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Patron Saint of Hatmakers

hatflick1

Practically Family
Messages
623
Did any Loungers know that St. James The Less was the patron saint of hat makers?

Patronage Saint James the Lesser
martyred c.62 at Jerusalem

Memorial of St James the Less
3 May

Patronage of St James the Lesser

patron saint of hatmakers
patron saint of hatters
patron saint of milliners

I think it is only proper to mark May 3 on out calendars. Perhaps Art should come up with the St. James fedora??? Hint, hint, hint.
 

LoveMyHats2

I’ll Lock Up.
Messages
5,196
Location
Michigan
Well, I am sort of shocked about all of this, I would have guessed a Patron Saint of Hat Makers would have been named something directly connected to the process of making the hats, you know, something like, "Edward of Millinery"...but I am not a historian as far as Hats go, I am still in the baby stages of learning....
 

Bigger Don

Practically Family
oooohhhh! This is my first "revive the thread"! I am so-o-o-o-o excited!

While it may now be common knowledge that St James the Lesser is patron saint of haters and milliners, I found there is a specialist in the field.

According to several sources, St Clement, a Scot of Ireland and counsel to Charlemagne, is patron saint to felt hatmakers.

Why St Clement?
While it is not clear when felt was first created, legend links its discovery to 750 AD-818 AD during the life of Saint Clement of Ireland. It is said that, while on pilgrimage, Clement used carded wool in his sandals to keep his feet warm. The friction of walking matted the wool which produced the earliest forms of felt. It is for this reason that St. Clement is celebrated as the Patron Saint of Felt Hat Makers. <link>​
 
Messages
19,096
Location
Funkytown, USA
oooohhhh! This is my first "revive the thread"! I am so-o-o-o-o excited!

While it may now be common knowledge that St James the Lesser is patron saint of haters and milliners, I found there is a specialist in the field.

According to several sources, St Clement, a Scot of Ireland and counsel to Charlemagne, is patron saint to felt hatmakers.

Why St Clement?
While it is not clear when felt was first created, legend links its discovery to 750 AD-818 AD during the life of Saint Clement of Ireland. It is said that, while on pilgrimage, Clement used carded wool in his sandals to keep his feet warm. The friction of walking matted the wool which produced the earliest forms of felt. It is for this reason that St. Clement is celebrated as the Patron Saint of Felt Hat Makers. <link>​

I think the Romans may have discovered felting, but the technology was lost in the Fall of Rome. Then St. Clement had his own Eureka moment later


Sent directly from my mind to yours.
 

Bigger Don

Practically Family
I think the Romans may have discovered felting, but the technology was lost in the Fall of Rome.
Romans? Seems the Greeks knew something about pounding wool. I hear-tell the Scots know a bit about that, too. :)

More seriously, the first time I saw felting was a in documentary re a Somewhere-i-Stan tribe that made felt by beating a pile of wool with long bats, several people in a circle working the pile together. That felt was used to make their dwellings (yurts).
 

RedPop4

One Too Many
Messages
1,353
Location
Metropolitan New Orleans
This is good to know. I have an offspring James, and we tell him that St. James the Just (the Less)(son of Alpheus)("brother of Jesus") is one of his patrons. Of course I tell him that St. James Major is also a patron...want to walk a Camino de Santiago one day...but I pray for intercession from both. Now I can pray for more hats!
 

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