St. Barbara Patron Saint of Arty
Military Saint of Explosives and Artillery of All Sorts
St Barbara is one of the most well known of the class of military saints of the Early Christian Church. She is venerated by artillerymen all over the world.
Saint Barbara is generally believed to have been the daughter of the Dioscurus, who lived near Nicomedia in Asia Minor (today Izmit, Turkey) in the third century AD. Legend tells us that Barbara converted to Christianity and Dioscurus, a heathen, denounced her and ordered her brutally tortured and killed by beheading in the year 235. After her death Dioscurus was immediately struck dead by a bolt of lightening. Veneration of her as a saint was common since the seventh century. She was later canonized by the Catholic Church and relics of mortal remains asserted to be those of St. Barbara are currently housed in churches in Burano, Italy, and Kiev, Ukraine. Due to her reputed ability to draw lighting from the heavens she began to be associated as the patron saint of almost anything to do with military explosives around the 1400s when gunpowder found its way to Europe.
Saint Barbara today is the Catholic patron saint of US Naval Aviation Ordnancemen (AO), artillerists, anti-aircraft gunners, ammunition magazines; ammunition workers; armorers; artillery; artillerymen; bomb technicians; fortifications; and military engineers-specifically sappers and pioneers. The Artillery arms of the Polish, Greek, Croatian, Spanish, Italian, British, Canadian, and Australian, most Latin American armies as well as many others refer to St Barbara as their patron. In many Latin militaries the magazine of a fort or warship is even referred to as a "santabárbara" in the Spanish language in honor of the Saint and images of her are often found in such places as icons.
In the United States the Ancient and Honorable Orders of Saint Barbara are honorary military societies based on the legend of Saint Barbara and inducts both current and former members of the US Army and Marine Corps artillery branches into its ranks. Its membership is controlled by the U.S. Field Artillery Association There is also a the Society of the Sons of Saint Barbara that is open to any descendant of a Confederate artilleryman, be he a member of a horse artillery unit, an artillery battery or battalion, or a coastal defense unit. Her feast day is December 4th and many of these society's hold formal dinners in her honor to celebrate.
Other military Saints include:
St George the Dragon Slayer, Patron Saint of the Cavalry (now armor)-
St Sebastian, Patron Saint of Soldiers and Archers
St Michael, Patron Saint of Paratroopers and Commandos.
St Theresa, Patron Saint of Aviators
St Brendan, Patron Saint of Navigators and Sailors
St Joan of Arc, Patron Saint of Servicewomen
St Leonard, Patron Saint of Prisoners of War.
Sources
Butler, Alban, Dr. The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints"
Monks of Ramsgate Book of Saints,
Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume II. Published 1907. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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