# dumb question about becoming a saint

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-question-about-becoming-a-saint/69665>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 21, 2001, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-question-about-becoming-a-saint/69665 "2001-06-21T18:20:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ThisYearsGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@ThisYearsGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisYearsGirl)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-question-about-becoming-a-saint/69665/1 "2001-06-21T18:20:35Z")

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I couldn’t sleep last night and was watching this tv show on Rasputin, and the end was talking about his really bizarre poisoning/shooting/drowning death, and mentioned that those rumors are probably really exaggerated, because he probably only died from drowning, the czarina wanted to make him a saint. A quote from the show was, “You can’t drown and be a saint.”

Whoa! Maybe this is a really dumb question, but is that really a true statement? That would be so awesome and bizarre if it was true. Or is it a hyperbole-type “You can’t eat like that and still be thin!” statement, saying that drowning is such an undramatic way to die that it doesn’t fit the life of a saint?

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-question-about-becoming-a-saint/69665/2 "2001-06-21T18:29:52Z")

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IIRC, St. John Nepomuk, the patron saint of bridges and bridgekeepers, was drowned when he was bound up and tossed off a bridge.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-question-about-becoming-a-saint/69665/3 "2001-06-21T23:11:41Z")

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Also Florian, patron saint of firefighters. (He was supposed to be burned at the stake, but his tormenters threw him into a river instead, where he drowned.) He died early enough (3d cen) that I would expect him to be a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church as well as in the Western Church. However, I can’t find any confirmation that he actually is a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church. Hmmm…

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**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-question-about-becoming-a-saint/69665/4 "2001-06-21T23:24:53Z")

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Having seen the History channel documentary on the Kooky  
Clergyman, I can clear this up. The river Rasputin drowned in had a reputation as a sewer. To drown in it carried the same stigma as being found dead in a peep show booth. Rasputin’s enemys wanted to make him a demon. His friends wanted to make him a saint. The embellished story of his drowning served to make him supernatural, pleasing both sides.