I’ve been reading that in the year 2000 Pope John Paul II proposed that St. Isidore be declared patron saint of the internet. In the 7th century Isidore wrote a book that was widely reproduced and read. At the time the book, Etymologies, was nearly as popular as the Bible. In Etymologies Isidore determined derivations of words from Greek to the vernacular but what made up the bulk of the twenty volumes was his compilation of what he considered to be the entirety of human knowledge.

Much of the contents of Isadore’s tome has been determined to be imaginative conjecture and has been dismissed by scholars as the perpetuation of myth and the conveyance of misinformation. Reason enough, I suppose, that he should be associated with the internet.

I’ve been lately experiencing premonitions of doom. I reason it’s the time of year: an extended run of cold gray days, nature receding into dormancy. But maybe not. Maybe negative life-changing events, beyond my control, are on the horizon. I can imagine all sorts of horrible scenarios involving violence or accident. Pure evil may even enter in.

My life has been reasonably free of negative occurrences; I can’t remember experiencing serious personal disaster. Family passings have been expected, serious health issues haven’t materialized. Maybe I’m due.

I guess such feelings are why some people embrace religion.