WIRED Staff
Culture

Slideshow: Patron Saint of the Nerds

St. Expedite might not even be a true saint, but that doesn't stop programmers and job seekers from asking for his help. Michelle Delio reports from New Orleans.
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Under the altar at the shrine to St. Roch is a glass-enclosed statue of Christ, which stands above the final resting place of Father Thevis, who had the chapel built when his parish was spared from the ravages of the yellow fever epidemic of 1876.

See related story: Patron Saint of the Nerds

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Jackson Square, used as a drill field for the French militia in 1721, is now a public park.
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St. Expedite's statue is tucked away in a dark corner, away from the main altar at Our Lady of Guadalupe in New Orleans.
Slideshow Patron Saint of the Nerds
Replicas of hands, feet, legs, teeth and other presumably now-healed body parts fill St. Roch's ex-voto room.
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After a year and a day, the remaining bones of the dearly departed are separated from what is left of the casket, and the remains are either pushed to the rear of the vault or respectfully swept into an opening in the floor of the tomb, joining the remains of other family members.
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Pirates Alley was named after Jean Lafitte and his crew, who helped Andrew Jackson defeat the British in 1815 at the Battle of New Orleans.
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Just outside Jackson Square, this spot is almost always full of musicians, fortunetellers, artists, jugglers and other tourist amusements.
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The walls of many New Orleans cemeteries are made up of vaults stacked on top of one another. Only the rich could afford the larger, more ornate tombs, but sometimes even wealthy families have rented space in wall vaults, usually during times of epidemic, when another family member was already occupying the main tomb.
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The Cathedral of St. Louis, King of France, is the oldest continuously active Roman Catholic Cathedral in the United States. It was rededicated in 1794 following the fire of 1724.
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Tombs in New Orleans cemeteries are used by many generations of a family. The newly dead are placed in the top portion of a tomb; the city's tropical temperatures cause the bodies to decompose rapidly.