St. Philip Neri -- Patron Saint of Furries?!?

Anthropomorphic fen, rejoice! Thanks to Irish Elk and InfoRoma, we have the following historical example of furry costuming done by a saint:

He considered humility to be extremely important and required his followers to undergo humiliating experiences to develop this virtue. He once told a young man to walk through the city with a fox's tail attached to his rear; the young man refused and was in turn refused admission to Neri's congregation.

As we all know, it is extremely common to see people at science fiction conventions walking around with the simple costume of a fake fur tail attached to their pants. (Or multiple tails, in the case of one young anime fan playing a multi-tailed kitsune.) And yes, sometimes it's a bit embarrassing to wear costumes in public when it's not Halloween. So clearly, here we have another example of the saint ahead of his time.

Seriously, though, St. Philip Neri was a heck of a guy. Funnyman and mystic, friend and stern master -- a man who could work wonders because he had such awe of God and humility before Humanity. Furrydom could certainly do worse, especially in its current troubled and corrupt state, than to look to a saint of love, purity, humor, and joy.