Although St Christopher no longer occupies a place in the Church’s calendar as a major saint, there are still many people whom maintain a devotion to St Christopher as the patron of travellers. In fact his official feast day is 25th July (ie Next Thursday).

Although the details of his life are unknown, traditional stories suggest that he lived somewhere alongside a dangerous river. He was a very big man and would often carry travellers across the raging river. On one occasion he was carring a child across and as he did so the child became heavier. On the far bank of the river he put the child down and the little one had become a grown man who said to him: “thou hast borne Him that created and made all the world” Christ then told him to plant his staff in the ground, which he did. The next day it became a palm tree to give shelter to weary travellers.

Historians tell us that St Christopher later went to Lycia on the south coast of modern day Turkey where he died as a martyr in 250 AD.