A reader writes:
I am fascinated by the person popularly known as Mr.T. He is such a
curiosity that I cannot seem to put him out of my mind. I wonder
about things like "Does he go to bed with his jewelry on?" "Is he
always Mr.T or does he become Mr.Other Name when he gets home after a
day of work?" "Is his father, T Senior (presumably), ashamed that his
son did not pursue a more respectable career as a scientist named Dr.
Q?" "Does he eat his own cereal?" "Does he wear more or less jewelry
when going to weddings?" Such a human enigma!
I don’t have definite information on all of these questions, though here’s what information I have:
According to Wikipedia’s entry on him, Mr. T was born Laurence Tureaud, though that’s not his name now. He changed his name to Laurence Tero and then to Mr. T. Literally: Mr. T. He therefore does not go home and have another name. He also does not seem to go to bed with the jewelery on–at least anymore–since it appears that he gave up wearing the jewelery (at least the chains) after he became involved in relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina last year. He did, however, sometimes wear it to bed in the past, "to see how my ancestors, who were slaves, felt." Since givingup the chains, he presumably doesn’t wear them to weddings now, either. I would assume that he has eaten his own cereal at least once. I know if I were joing to license a cereal, I would want to make sure it tastes okay. And I’d hope that his father is proud of him given how successful he’s been.
The reader continues:
Then I wondered what would happen to him if he were to A) Convert to
Catholicism and live an exemplary life (not that I am judging his
current life) and B) Die and finally C) Become canonized — what
would we call this saint? Would it be St.Mr.T with both titles (saint
and mister) or would the St. just replace the Mr. and we would just
call him St.T?
Somehow St. T just does not have the same weight as Mr.T. I think it
is the second syllable in mister that makes the name really work. It
is kind of like growling when you say it "Mis-TERRR".
It seems in general titles earned in this life are dropped when the
St. is added. For example, it is not St. Sister Therese but just
plain old St. Therese. The only sort of exception to this would be
the nickname that goes after the name to distinguish this St. First
Name from other saints First Name. For example St. Therese the Little
Flower.
In such a case, I wonder if it would be appropriate to refer to him
as St.T of the Mister or something like that.
Anyway, I was just curious about titles and how they work with saints
and wondered if you could provide any insight into that whole thing.
Mr. T apparently is a Christian, who is reported to take his faith seriously these days. If he were to become a Catholic and (at least henceforth) lead a life of heroic virtue then he would potentially be eligible for formal canonization.
Should he be canonized then–at least as things stand now–he would be referred to as St. Mr. T because the Mr. is an actual part of his name. It is not an honoriffic, but the first part of his legal name.
Of course, if he had aspirations toward canonization then he might change his name again–perhaps back to Laurence Tureaud, but as things stand now, it would be St. Mr. T.
Hope this clears up some of the mystery surrounding this human enigma!
CHT to The Curt Jester for Photoshopping the above image, and especially for his creative take on what kind of halo St. Mr. T would have!
A reader writes:
