[HPforGrownups] Re: God in HP World

[Edblanning at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 34115

In a message dated 26/01/02 16:05:41 GMT Standard Time, 
hollydaze at btinternet.com writes:


> Ron Yu wrote:
> 
> > Also, there is the 'St. Mungo's' wizard hospital. What
> > earned Mungo the title 'saint'? If he is indeed a
> > saint in their muggle world at least, why name the
> > hospital after a saint?
> 
> Now I'm not sure exactly where it is, (London? Somewhere in Scotland? I'm 
> almost certain it is in the UK!) but there is a REAL St Mungo's Hospital, 
> my mum told me about it. Knowing JK's like for weird sounding names (and 
> let's face it, "St Mungo" sounds pretty odd), she probably just nicked the 
> name of the real hospital, thinking it would fit well in her stories.
> 

St Mungo, as someone has already said had the given name, 'Kentigern'. He 
lived cAD 518-03 and from his name I guess he was a Saxon. He is supposed to 
have been the grandson of a British prince, raised by St Serf in a monastery 
in Culross and given by him the Celtic name Mungo, which means 'my friend'. 
He founded a monastery near Glasgow, was Bishop of Cumbria, and after more 
monastery and bishopric-founding (St Asaph, in Wales), ended his life in 
Scotland. He is buried in Glasgow Cathedral, which is dedicated to him.

JKR lives in Scotland, and I would assume it is his prominence as a Scottish 
saint that brought him to mind.

Hospitals are frequently named after saints in the UK.....St Thomas', St 
Bartholomew's, St James', St Pancras', St Stephen's are just the first few 
that come to mind. Bear in mind that UK hospitals often started life as 
religious institutions or as attachments to religious houses.

Now as to *why* wizards should name their hospital after a muggle saint, I 
just don't know and I agree that there is a lot of ambiguity about the role 
of religion in HP.
It is akin to the discussions about Wizard-muggle relationships. If the 
wizarding world is as divorced from the muggle world as some would have us 
believe, I am very surprised indeed that they celebrate Christmas *at all* in 
even the most secular manner, let alone Easter, yet the short vacations, 
(IIRC) are named after these feasts. The familiarity with muggle Christmas 
customs, which are on the whole historically pretty late inventions contrasts 
with their unfamiliarity with many other aspects of muggle culture.

Eloise


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