(click here to see the Legend of St. Labatt e-mail)

Thanks for the informative missive on St. Labatts.  You may also wish
to know that March 27 is the feast day of Saint Ramona, the patroness of
hypnotic-sedatives.  Ramona is normally associated with Quaaludes in
the west, but originally was considered the patron of 'Grog" in northern
Europe.

Ramona was born in the small French village of 'Tre Biens Ensemble'
(later made famous by Sir Paul Mcartney) in 1543.  She and her twin sister
Raputta were celebrating their 19th birthday in typical medieval fashion by
consuming large amounts of a potent local wine called "Le cur de lunacy" and
slapping each other about the head and neck with a smoked fish. Although the
documentation is somewhat sketchy, apparently what happened is this:
Rapputta wound up and slapped her sister Ramona with a stinging blow of the
smoked flounder.  Somehow the fish became lodged in Ramona's throat who was
shocked to discover that the sedating effects of strong wine and repeated blows
to the head had suppressed her gag reflex.

Shortly thereafter Ramona became a great favorite of the local monks.
The Abbott of the Nolo Contendere monastery wrote "the girl Ramona is
a great comfort to the brothers.  She is most receptive and has never
found any 'doctrine' hard to swallow."