How are Patron Saints Appointed?

by Admin · July 4, 2023

Photo: Günther Simmermacher

Question: In your November 2022 issue you had a feature on “Five saints with unusual patronages”. Who decides on saints’ patronages, and on what basis?

Answer: A patron saint is a special intercessor with God and the advocate of a particular need, occupation, locality, health issue, and so on. Some saints had their patronages awarded many centuries ago by popular appeal, with the reasons now often obscure.

Others have been formally assigned patronages by the Church authorities, such as St Thomas More who in 2000 was designated by Pope John Paul II as the patron saint of legislators and diplomats.

Patron saints usually have some connection or relevant experience relating to their portfolio. For example, St Scholastica is the patron for matters pertaining to thunderstorms and rain, on account of a story whereby her prayers for inclement weather, to prevent her twin brother St Benedict from leaving their meeting, were answered.

Other patronages are more random. St Fiacre is the patron of taxi drivers because Paris cabbies used to park outside a hotel named after the Welsh-born saint. In his lifetime, Fiacre was a herbalist, which also earned him the thankless patronage of haemorrhoid sufferers.

In our appeals to heavenly advocates on our behalf, we need not be confined to those who have been assigned a particular patronage. If we have Internet issues, for example, we may turn to Bl Carlo Acutis, the teenager who developed a popular website (on Eucharistic miracles).

And all Catholics choose a patron saint at their confirmation. We have recourse to them for all kinds of things in our lives. Devotion to the patron of our parish church is also beneficial.

And, of course, Our Blessed Mother is the ultimate patron saint for all our petitions!

But we must beware of seeing patron saints as magicians — all they do is to advocate on our behalf before God, and they always point us to God.

Asked and answered in the May 2023 issue of The Southern Cross magazine