LOLSaints

LOLSaints was created in early 2009 by Jeff Geerling in response to a Twitter posting by CurtJester (who runs a humorous blog named, aptly, "The Curt Jester"). In this most profound of tweets, CurtJester simply stated:

Thus, LOLSaints was born. Profound. We know.

And it is here to this day.

A few days a week, we'll be posting a new saint, along with a quick and easy-to-digest bio of that saint. (This site is obviously indebted to I Can Haz Cheeseburger?, a site which rose to Internet stardom quite a while ago due to their very funny LOLcats pictures.)

You Can Help!

Is your favorite saint missing from our website? Do you think you can come up with a better caption? There are a ton of ways you can get involved:

• Leave a comment on one of the posts.
• Register for an account and submit a new saint (you must be logged in to submit a new saint!).
• Pray for the poor souls in purgatory.
• Go take some pictures of saintly artwork in your Church.

Part of what makes this site so great is your help! Sometimes, because of the amount of submissions we get, we won't be able to use your image right away; don't worry, though—we read every submission!

Frequently Asked Questions

From time to time, we receive questions about the website. Here are some answers to those questions:

How can I help?

Umm... did you read the text that's about ten lines up from here?

How often do you update the website with new images?

Every few days, between 4-8 a.m. CDT. Check back then, or set yourself up with the RSS feed. If you use the feed, you won't need to wake up too early (Note: The gremlins who used to post saints at 4 a.m. have gone on permanent strike ;-)

What is a "Capshun Contest"

It's a caption contest (in case that first word threw you off).

LOLSaints has a monthly Capshun Contest, in part to increase the awareness of a certain saint or theme for the month, but also in part to reward the site's readers for stretching their brains enough to come up with a witty, fun and enjoyable caption for a saint.

You can even see an archive of Capshun Contest winners.

Can I use one of your images on my website?

Definitely! But please, please, please include a link back to www.lolsaints.com. Also, if you want to use the image, it's probably best if you download it, then upload it to your own site, as the image URL might change over time.

From where do you get the images on the website? Are you breaking copyright laws?

We tend to find images wherever they can be found. Online, in our local Churches, and submitted by users. We try to never use copyrighted material, but sometimes a copyrighted picture might sneak in without our knowledge. If you believe we have a copyrighted image, please let us know by using the contact page, and we'll investigate the matter.

Also, regarding pictures of sacred artwork: as long as the work is in the public domain, it is perfectly legal to take a picture of it, scan it, or otherwise 'digitize' it so it can be spread throughout the world via the Internet.

Do you hate the Church? How can you disgrace these sacred images?!

We love the Church, and would never intentionally do anything to harm Christian unity or the Body of Christ—either here on earth or in the Heavens! We don't view what we do as 'disgracing' sacred artwork and images. Rather, we are enlivening them, promoting them, and adapting them to a different audience.

Most of the artwork featured on this site is extraordinarily beautiful; sometimes some of this beauty can be hidden from more modern audiences. We take advantage of this hiddenness by first bringing humor into the situation, then adding a small dose of sound theological doctrine.

But you must hate the Church. Nobody can dare make fun of saints!!

Slow down, there, buddy! We really don't hate the Church. And we don't think this website is 'making fun' of the saints at all. Have you clicked the 'Continue Reading' link on one of the postings and read what we wrote about the image? Please do that before you send us a scathing email using the Contact form telling us we're going to burn in Hell...

Instead of 'making fun' of saints, or downplaying their importance, we're trying to use some of the greatest resources at our disposal (images of saints) and adapt them to a generation of Internet users who might not otherwise be able to appreciate them. Instead of 'making fun' of saints, we would say we're 'having fun with the saints.' I don't think any saints I've asked to intercede for me are grumpy saints—on the contrary: they would probably be rather happy to share a laugh or two.

For more on this question, please read the following:

- Replies to commentary from around the web

- More questions, more answers

Who runs this website?

Mostly, Jeff Geerling. But the people that make this website into the community it is are the ones who are reading this—you!

(rarely) Why did my comment get deleted?

Probably because you didn't follow this website's golden rule: respect others. Basically, this means that you shouldn't use curse words or vulgar language, make fun of others in a hurtful way, say something that should not be said (i.e. it should be confidential between you and someone else), etc. Also, if you post links to inappropriate material, or if you submit inappropriate pictures, they will be deleted with with the swiftness of a flying angel!

Also, if you're a spammer, you're not welcome here. It's pretty easy to see whether your post is spam or not. But if you're a spammer, you're not reading this anyway. Oh well...

Do you like cheeseburgers?

Yes. Preferrably without pickles, though...

Do they have cheeseburgers in Heaven?

I'm not sure, but since Heaven includes all that is good, I'd say there's a definite chance.

Can I haz cheeseburger?

Yes, but not while you're typing or using the mouse. You don't want to get any gooky burger grease on your computer!