St. Louis Bertrand

If I may say so, my son Bertie has a great patron saint with really cool symbols in art. Saint Louis Bertrand was a Dominican renowned for preaching against corruption in his native Spain. At one point a local politician who was furious with a sermon the saint had preached approached him after Mass and, pulling out a pistol, attempted to assassinate him. St. Louis Bertrand made the sign of the cross and the pistol became a crucifix. The other symbol of the chalice with a snake (or demon) comes from his missionary days in South America. Although he did not know the native languages, he was blessed with the gift of tongues and was able to preach to the peoples in that way. But some were angered by his preaching there as well, and more than once (according to some stories) native pagan priests as well as Spanish colonial authorities tried to poison him, but the poison never affected him.

You can read more about him here.

The sketch is pen-and-ink, drawn with Microns while waiting for a flight at the airport. It was kind of fun--I had more than one person ask about the saint and the symbols while I was working on it.