Business under the saint

Italians hope for heavenly protection in the struggle for surplus value

The well-known Russian proverb “Trust in God, but don’t make a mistake yourself” in relation to Italy can be paraphrased: “Don’t make a mistake, but still trust in God.” To attract customers, the owners of one of the underground parking lots in Rome in the vicinity of the Vatican called their enterprise nothing less than “All Saints' Garage.” And these enterprising people are not alone in their country. After all, as shown by a recent study by the Milan Chamber of Commerce, cited by ITAR-TASS, 21 thousand Italian firms and enterprises formed this year are named after one or another saint. Moreover, apparently, such a calculation for the help of a heavenly patron in business is justified in practice, otherwise the number of such companies “in the name of the saint” would not grow every year. There were one thousand more such people on the trade department's lists this year than last year.

The tradition of relying on heavenly patrons is generally not new and is very common in the Catholic world. Representatives of all professions and occupations have their own personal saints - even those that the saint himself could not even imagine during his lifetime. For example, not so long ago, in 2000, St. Thomas More, author of the famous “Utopia,” was officially recognized as the patron saint of politicians. Pilots, astronauts and balloonists came under the patronage of St. Joseph of Cupertino, who, according to legend, rose above the pulpit during sermons and was canonized in 1767. Saint Christopher, whose feast day is celebrated on July 25, was declared the patron saint of all things related to road transport, thanks to the fact that two thousand years ago he lived as a hermit near a river stream and transferred travelers across it. On May 19, Catholics celebrate Saint Ivo Helori's Day. Judges and ministry officials have recently been added to the lawyers, notaries and attorneys traditionally under his patronage. But Saint Padre Pio, canonized quite recently, in 2002, became the heavenly patron of all volunteers involved in the social sphere in Italy.

And finally, the most popular patrons in recent years. St. Valentine, who from the patron of lovers may soon be re-qualified as the patron of trade due to a sharp surge in sales on his holiday. And Saint Isidore, who lived in 560-636, who never dreamed that he would become the patron saint of computer and Internet users among his technically advanced descendants.

Therefore, shops and service enterprises in Italy named after saints come as no surprise to anyone. Moreover, according to the already cited data from the Milan Chamber of Commerce, out of 21 thousand such firms, 65 are dedicated to “all saints.” True, many of these organizations are funeral services. However, as it turned out, in Florence even a local sex shop received the name “Ogni Santi”, which means “All Saints”. Its owners justify that they named it after the street of the same name on which the store is located. However, most likely they are being cunning and, like many of their colleagues, they expect that “all the saints” will help them succeed in business.

Irina BELASHEVA