What is a patron saint?

The Catholic doctrine of patronage

The doctrine of patron saints flows from the Catholic doctrine of the the Communion of Saints: the saints in heaven, in their participation in the divine love, intercede for the faithful on earth, and the faithful on earth turn to them with petitions for particular needs. A patron saint is a saint to whom one has a special, ongoing connection: as namesake, as protector of one's place or profession, or as the saint of a particular intercessory devotion.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the saints in heaven do not abandon those still on the way; they "do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus" (CCC 956).¹

Types of patronage

Patronage takes many forms:

• Personal patron: the saint after whom one is named (typically the saint of one's baptismal or confirmation name) or to whom one has a particular personal devotion.
• Patron of a place: of a country (Saint George for England, Saint Patrick for Ireland, Saint Joan of Arc co-patron of France with Saint Therese of Lisieux, Our Lady of Guadalupe for the Americas), a diocese, a parish, a city.
• Patron of a profession or state of life: Saint Joseph the Worker (workers), Saint Luke (physicians), Saint Anthony of Padua (lost things), Saint Peregrine (cancer patients), Saint Francis de Sales (writers and journalists), Saint Therese of Lisieux (missionaries), Saint Thomas More (statesmen), Saint Christopher (travelers).
• Patron of a cause or condition: Saint Jude Thaddeus (lost causes), Saint Monica (mothers, conversions), Saint Joseph (a happy death), Saint Martin de Porres (social justice and racial harmony).

How patronage is established

Patronage may be established in two ways:

1. Formally by the Holy See. The Pope, through the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, may formally declare a saint to be the patron of a country, diocese, profession, or cause. Such declarations follow the procedure laid out in the Normae de Patronis Constituendis (1973). For example, Saint Joseph was declared Patron of the Universal Church by Pope Pius IX in 1870; Saint Therese of Lisieux was declared a Patroness of the Missions by Pope Pius XI in 1927.
2. Organically through popular devotion. Many patronages arose from the historical association of a saint with a particular place, miracle, or charism, and were ratified rather than initiated by the Holy See. Saint Anthony of Padua's patronage of lost things, for example, is rooted in stories from his lifetime; the formal acknowledgment came later.

How to choose a personal patron saint

A personal patron saint may be chosen at confirmation (the confirmation name is traditionally the name of a saint to whom the candidate has special devotion) or simply over the course of a Catholic life as one comes to know and trust the witness of particular saints. Many Catholics speak of the saint who "chose them" rather than the reverse, in the sense that a particular saint has been an unexpected and consistent intercessor across years.

To choose a patron saint, the recommended approach is: read the lives of the saints (the saints hub is one place to start), pray with the candidate's writings or about the candidate's witness, and notice which saint's intercession seems to be at work in your own life. The choice is rarely one-time and final; it deepens over years of devotion.

Sources

Footnotes

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 956 and 957, on the intercession of the saints. ↩