city Meliddu. Following Roman expansion into the east, the city was renamed in Latin as Melitene...
, Turkey), of his death; nothing can be said about the circumstances or the period of his martyrdom (it has been said that he died under Diocletian, but this is not substantiated.
Many theories try to deny the existence of Saint Expeditus. According to Delehaye, the word "Expeditus" is a misreading of "Elpidius"; another has stated that "Expeditus" is only an adjective referring to a person and not a personal name; others have stated that this adjective referred to Saint Minas. None of these theories has been substantiated, least of all those which try to identify Expeditus with another saint.
There are also many versions of another legend, according to which the name "Expeditus" is recent and derives from the writing "Spedito" on a box containing relics of an unknown saint.
The name "Expeditus" has certainly evoked puns, so he has become the saint of rapidity. At first, he was invoked for urgent causes; he has since become the patron of dealers, sailors, students, and examinees; he is also implored for success in lawsuits.
He is portrayed as a soldier (the Latin word "expeditus" was also the name of a category of soldiers) with a crow with the writing "cras" ("tomorrow") underfoot. In Germanic countries, the saint indicates a clock, whereas in the rest of the world (especially in recent representations) he has a cross with the writing "hodie" ("today") in his hand.
The veneration of this saint, contrary to what is usually said, is not quite recent (the cult did not initiate in Germany and Sicily in the seventeenth century: it was already developed in Turin in the Middle Ages. At the beginning of the twentieth century, some bishops tried but failed to abolish the cult of Saint Expeditus.
Legends
It is widely questioned whether or not Expeditus actually existed. According to one legend, Saint Expeditus was a RomanRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
centurion
Centurion
A centurion was a professional officer of the Roman army .Centurion may also refer to:-Military:* Centurion tank, British battle tank* HMS Centurion, name of several ships and a shore base of the British Royal Navy...
in Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
who became a Christian and was beheaded during the Diocletian Persecution
Diocletian Persecution
The Diocletianic Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman empire. In 303, Emperor Diocletian and Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding the legal rights of Christians and demanding that they comply with traditional Roman...
in 303 A.D. The most popular legend surrounding the saint says that the day when he decided to become a Christian, the Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
took the form of a crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
(a snake in some versions of the legend) and told him to defer his conversion until the next day, but Expeditus stamped on the bird and killed it, declaring, "I'll be a Christian today!"
Many stories commonly circulated about the saint's origin say the cultus of Expeditus began when a package marked expedite arrived with unidentified relics or statues. The recipients assumed that the statuary or relics belonged to a Saint Expeditus, and so veneration began. One of these stories is set in 1781, when a case containing the relics of a saint who was formerly buried in the Denfert-Rochereau
Place Denfert-Rochereau
Place Denfert-Rochereau, previously known as Place d'Enfer, is a public square located in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, France, in the Montparnasse district, at the intersection of the boulevards Raspail, Arago, and Saint-Jacques, and the avenues René Coty, Général Leclerc, and , as well as the...
catacombs of Paris
Catacombs of Paris
The Catacombs of Paris or Catacombes de Paris are an underground ossuary in Paris, France. Located south of the former city gate , the ossuary holds the remains of about 6 million people and fills a renovated section of caverns and tunnels that are the remains of Paris' stone mines...
arrived at a convent in the city. The senders had written expedite on the case, to ensure fast delivery of the remains. The nuns assumed that "Expedite" was the name of a martyr, prayed for his intercession, and when their prayers were answered, veneration spread rapidly through France and on to other Roman Catholic countries.
Another version of the story takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. This story says that the chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel (New Orleans)
Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel is a Roman Catholic church located on Rampart Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. The back of the church is bordered by Basin Street....
received a large shipment of statues of various saints, one case of which did not have an identifying label. However, the crate did say Expedite ("Expédit" in French), so the residents assumed that must be the saint's name. In New Orleans, Saint Expédit still figures prominently in the local creole folklore and is revered through amulets, flowers, candles, and intercessory prayers.
However, the legitimacy of these stories is easily disproved, since Expeditus appears in martyrologies in Italy before 1781. There is also a tradition in the past that Saint Expeditus be called upon to help settle overly long legal cases. His acta have not been reviewed and demoted by the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, and his feast of April 19th is not widely celebrated.
Iconographical depiction
Expeditus' typical depiction in artwork is as a young Roman centurion. The soldier is squashing a crow beneath his right foot and bearing a clock in early images. Later depictions have Expeditus holding a cross, inscribed with the Latin word hodie ("today"). A banderoleSpeech scroll
A speech scroll, also called a banderole in Western art history, is an illustrative device used to denote speech, song, or, in rarer cases, other types of sound....
with the word cras ("tomorrow" in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
) emerges from the crow's mouth. Although the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
tends to mimic a crow's cry as "caw caw," Italian renders it as "cra cra.", and the ancient Romans rendered it as "cras cras".
Réunion Island
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
island of Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
. Stories about the origin of his veneration there follow the typical formula: a mysterious parcel marked with expedit arrived as an aid to instill pious virtues in the people. However, another version of the story maintains that Expédit acquired his name through his expeditious help in placing vengeful curses. Decapitated statues of the saint are often found, the defacement inflicted in anger for a request not carried out or in order to break an existing curse.
Road-side altars dedicated to Saint Expédit can be as small as a box containing a small statue of the saint, or as large as a hut, containing multiple statues, candles, and flowers. In all cases, these altars are painted a bright red. Also common are ex-voto
Ex-voto
An ex-voto is a votive offering to a saint or divinity. It is given in fulfillment of a vow or in gratitude or devotion...
s thanking Saint Expédit for wishes granted and favors received.
In Réunion, the cult of Saint Expédit takes the form of a syncretic
Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
cult, mixing Roman Catholicism with other beliefs from Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
or India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Saint Expédit is a popular saint, revered by Reunionnais regardless of age or religion. It is difficult to say how many people visit the island's ubiquitous altars, since the worship of Saint Expédit is considered taboo - people do not generally visit the altars in the open. Even so, the altars are widespread on the island and obviously well-tended.
Chile
Himnos mil al glorioso Expedito,que su sangre en la Armenia vertió,
cuyo nombre en el cielo fue escrito,
y de mártir el laurel alcanzó.
—Himno a San Expedito
A thousand hymns to glorious Expeditus,
Who shed his blood in Armenia,
Whose name was written in the sky,
And gained the laurel of martyrdom.
—Hymn to Saint Expeditus
Veneration in Chile is said to have begun when a devotee of Expeditus (or locally, San Expedito) brought an image of him to Viña del Mar
Viña del Mar
Viña del Mar , is a city and commune on central Chile's Pacific coast. Its long stretches of white sandy beaches are a major attraction for national and international tourists. The city is Chile's main tourist attraction. Known as "La Ciudad Jardín" , Viña del Mar is a Chilean Municipality located...
, one of the most popular beach cities of Chile. She then petitioned some local priests for help to have a small church built for him. It is said that the idea was initially rejected by the local authorities, but the priests and the devout lady prayed to Expeditus, and in less than nine days they had the approval. Since then, the cult of San Expedito has become increasingly popular in Chile; from rich to poor, people pray novenas to him, and the shrine in the Reñaca sector of Viña is a rather popular pilgrimage site, especially during summer.
Voodoo and Hoodoo
In Haitian Vodou the image of St Expedite is used to represent Baron Lakwa a spirit associated with death, cemeteries, children and sex. In New Orleans Voodoo the saint often represents Baron SamediBaron Samedi
Baron Samedi is one of the Loa of Haitian Voodoo. Samedi is a Loa of the dead, along with Baron's numerous other incarnations Baron Cimetière, Baron La Croix, and Baron Kriminel. He is the head of the Guédé family of Loa, or an aspect of them, or possibly their spiritual father...
, the spirit of death.
The saint is also often invoked in the African-American magical tradition of Hoodoo, where it is customary to make an offering to him of a glass of water, a bunch of flowers and a pound cake. He is believed to grant any request within his power on the provision that the petitioner recommends his invocation to others, thereby spreading his cult. In this tradition his image is used in gambling charms and rituals believed to bring down curses on others.
Further reading
- A booklet that contains a prayer and novenaNovenaIn the Catholic Church, a novena is a devotion consisting of a prayer repeated on nine successive days, asking to obtain special graces. The prayers may come from prayer books, or consist of the recitation of the Rosary , or of short prayers through the day...
litany to the saint:
External links
- San Expedito en Argentina
- Saint Expeditus
- Sant'Espedito di Melitene
- Wall Street Journal article on Expeditus (registration required)
- Republic of Molossia: documents veneration to Expeditus and explains his possible erroneous origin
- Saint Expédit (article by the University of Réunion, focusing on the worship on Réunion Island)
- La Página de San Expedito
- San Expedito en Chile
- San Expedito; Misión e historia
- Lucky Mojo Hoodoo site with information on devotion to St. Expeditus.