[Hugh Manatee]

Yes, the man is real, and he is dead.
IIRC he was the Patron Saint of Sailors ,Prisoners, Children and Single Women.

He was a loaded Orphan who became a monk or something like that, he spent his life giving freely of what he had and hated being thanked for it so he would leave presents at night, in disguise. Once he left three sisters gold in the middle of the night so they wouldn't have to become slaves First night he tossed it in the window, second night they naild the window shut so he left it with the wash that was hanging out(in a stocking), third nigt he climbed the roof and dropped it down the chimney. He also loved children. There is a story of hin traveling somewhere on a boat that capsized, everyone "survived", they felt it was because of his prayers.

He once begged an Egyptian trader to give a starving town grain, the trader agreed, and gave several bushles, when the trader got where he was going, all the grain was there.