Religion: Saint of the Hard Sell

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Advertising men with Trendex troubles, placement problems or sagging sales now have somebody up there who likes them; the Vatican last week named St. Bernardino of Siena as patron saint of advertisers.

For months the prelates of the Sacred Congregation of Rites had pondered the choice. The saint they chose, it was decided, should be one who had broken through the mists of medieval ignorance with the learning that the Church had preserved in its monasteries. But St.

Thomas Aquinas was clearly too rarefied for advertisers, and St. Francis of Assisi too poor. St. Dominic was out of the question; he had recommended that people wear the same set of clothes both winter and summer.

But St. Bernardino filled the bill. Born to the noble Sienese family of the Albizeschi in 1380, he was ordained a priest in the Franciscans of the Strict Observance at 24, spent 30 years inspiring crowds all over Italy with his oratory. His dynamic and holy hard sell frequently persuaded gamblers to throw away their dice and tear up their cards. Famed for his preaching, St. Bernardino nevertheless re fused three bishoprics; such modesty, one Vatican monsignor slyly suggested last week, especially recommended him to advertisers. Another fact might recommend him even more warmly. Once, when a playing-card maker complained that Bernardino's antigambling crusade was ruining his business, the saint suggested that he switch to making cards bearing the Greek monogram of Jesus Christ, IHS. Bernardino plugged the symbol in his sermons, and the card manufacturer waxed richer than ever.