Speaking of Corfu and its patron saint, Lawrence Durrell wrote: “The island is really the Saint: and the Saint is the island.” Because in Greece, each place has its own patron reverend and so does each individual Greek: a saint whose name he bears and whose annual birthday he celebrates. In the case of a large number of Corfiots, this is St Spyridon.

The saint is Corfu’s most revered and influential resident, his mummy encased in a silver reliquary and enthroned like royalty in the red-domed church that bears his name. The faithful who lean in to kiss his tiny slippers would never tolerate the fact that Spyridon was not always a saint, nor was he ever, in fact, a corphyte. Born in the middle of the 4th century AD, he became a shepherd in the mountains of Cyprus, but although poor and uneducated, he gained a reputation for piety, self-denial, and wisdom. He married, but his loving wife died giving birth to their only son, Irini. When she came of age she was appointed a nun and her father retired to a monastery.

Eventually he was appointed bishop of Trimithion, and accounts of his Solomon’s-like wisdom began to be recorded, mixing legends and facts. There are stories of miracles performed during his lifetime, but none compare to those the saint accomplished after his death in AD 350. In life, Spyridon may have limited himself to imposing individual justice and home logic; in death he would defeat Turk, plague and famine.

Spyridon’s body was brought to Constantinople during the 7th century, but by the middle of the 15th century that city was no longer safe for Christians, living or dead, and George Kaloheiritis, the priest in whose church Saint Spyridon rested, decided to transfer his saint post. He set out through what is now northern Greece and finally reached Corfu, where he married and had three children, to whom he gave the holy relics. His son, Phillip, also a priest, considered moving Spyridon to Venice, but the tearful pleas of the Corfiots stopped him.

The Church of the Miracle of Saint Spyridon in Kerkyra is full of votive offerings. There are four great miracles performed by the holy oil on behalf of their island that are commemorated by processing their relics by the people. The first is commemorated on Easter Saturday, celebrating the liberation of Saint Spyridon from the island of famine; the Palm Sunday procession recalls Corfu’s salvation from the plague in 1629; the first Sunday in November marks their release from cholera in 1673. The last great miracle was performed on June 24, 1716, when Saint Spyridon is said to have appeared to the Ottoman army, holding a ‘sword that flashed lightning and was furiously pursuing them. ‘. The Ottomans fled and on August 11 the fourth annual procession of the saint was instituted.

For the people of Corfu, the saint is a touchstone and a talisman. The best greeting and farewell in Corfu is Aghios Spyridonas mazi sou ‘-‘ May St Spyridon be with you ‘.