The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
March 15, 2009
Vol. 12 no. 11

Everything But...
           Sometimes we want a saint so bad, we make one up. Protestants don’t believe in saints, but only in a manner of speaking. We like them too and keep our eyes open for saints living in our own congregations. It’s just that we are not fussy about formal designations - it would be quite an embarrassing burden to have to wear the title “Saint Keith” around while you are still living.
          Here’s a new saint - Saint Urho, patron saint of Finland, whose day conveniently falls on March 16, the day before some lesser saint on that island west of Britain, and the day after the Ides of March, which is generally a good day to beware. Our son Sidney wrote a short article in an English magazine published in Finland on St. Urho, quickly finding out that the Finns don’t know who he is.
          Turns out Urho is the almost invention of the imagination of Minnesota Finlanders, probably in the 1950’s. Urho’s great deed was to drive the grasshoppers out of Finland, thus saving the important grape harvest. Yes, that lesser guy out west drove out the snakes, but grasshoppers are obviously more annoying. Sort of like driving the moneychangers out of the Jerusalem temple as our Gospel tells us. One day we drove through Menagha, Minnesota, and were confronted with this big statue of Urho, pitchfork at his side and an impaled grasshopper on one of the tines. That’s a good saint for you. Actually, St. Urho gives the Finns an opportunity to begin the celebration of that other green saint a day early.
          I am not sure that Urho was permanently saint-ish; that is, he was not a saint 24/7. Not many of us are, even the saints among us. But one good saintly act can last a lifetime, or more.