Strikes me as possible that the Mungo in question might have been sainted through conventional means (ie: by the Catholic Church for performing miracles), and the hospital named after him bears the honorarium as part of the name.
He (she?) could be an Anglican saint. I would think that there would be more of them, if that were the case. The RL world is littered with St Somebodies, from schools to hospitals to Tube stops, for all I know.
Another question: are there graveyards in HP? There is near the Riddle house, but I mean generally? AD is “buried” on the school grounds. Where are HP’s parents buried?
(sorry to take this OT)
I seem to recall that St. Mungo is actually a real, historical canonized saint. He’s a pretty obscure one among Muggles, of course, and I can’t remember what it was that he did.
The existance of magic would cast some doubt on the credibility of judging sainthood based on miracles, but one would presume that the Pope is one of the few Muggles, like the Prime Minister, who has a need-to-know about the wizarding world, and he could discreetly steer any investigation away from “miracles” which were merely magic.
Yup. You can read all about him here.
You can read even more about him here. He’s the patron saint of Glasgow.
If you think they are mad at Harry Potter, you should have seen what they had to say about He-Man.
There are graveyards in HP other than the Muggle one in which Tom Riddle Sr. is buried. There’s actually one on the Hogwarts grounds, although who is buried there I don’t know since it was apparently unprecedented for a headmaster to be buried on the grounds before Dumbledore. On one of the DVD commentaries, the set designer comments on how thorough Jo’s knowledge of Hogwarts was, and mentions that he couldn’t put something in a particular spot relative to the castle because that’s where the cemetery is.
As for where Harry’s parents are buried, it hasn’t been officially established but the best bet in fanon is that they’re buried in Godric’s Hollow.
I think you’re right-Harry is poised to visit Godric’s Hollow (and what do you bet we’ll have Hernione giving a short expose on the history of GH? Bet it’s named after Gryffindor’s founder).
I just thought it interesting that something so elemental to the WW is not really mentioned.
According to the Wiki article on the Wizarding hospital itself (and not the Scottish saint):
St. Mungo’s was founded by Mungo Bohnam, the famous Healer, in the 1600’s. The exact date is unknown.
So Bohnam (or would it be “Bonham”?) may have been named after the Christian saint, but that still leaves the question of how he - the Healer - became canonized, and by whom.
Doesn’t seem likely to be an honor that the Minister of Magic could bestow.
It seems that piece of iformation comes from Rowling’s website, where she lists a “wizard of the month.” Bonham (apparently the correct spelling) appeared in March 2005. Since he isn’t called “St Mungo Bonham,” I would assume that he named the hospital after his namesake (or that it was named for St Mungo as a way of honoring Bonham.) In any event, there is no evidence that Bonham himself was a saint.