Saint Barbara's Day

By Wilhelm Kalteysen

Today is the Feast of St Barbara, Patroness of Armourers, Architects,Artillerymen, Firemen, Mathematicians, Miners, Tunnellers, Chemical Engineers, Prisoners, and the Russian Missile Strategic Forces.
Saint Barbara is the Patron Saint of the Gunnery Branch of the British Royal Navy. The church at the stone frigate,HMS Excellent  Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, the former Gunnery School of the Royal Navy, is called St. Barbara's.

The Irish Army venerates her as the patron saint of the Artillery Corps where she appears on the corps insignia, half dressed, holding a harp, sitting on a field cannon.

Saint Barbara's Day, December 4, is celebrated by the British (Royal Artillery, RAF Armourers, Royal Engineers), Australian (Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery, RAAF Armourers), Canadian (Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians (EOD), Canadian Air Force Armourers, Royal Canadian Artillery, Canadian Military Field Engineers, Royal Canadian Navy Weapons Engineering Technicians), and New Zealand (RNZN Gunners Branch, RNZA, Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps, RNZAF Armourers) armed forces
 
She is also the Name Saint of my Cuter & Shorter Half's sister, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and who knows how many of her Czech forebears?

By rights, our daughter Dominique should have been a Barbara, but since we broke the chain, the C&SH's brother named his daughter Barbara Emily, tho' she goes by Emily.

Happy St Barbara's Day to all my friends of whom she is Patroness, to my sister-in-law, Barbara, and my niece, Barbara Emily, and may all the Barbaras who have gone before us, rest in peace and may light perpetual shine upon them. Memory Eternal!