In article >,
Patrick Porter > wrote:
>I just heard a tale that January 2 is the feast day of St. Macarius who
>was a 4th century merchant specializiing in sweets, candies and
>macaroons before he became a monk, and his nickname is 'St.
>Macaroon'---where I can go to find out more, Google not being useful.

Well, your saint did exist -- he is Saint Macarius of Alexandria or
Macarius the Younger, to distinguish him from another, older contemporary
of the same name. But he has nothing to do with the name of the macaroon.

Below you will find material from the <Oxford English Dictionary> on the
etymology of both "macaroon" and "macaroni" -- they ARE related; together
with some biographical snippets on the two saints Macarius.



Macaroon:
[< Middle French macaron (mid 16th cent. in senses 1 and 2) < Italian
maccarone, macarone, obs. or regional variants of maccherone, singular
of maccheroni MACARONI n.: see further note on sense development of
the Italian word s.v.
Since the French word is not recorded before the 16th cent., quot. a1425
at sense 1 may represent direct borrowing from Italian.]

Macaroni:
[< Italian maccaroni, macaroni, obs. or regional variants of maccheroni
(15th cent.), plural of maccherone (14th cent.; 13th cent. in
post-classical
Latin (ablative plural) macaronis; 11th cent. in Italian as Mackarone in
isolated early use as a name for a foolish person); of uncertain
origin. Cf.
French macaroni (1650; 1820 in sense 6), and the earlier MACAROON n.
With sense 2 cf. MONKEYRONY n.

Macaroon, :continued:

1. = MACARONI n. 1. Originally in pl. Obs.

a1425 (a1399) Forme of Cury 95 in C. B. Hieatt & S. Butler Curye on
Inglysch (1985) 119 Makerouns [1780 Pegge: Macrows]. Take..a thynne
foyle of dowh, and kerue it on peces, and cast hym on boillyng water &
see it wele. Take chese and grate it and butter imelte, cast bynethen and
aboven as losyns. 1659 G. TORRIANO Florio's Vocab. Ital. & Inglese,
Macaroons, or macarons, macaroni, vermicelli, lasagne, tagliolini. 1679
Acct. Viner Fregt (P.R.O.:HCA 15/15) f. 12, For 30 Rottollos of
Maccaroons.
1704 J. PITTS Acct. Mahometans iii. (1738) 24 What they call Mackaroon is
some Paste made only with Flour and Water. 1738 G. SMITH Curious Relat.
II. 302 A Sort of Pudding, which they [in Malta] call Macron. 1753 E.
CHAMBERS Cycl. Suppl., Macaron, the name of a sort of vermicelli, a paste
made of flour and water, and formed into the shape of the barrel of a
quill, or the guts of small fowls.

2. a. A small sweet cake or biscuit consisting chiefly of ground
almonds
(or coconut), egg white, and sugar. Also: the mixture used for baking
this.

1611 R. COTGRAVE Dict. French & Eng. Tongues, Macarons, Macarons;
little Fritter-like Bunnes, or thicke Losenges, compounded of Sugar,
Almonds, Rosewater, and Muske. 1615 G. MARKHAM Countrey Contentm.
II. ii. (1668) 98 To make Jumbals more fine and curious..and nearer to the
taste of the Macaroon. 1630 J. TAYLOR Great Eater of Kent in Wks. I. 146/1
Whether it bee..Fritter, or Flapiacke, or Posset, Galley-Mawfrey,
Mackeroone, Kickshaw, or Tantablin. 1672 N. GREW Anat. Veg. i. 3 The
inner Coat [of the bean]..so far shrinking up, as to seem only the
roughness of the outer, somewhat resembling Wafers under Maquaroons.
1688 R. HOLME Acad. Armory III. 83/2 Mackrooms, a kind of roul of sweet
Bread. 1725 R. BRADLEY Chomel's Dict. con s.v. Tourte, You may also put
a pounded Macaroon into the Artichoke Cream. 1747 H. GLASSE Art of
Cookery xv. 141 To make Maccaroons. 1779 Farmer's Mag. 4 311 Put to
your curd half a pound of almonds blanched..or half a pound of dry
mackaroons beat very fine. 1848 J. GRANT Adventures Aide-de-camp
xxviii. (Rtldg.) 227 Little maccaroons, sweet as sugar and almonds could
make them. 1873 Young Englishwoman Mar. 130/2 One [mantle]..is
fastened in front with brandenbourgs, finished off with macarons and
round balls of the same style. 1875 `A. R. HOPE' My Schoolboy Friends
138 We were regaling on macaroons. 1911 LEITER & VAN BERGH Flower
City Cook Bk. xxiv. 128 Tortoni pudding, Scald 1 pint milk..; add 1
tablespoon of flour..; 1 egg and 1 cupful sugar... Add pound chopped
almonds, 7 macaroons..and a little vanilla. Cool. Add 1 pint whipped
cream. Freeze. 1952 P. BOWLES Let it come Down xiii. 141 The cocoanut
macaroons I used to make..and the cookies. 1988 E. FEINSTEIN Mother's
Girl iii. 44 Coconut macaroons..were prepared by my father's cook.

b. attrib.

1747 H. GLASSE Art of Cookery xvi. 142 With Mackeroons, Mackeroon
Cheesecakes. 1783 F. BURNEY Diary 9 Dec., I had no more power to
prevent it than this macaroon cake in my hand. 1836 T. HOOK Gilbert
Gurney I. 297 A Jew boy, selling macaroon cakes. 1898 W. C. GULLY in
Daily News 21 July 7/5 A Marchpane is an edifice in macaroon work. 1911
F. M. FARMER Catering for Special Occasions v. 110 Fill mold to overflow
with Macaroon Cream, adjust cover, pack in salt and ice, using equal
parts, and let stand three hours.

3. slang. [Cf. Italian maccherone, which has a similar use.] A
buffoon; a
blockhead, a dolt. Also (regional): a fop (cf. MACARONI n. 2).

a1631 J. DONNE Satires iv. 117 Like a bigge wife, at sight of lothed
meat..; so I sigh and sweat To heare this Makeron talke in vaine. 1633 R.
B. In Memory in J. Donne Poems 401 A Macaroon, And no way fit to speake
to clouted shoone. 1754 Dict. Arts & Sci. III. 1961/1 From whence it is
remarked, that the merry-andrews of all nations are called by the national
character: thus, in England, they are called jack-puddings;..in Italy,
macaroons, &c. a1825 R. FORBY Vocab. E. Anglia (1830), Macaroon, a fop.
1942 P. WYLIE Generation of Vipers 18 A thundering rebuke to the
reliability of the cluck beside it [sc. the radio set] and the macaroon
singing over it. 1974 V. C. STRASBURGER Rounding Third 2 What a
macaroon this guy must be.


From the online version of hte old <Catholic Encyclopedia>:

Macarius:
The name of two celebrated contemporary Nitrian monks of the fourth
century:

Macarius the Alexandrian

Also called ho politikos either in reference to his city birth or polished
manners; died about 405. He was a younger contemporary of Macarius
the Egyptian, but there is no reason for confounding or identifying him
with his older namesake. More than any of the hermits of the time he
exemplified the spirit of emulation characteristic of this stage of
monasticism. He would be excelled by none in his austerities. Palladius
asserts "if he ever heard of any one having performed a work of
asceticism, he was all on fire to do the same". Because the monks of
Tabennisi eschewed cooked food in Lent he abstained for seven years.
Once, in expiation of a fault, he lay for six months in a morass, exposed
to the attacks of the African gnats, whose sting can pierce even the hide
of a wild boar. When he returned to his companions he was so much
disfigured that he could be recognized only by his voice. He is credited
with the composition of a rule for monks, though his authorship is now
generally denied.

Macarius the Egyptian (or "Macarius the Elder")

One of the most famous of the early Christian solitaries, born about A.D.
300; died 390. He was a disciple of St. Anthony and founder of a monastic
community in the Scetic desert. Through the influence of St. Anthony he
abandoned the world at the age of thirty, and ten years later was ordained
a priest. The fame of his sanctity drew many followers, and his monastic
settlement at his death numbered thousands. The community, which took
up its residence in the Nitrian and Scetic deserts, was of the semi-
eremitical type. The monks were not bound by any fixed rule; their cells
were close together, and they met for Divine worship only on Saturdays or
Sundays. The principle which held them together was one of mutual
helpfulness, and the authority of the elders was recognized not as that of
monastic superiors in the strict sense of the word but rather as that of
guides and models of perfection. In a community whose members were
striving to excel in mortification and renunciation the pre-eminence of
Macarius was generally recognized. Several monasteries in the Libyan
desert still bear the name of Macarius. Fifty homilies have been preserved
which bear his name, but these and an "Epistle to the monks", with other
dubious pieces, cannot be ascribed to him with absolute certainty.

[Note: Saint Macarius the Younger (the Alexandrian) is named in the
Roman Martyrology on 2 January, Saint Macarius the Elder (the Egyptian)
on 15 January; in Byzantine liturgical calendars, both Saints are
commemorated on 19 January.]

Hist. Lausiaca, xvii; Hist. monachorum, xxviii; a Coptic Life was edited
by
AMELINEAU in Monuments pour servir a l'histoire de l'Egypte chretienne au
IVe, Ve, VIe et VIIe siecles (Paris, 1895), Syriac tr. by BEDJAN in Acta
sanctorum et martyrum syriace, V, 1895; BUTLER, The Lausiac History of
Palladius, II, 193; ZOCKLER, Askese u. Monchthum (Frankfurt, 1897), 226.
For the homilies ascribed to MACARIUS see P.L., XXXIV, 409 sqq.; cf.
BARDENHEWER, Patrology, tr. SHAHAN (St. Louis, 1908), 266 sqq.

PATRICK J. HEALY

**********

Modern text from a website:


MACARIUS the Younger
Also known as Macarius of Alexandria
Memorial: 2 January
Profile:
Successful merchant in fruits, candies, and pastries in Alexandria, Egypt.
Convert to Christianity, he gave up his business in 335 to be a monk and
hermit in the Thebaid, Upper Egypt. For a while he lived near Saint
Anthony the hermit, and some amazing stories grew up around the two,
some of which are found in a separate file.

After several years, he travelled to Lower Egypt, and was ordained, and
lived in a desert cell with other monks, practicing severe austerities.
For seven years he lived on raw vegetables dipped in water with a few
crumbs of bread, moistened with drops of oil on feast days.

Once spent 20 days and 20 nights without sleep, burnt by the sun in the
day, frozen by bitter desert cold cold at night. "My mind dried up because
of lack of sleep, and I had a kind of delirium," the hermit admitted. "So
I
gave in to nature and returned to my cell."

Spent six months naked in the marshes, beset constantly by viscious
blood-sucking flies and mosquitoes, in the hope of destroying his last bit
of sexual desire. The terrible conditions and attacking insects left him
so
deformed that when he returned to the monks, they could recognize him
only by his voice.
Poet. Friend of wild animals. Healer. Exiled for a while with Saint
Macarius
the Elder and other monks to and island in the Nile by the Arians because
of his orthodoxy, but he was later allowed to return. Wrote a constitution
for the monastery at Nitria named after him, and some of its rules were
adopted by Saint Jerome for his monastery.
Born: early 4th century at Alexandria, Egypt
Died: c.401
Patronage: confectioners, cooks, pastry chefs.
Representation: flies; flies stinging a desert hermit; hermit with lamp;
hermit with lantern; hermit leaning on a crutch in the form of a tau staff
while conversing with a skull.




--
Regards, Frank Young
703-527-7684
Post Office Box 2793, Kensington, Maryland 20891
"Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate... Nunc cognosco ex parte"