Feast Day 10 July: Biniali, S'Arenal.
Martyr c. 250
Myths and legends abound. One of them relates that he was an enormous
strong man who was converted to Christianity by a hermit who lived by a
dangerous river. The hermit guided people to places where it was safe to
cross. As Christopher was so strong he was able to carry people across on
his shoulders.
One day he took over a small child whose weight was such
that he was almost crushed and was staggering when he reached the other
side. There, the child told him He was Jesus and He was carrying the weight
of the world on His shoulders. His name is generally considered to mean
“Christ-bearer” but it can also describe one who “takes up the Cross”.
He is often shown with the head of a dog. This arose from the belief that
he was from a frontier tribe. Rather like the “here be dragons” of early
maps, people on the far-flung borders of the Roman Empire were thought to
have the heads of dogs and eat human flesh. Perhaps it was just that he
had the misfortune to be very ugly?
Said to be a martyr and to have died during the persecutions of Decius,
there is nowhere that claims his tomb nor are there any relics. He was
deleted as an official Roman Catholic Saint in 1969 although he is still
indelibly linked with travel.