SWINE ‘flu continues to cough up of stories of barmy goings-on among the faithful.
A fortnight ago we were left chortling over a report from Israel about planeload of Israeli rabbis and Jewish mystics who held an airborne prayer meeting in the belief that it could help check the spread of swine flu in Israel.
Now, from Santiago de Compostela, in Spain’s northwestern Galicia region, comes a report that pilgrims to the cathedral there are being asked not to snog a statue of St James the Apostle.
As we all know, Catholics are obsessed with venerating all sorts of odds and ends that are purportedly “holy” – some very grisly indeed -and the statue of St James is like honey to the bees to the faithful, who have a tendency to hug it and smother in kisses.
But, thanks to fast-spreading swine flu, the church, where the remains of the saint are allegedly deposited, is urging the faithful not to pucker up, according to this report.
It has even removed the holy water that worshippers use to bless themselves in the cathedral in the cobblestone old quarter of Santiago de Compostela.
The cathedral’s dean, Jose Maria Diaz, said the campaign has been discreet.
We have not put up any signs or anything.
Rather, an usher stationed next to the statue – located behind the main altar – quietly passes the message on.
They are asked at least to refrain from kissing it.
He said the measure stems from a new Health Ministry campaign offering hygiene hints on how to curb the spread of swine flu, one of which is to halt Spaniards’ deeply ingrained custom of greeting each other with kisses, one on each cheek, even when meeting strangers. Spaniards are now supposed to shake hands.
Santiago’s cathedral is not the first to rein in worshippers’ lips – just the most prominent. Earlier this month, the cathedral in the central city of Toledo urged people suspend their habit of kissing a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Luis Alemparte, a 67-year-old from the Canary Islands, said he had embraced the statue of St James rather than kiss it, but in any case he was not afraid of swine flu.
If you come down with flu, either you get better or St James is here to take you to heaven.