From the "History of Modern Saints", to be published early 22nd century


In the middle of June 2001, a violent flamewar erupted on the GNOME-Hackers mailing list (yes, even more violent than usual). Michael Baulig, until then GNOME 2.0 release coordinator, announced his resignation after a bitter dispute over the integration of Bonobo within Gnome, as well as deeper "management" issues. This led Miguel de Icaza to write a long, inspiring answer about how the GNOME project was at risk of crumbling under "elitism" and intern "conspiracy theories", and encouraging readers to "give (their) love and support to those who are actually contributing their work and sweat to the project." He concluded his message with the amazing proclamation:

    "You can now flame me, I am full of love, and will ignore any insults, because that is how good my Gnus filter is."

This obvious indication that Miguel had reached a heavenly state of grace was promptly reported all over the world through various media, reaching audiences far beyond the hacker community. It was eventually reported to Pope John Paul II, who declared that the author of this supreme expression of love, self-abnegation and compassion toward the whole human race deserved no less than immediate canonization. After a theological inquiry led to the conclusion that Miguel effectively deserved universal worship, John Paul II made him a True Saint of the Catholic Church under the name of Sanctus Michael Icasas, patron Saint of hackers, developers and newsgroup users.

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