St Andrew Avellino the Patron Saint of Strokes
St Andrew the Apostle is not the only saint with the name Andrew as there is also Andrew Avellino, the patron saint of strokes. Andrew Avellino was born in the year 1521 in Castronuovo in the Italian province of Potenza as Lancelotto. Lancelotto became a lawyer but after a fib was let loose carelessly, Lancelotto became a priest, taking on the name Andrea or Andrew (after St Andrew the Apostle. Andrew Avellino was part of the Theatines, a cleric order of Pontifical Right of Men of the Catholic Church. As a Theatine priest, Andrew Avellino could visit the tombs of the Apostles and Martyrs in Rome and converted sinners and heretics. So why is Andrew Avellino the patron saints of strokes?
Well, he died of a stroke on 10 November 1608 during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. A stroke is when poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death and the signs include loss of balance, dizziness, one side of the face drooping, arm or leg weakness, blurred vision, headache and speech difficulty. Andrew Avellino was beatified by Pope Urban VIII 16 years after his death and was canonized in 1712 by Pope Clement XI with his feast day occurring on 10 November.
How to help someone who is having a stroke?
While this page shouldn't be used as a substitute for medical advice, it is still vital to recognise the signs of a stroke. A stroke can happen to anyone so remember the signs:
- Loss of Balance
- Dizziness
- One side of the face drooping
- Arm/ leg weakness
- Blurred vision
- Headache
- Speech difficulty
An easy way to remember the signs of a stroke is FAST which will go as follows:
If you spot most if not ALL OF THESE SIGNS, then contact the emergency service and request paramedics who will take the patient to the hospital.
There's a voice actor's likeness in this fact card
While I did use an artist's rendition of St. Andrew Avellino for this fact card's subject, I only made this because of a voice actor who had a stroke. The voice actor in question was Tom Kane (15th April 1962 - 18th May 2026) who voice many different characters in many different franchises from Star Wars to the Powerpuff Girls. He had a stroke in 2020 which left him unable to speak and that forced him to retire from voice acting. When I first made this fact card back in 2022, I was hesitant about identifying him as the man Dorothea of Kansas is thinking of since I was unsure of what kind of reaction I would get from the non religious folks (especially since my curiosity of who is the patron saint of strokes was triggered by both Tom's stroke and my uncle John's stroke).
The day that I add this bit of trivia to this fact card is a poignant day as not only it's the 20th death anniversary of my sister Ava but also the day that Tom Kane died from lingering complications of that 2020 stroke in a Kansas City hospital, just weeks after Ted Turner, the businessman behind Cartoon Network's creation's own passing. Since Ted's death, I went into a hyper-fixation on the PowerPuff Girls and I see that hyper-fixation as preparation for Tom Kane's death as he voiced the fatherly Professor Utonium, the creator of the namesake protagonists. I was in denial about Mr. Kane's death for almost half an hour as I assumed it was a premature obit, especially since it was hard to find a source but it seems that it's true. Anyway, At least I had a tribute prepared for Tom years in advance, it just wasn't marked as one. Since it would be a bit too weird to update the description of that fact card on DeviantArt with the ID of the man in the thought bubble, I wrote about it in a journal entry instead with a link to it.