Saints and Snakes

[Mario Schweiger]

Another story of a Saint, banning snakes (and other Reptiles) from an island:

Leighton Gerald (1902): The Serpents of Scotland and their Study.- Annals Scottish Natural History 11: 92 - 97.
"..... The distribution of the Scottish serpent, the Adder, in the islands round the coast is most interesting, and suggests matter for inquiry. It is found in Arran, but perhaps most abundantly in Mull and Jura. Curiously enough, however, there are no Adders in Iona, although a very narrow stretch of water separates this island from Mull. Tradition tells us that St. Columba banished all reptiles and other undesirable animals from Iona, and a most interesting account is given by Rev. Dr. Alexander Stewart of the fate of the only Adder known to reach those protected shores. Mr. Ritchie on one occasion noticed something swimming towards the shore. When it landed, and after a short rest, the creature wriggled on to the grass land, then suddenly stopped, and in a moment was dead! An unromantic zoologist would in all probability conclude that the Adder died from exhaustion from the effort of swimming to land, unaccustomed as this species is to taking active exercise in the water, but the more emotional inhabitants of Iona, naturally enough, preferred to attribute the fate of the venomous beast to the blessing conferred on their soil by St. Columba's decree. The biological interest of the incident is that it seems to establish at least one instance of an Adder being observed swimming, a feat which the writer has never seen himself in spite of much watching. Indeed, I have never caught an Adder in any circumstances which would point to the reptile taking to water, either for food or enjoyment; the harmless Ring Snake, on the other hand, delights in that element."

So I know now:
St. Patrick in Ireland,
the holy deer of Rhodos,
St. Gaudentius of Osor in Cres

any more stories?

Mario