February 17

It has often been said that if you want to get something done you should give the task to a busy person. Chiara Offreduccio was a very busy and a very devote woman. A Roman Catholic, she became a nun and adopted the name Claire of Assisi. While Pope Alexander IV may have canonized her on September 26, 1255, she didn’t really hit the big time until the 17th in 1958, when Pope Pius XII made her the patron saint of television. This added one more thing to her long list of responsibilities as she was already the patroness of clairvoyance, eyes, eye disease, goldsmiths, laundry, embroiders, gilders, gold, good weather, needle workers, Santa Clara Pueblo, telephones, and telegraphs.