Our popular speech is full of phrases, sayings and proverbs, each one more strange than the other, of which we barely know their origin. For example, the phrase the saint has gone to heaven What does it mean? Let's find out together.
Phrases and sayings of unknown origin, the saint has gone to heaven
The saint has gone to heaven It has a large company within the field of popular sayings of great antiquity. It happened in the times of Maricastaña. Whoever goes to Seville loses his chair. He entered as Peter through his house. Saved by the Bell. All these are phrases that we repeat continuously, without even thinking about revolts against church taxes, rival archbishoprics, historical military conquests or cases of premature burials.
Academic research on this type of expression is not only extremely entertaining for the researcher, who can combine expertise and popular interest. It is also a resource for conveying the weight of historical events and understanding the connections that still exist between medieval or eighteenth-century times and the modern world. This can also be related to the use of idioms in Catalan, which also reflect popular culture.
Thus, an insomniac of today who spend the night awake can be twinned with a knight who watched his weapons at night. And the person who feels labeled by society with a sanbenito you can feel part of the penitent procession during the Inquisition. In the following video you can see more cases.
painful lapse
In ancient times, a preacher would be busy listing names from the endless Catholic calendar of saints, each with its own virtues. Suddenly, a rhetorical catastrophe struck: he completely forgot the name of the saint he was praising. And as quickly as the mistake came, so did the jocular remark. The saint has gone to heaven.
The phrase was celebrated and soon reproduced in different contexts to signify that moment when the mind goes blank, the thread of knowledge is lost, or even knowledge is lost. Thus, a new phrase was born in the common repertoire, which makes us think of other expressions from popular culture and their meaning. If you'd like to delve deeper into some of them, you can consult this article on environmental phrases.
If you liked this article about the phrase the saint has gone to heaven, you may be interested in this article about other historical curiosities, this time about The Garden of Earthly Delights. Follow the link!
In addition, for those interested in the topic of Holy Spirit, it is interesting to remember that its influence has been fundamental in many traditions and cultural expressions.
The phrase the saint has gone to heaven It could also lead us to reflect on the importance of some saints in history, as is the case of Saint Francis of Posadas, whose devotion shows how language and religion have intertwined over the centuries.
For those who wish to better understand the saints in our culture, you can read about the saints of Santeria and how these are related to various popular expressions.
Finally, the search for the meaning of heaven In religion it is also connected to the way we use popular sayings and expressions, enriching our language and our culture.