Figuring out the Saint of Killer's Age
(Preacher's arch-baddie)
Version 1.0 (9 July 2018)

Figuring out his age is slightly difficult, but not hard, because there are enough clues throughout Preacher's run plus the specials to do so.

Clue #1: His Guns provide a Birth Year.

In Preacher: Saint of Killers #2, there's this exchange:

“That's a goddamn Walker Colt. I ain't heard one of them in fifteen years -- 'cept right in here when that stranger killed the boy.”

A cursory internet search shows that Walkers were only produced during a limited production run in 1847 by Colt, being followed by a transitory model in 1847-1848 which led into the Dragoon, but these guns had a shorter barrel than the Walkers.

This means that the Saint would have to have been “of age” to acquire the guns when they were “new”, as he used them in the Civil War, and by then, there were a great number of significantly improved revolvers which a younger person would have bought, instead of the rare (only 1,000~ made) Walker.

This fixes his date of birth as sometime between 1827 and 1830, making him 17 to 20 years old when he acquires the Walkers; and also makes him between 33 and 36 during the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

Clue #2: Wounded Knee provides a Death Year.

Preacher: Saint of Killers #4 closes with some of these words:

“Four years after Ratwater, he was needed [as the Saint of Killers] at a place called Wounded Knee.”

This fixes the destruction of Ratwater sometime in 1886, as Wounded Knee was in 1890.

Clue #3: His Daughter (and the Coin)

Once again, Preacher: Saint of Killers #2 offers more clues. His reminiscences open with:

“Ten years before [the events in Ratwater], by a little creek not far from Mexico, he'd taken the band of Kiowa he'd sought without them getting off a shot. That was the day his life changed forever.”

This was when he met his wife for the first time. A few pages later, his wife says:

“How did she [his daughter] ever get to be eight? Does time speed up, d'you think, the happier you are?”

These words are implied to be said shortly before the events in Ratwater.

Eight years before Ratwater's destruction brings us to 1878. That in itself is another clue.

In Preacher #3; after the Saint shoots Cassidy in the bar, he drops a coin with the year 1878 stamped on it onto the countertop.

The Saint probably kept that coin as a sentimental reminder of his daughter's birth.

With all these clues, the Saint's timeline breaks down as: