Saint Mammas

is the patron saint of the accountants, tax payers and tax dodgers. And of the shepherds.

The hermit, supposed to have lived in the 12th century in Cyprus, refused several centuries ago to pay income taxes for the donations he received, because he said that they were paid out of taxed income. As the tax authorities wanted to put him into prison, a ferocious lion came out of the bushes, chasing a sheep. The Saint calmed him down by talking to him, sat on his back, took the sheep and rode into town. The judge agreed to his claim and got the sheep.

(Picture from the chapel of Saint Mammas in the Trodos mountains in Cyprus.)