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St. Bernardine is the Patron Saint of Advertisers.  Born in 1380 in Italy, he renewed the Church in Italy in the century that preceded the Protestant Reformation and helped the Order of the Friars Minor of the Strict Observance to grow in number from 400 to 3000 during his lifetime.

There is a great little letter that was put out in 1997 by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications titled “Ethics in Advertising.”  In it are guidelines for Christians to take when advertising goods and/or services in an ethical and mindful manner. It discusses both the benefits and harms of advertising as well as suggestions on steps to take in the process.

I am also reminded of a work from the 1920’s by G.K. Chesterton titled “What I Saw in America.” Chesterton was an Englishman who was startled to find that the state of advertising in America, even at that time, was chock full of half-truths and deceptions, at least compared to the standards that had been developed in Western Europe up until that point. And it is still true that one of the things at which Americans excel above all other countries is advertising.

Upon meditating on St. Bernardine this morning I am also reminded of another article I wrote titled “Why Catholics are so Bad at Marketing.”