Saint Arnold of Soissons - The Patron Saint of Beer

Saint Arnold of Soissons - The Patron Saint of Beer Brewing

St. Arnie is one of my favorite saints, along with Our Lady of Charity, who is the patron saint of the Bolivian Navy.

Bolivia is a land-locked country.

To be fair, Bolivia once had a seacoast, but lost it in a war with Chile in the late 19th century. It still requires a navy of sorts because it shares Lake Titicaca with Peru. We would probably call such a lacustrine force a coast guard, but they call it a naval force. According to Wikipedia, which has an entire entry devoted to landlocked navies, "To some Bolivians, the Navy serves as a symbol that the country has not given up on regaining its lost access to the sea."

Yeah, I know, that long-winded disclaimer really screwed up my joke.

By the way, my favorite entry in that Wikipedia page is about the Ethiopian armed forces, who control a mighty armada which consists entirely of one patrol boat. (Ethiopia did have a seacoast from 1950 to 1991, and therefore a proper navy, until Eritrea became an independent nation.)