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Was Jack the Ripper purposely choosing to kill on dates devoted to Patron Saints?
Those who try to seek a candidate for the Ripper look at the dates in which the murders occurred. People note the murders happed near or during weekends, for example, and assume the murderer held a job. When we look at the dates of the murders of the canonical five victims a remarkable pattern emerges. In Catholicism, most occupations had various patron saints that were considered to act as their holy ambassadors and protectors. Each saint was revered on a certain day of the year. Almost everyday in the year was protected by patron saints.
The days the patron Saints for, butchers, soldiers, midwives, and doctors, fell upon the same as the dates of the Ripper's murders. At one time or another police, doctors and the press had suspected all these occupations as belonging to the murderer because they all used knives. It is plausible that the Ripper may have chosen the dates of the murders to coincide with these Catholic patron saints believing, bizarrely, that he was ‘working’ under their blessing and therefore he was rendered innocent of any crime. The killer may have considered that by killing on these dates, without suffering the wrath of God, meant that he was kept spiritually clean even though the murders required contact with corpse as did these occupations. Here are the dates of each, and their corresponding patron saints.
August 31st.
Saint Raymund the patron of the innocent, the falsely accused and midwives.
September 8th.
Saint Adrian the patron saint of Butchers and Soldiers.
September 30th.
Saint Jerome the patron saint of Doctors.
November 9th.
Saint Theodor the patron saint of Butchers and Soldiers.
Because almost all days in the year were protected under patron saints, it could be easy to say any selection of four dates in the year would achieve these same results. It might all be a coincidence. In my research on my suspect for the Ripper murders, the Catholic Francis Thompson who studied as I priest for several years, I consulted an expert on theory and phenomena of coincidence. Ken Anderson, is a Sydney based author and journalist, who wrote the 1991 book 'Coincidences: accident or design?' and the 1993 book 'Extraordinary Coincidences'. I wrote to him asking him his opinion. Was it coincidence or design? He replied,
‘The facts you have gathered are quite substantial and do not appear to rely on chance as their basis….the fact that the murders took place on saint’s days.’
I’m interested in whether others consider this to be a pattern in the Whitechapel murders, but before you respond with, ‘It’s all just a coincidence, that could be applied to any 4 dates.’ First choose yourself 4 random dates in the year and match them with patron saints and see if they match that of the occupations that the police fingered for the Ripper murders –doctors, butchers, midwives, and soldiers, because of their possession of knives and anatomical knowledge.
In 1969, the Second Vatican Council under Pope Paul VI reorganized the Roman calendar. These changes, which came into effect on the 1st of January 1970, meant that many saint days, celebrated in the 19th century, were now confined to local cults and their significance lessoned. In some cases, saints were removed from the calendar of worship entirely, but in 1888, it was still in effect and these saints were venerated. Perhaps the killer knew of these patron saint days and was working in accordance to them. An added consideration is that the area that the murders were committed in, was before the Protestant Reformation, part of Catholic church land. If this is the case, we should be looking for a suspect who was Catholic and knowledgeable in ecclesiastical matters.
Those who try to seek a candidate for the Ripper look at the dates in which the murders occurred. People note the murders happed near or during weekends, for example, and assume the murderer held a job. When we look at the dates of the murders of the canonical five victims a remarkable pattern emerges. In Catholicism, most occupations had various patron saints that were considered to act as their holy ambassadors and protectors. Each saint was revered on a certain day of the year. Almost everyday in the year was protected by patron saints.
The days the patron Saints for, butchers, soldiers, midwives, and doctors, fell upon the same as the dates of the Ripper's murders. At one time or another police, doctors and the press had suspected all these occupations as belonging to the murderer because they all used knives. It is plausible that the Ripper may have chosen the dates of the murders to coincide with these Catholic patron saints believing, bizarrely, that he was ‘working’ under their blessing and therefore he was rendered innocent of any crime. The killer may have considered that by killing on these dates, without suffering the wrath of God, meant that he was kept spiritually clean even though the murders required contact with corpse as did these occupations. Here are the dates of each, and their corresponding patron saints.
August 31st.
Saint Raymund the patron of the innocent, the falsely accused and midwives.
September 8th.
Saint Adrian the patron saint of Butchers and Soldiers.
September 30th.
Saint Jerome the patron saint of Doctors.
November 9th.
Saint Theodor the patron saint of Butchers and Soldiers.
Because almost all days in the year were protected under patron saints, it could be easy to say any selection of four dates in the year would achieve these same results. It might all be a coincidence. In my research on my suspect for the Ripper murders, the Catholic Francis Thompson who studied as I priest for several years, I consulted an expert on theory and phenomena of coincidence. Ken Anderson, is a Sydney based author and journalist, who wrote the 1991 book 'Coincidences: accident or design?' and the 1993 book 'Extraordinary Coincidences'. I wrote to him asking him his opinion. Was it coincidence or design? He replied,
‘The facts you have gathered are quite substantial and do not appear to rely on chance as their basis….the fact that the murders took place on saint’s days.’
I’m interested in whether others consider this to be a pattern in the Whitechapel murders, but before you respond with, ‘It’s all just a coincidence, that could be applied to any 4 dates.’ First choose yourself 4 random dates in the year and match them with patron saints and see if they match that of the occupations that the police fingered for the Ripper murders –doctors, butchers, midwives, and soldiers, because of their possession of knives and anatomical knowledge.
In 1969, the Second Vatican Council under Pope Paul VI reorganized the Roman calendar. These changes, which came into effect on the 1st of January 1970, meant that many saint days, celebrated in the 19th century, were now confined to local cults and their significance lessoned. In some cases, saints were removed from the calendar of worship entirely, but in 1888, it was still in effect and these saints were venerated. Perhaps the killer knew of these patron saint days and was working in accordance to them. An added consideration is that the area that the murders were committed in, was before the Protestant Reformation, part of Catholic church land. If this is the case, we should be looking for a suspect who was Catholic and knowledgeable in ecclesiastical matters.
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