Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 4 - Raymond Nonnantus

Nonnantus was a 13th century Spanish monk whose order specialized in ransoming Christians being held by Moors in North Africa and southern Spain. This worked pretty well until he ran out of funds and, as directed by the rules of his order, he traded himself for the people he was trying to ransom.

While in captivity Nonnantus continued to preach, and his Moorish captors, sick of hearing him, used a hot poker to create holes in his lips so they could padlock his mouth shut. It was in this state that his order ransomed him back. Today, at sites where Nonnantus is venerated, people leave locks as an offering or a symbol of some vocal transgression (lying, etc.). As with yesterday's saint, Nonnantus was removed from the General Roman Calendar for not being universally important.

Although that might change based on Nonnantus being the namsake of the religious house that's at the center of the TV show Call the Midwife. Nonnantus is actually a nickname rather than a last name that references his Cesarean section birth (it's from the Latin for "not born") and death of his mother in childbirth. For this he's the patron saint of childbirth, midwives, and pregnant women. This made it an excellent alias for the actual house that Jenny Lee and friends worked out of while delivering babies in Poplar.