Am I supposed to choose a patron Saint for my baby's baptism?

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Feanaro_s_Wife

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**Our daughter will be baptized on December the 10th. I am a Catholic convert, so admit I don’t know very much about the faith. I am always learning new things. **
It just ocurred to me that many people have a patron saint and I was wondering if I should choose one for her and how I would do this. Any help would be much appreciated!
Malia
 
Usually a patron saint is a saint who shares (some form of) the name you give your child. (It could be the middle name.) You don’t so much chose a patron saint as you chose a name that is that of a saint or is a ‘Christian name’.

Sometimes if there is no saint with that name there may be a saint whose name has the same meaning as the name you’ve chosen.

Here are two saints for the name Lily.

catholic-forum.com/Saints/saintm1r.htm
catholic-forum.com/Saints/saintm67.htm
 
Feanaro_s_Wife said:
**Our daughter will be baptized on December the 10th. I am a Catholic convert, so admit I don’t know very much about the faith. I am always learning new things. **

It just ocurred to me that many people have a patron saint and I was wondering if I should choose one for her and how I would do this. Any help would be much appreciated!

Malia
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Traditionally, first daughters are named after Our Holy Mother. Mary, Marie, Maria, Lourdes and Fatima are some of the names I see chosen for first girls.

While I chose “Marie” as my oldest daughter’s middle name, I have also seen it added as a third name! So it would be, for example Susan Caroline Marie.

Of course none of this is required. When I was a child everyone must have a Catholic name to be baptised. I’m not sure of the rules now. My baptismal name is Annastacia Lynn but my birth certificate reads a shortened name.

A patron saint is always a good idea. Why not have a special friend in heaven to watch over her? God Bless your angel! She shares a birthday with my dear departed mom. I’m sure as I’m reading this my mom is praying for her too!
 
I think with her lovely name she has quite a bit of patrons already!

Lily of Madrid: catholic-forum.com/saints/saintm1r.htm

Lily of Quito: catholic-forum.com/saints/saintm67.htm

Lillian: catholic-forum.com/saints/saintl93.htm

Or even Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks…

Eve: catholic-forum.com/saints/sainte4m.htm

And of course, Eve, the first woman: catholic-forum.com/saints/sainte15.htm

We didn’t chose another patron for our kids because they already had saints names so we just asked the priest to incorporate their patrons into the Litany of the Saints during their baptisms - St. Lily, pray for us; St. Eve, pray for us…
 
The Lily flower is a symbol of Our Lady as well 👍

I didn’t have a patron saint for my baptism (though I acquired one for my confirmation) - I found a few of my own later on 😉

You could look at the saints whose feasts fall on her birthday (St Camillus de Lellis comes to mind, Camilla being the female version) or on December 10 and see if any appeal to you.
 
LilyM said:
You could look at the saints whose feasts fall on her birthday (St Camillus de Lellis comes to mind, Camilla being the female version) or on December 10 and see if any appeal to you.
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St. Camillus is MY patron!!! He’s my Confirmation saint and dear to my heart. ❤️
 
LilyM said:
The Lily flower is a symbol of Our Lady as well 👍

Could you direct me to a website or something so I can read more about that?

You could look at the saints whose feasts fall on her birthday (St Camillus de Lellis comes to mind, Camilla being the female version) or on December 10 and see if any appeal to you.

I have been doing that as well as the date of her baptism (dec.10). It is all so overwhelming!
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From what I know, the parents choose the Godparent(s) and give a Saint’s name at Baptism. Later, at Confirmation, the child will chose a Sponsor and a Patron Saint (the Patron Saint is a tradition, not required) - it is wonderful if the Confirmation Sponsor is one of the Godparents, but, not required.
 
kage_ar said:
From what I know, the parents choose the Godparent(s) and give a Saint’s name at Baptism. Later, at Confirmation, the child will chose a Sponsor and a Patron Saint (the Patron Saint is a tradition, not required) - it is wonderful if the Confirmation Sponsor is one of the Godparents, but, not required.
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What do you mean “give a saint’s name at baptism”? I don’t believe I’ve seen this done at our parish…but I may not be understanding you.
Malia
 
Feanaro_s_Wife said:
**Our daughter will be baptized on December the 10th. I am a Catholic convert, so admit I don’t know very much about the faith. I am always learning new things. **

It just ocurred to me that many people have a patron saint and I was wondering if I should choose one for her and how I would do this. Any help would be much appreciated!

Malia
Click to expand...

**A negative rule - don’t, on any account, give her a name popularised by a “celeb”; whatever she is baptised, she is going to have for the rest of her life;so a name which children find silly or easy to laugh at should definitely be avoided - people (children most certainly included) can be very cruel to those who have names that invite comment. **​

Have you thought of using names from your family’s past, or that of your husband ?

Or there are NT names (& even some OT ones, such as Eve, Sarah, Ruth, Rachel, Deborah - “Cassia” is lifted from the Vulgate of Job 42; “Keziah”, which is what it’s based on, is probably not a good idea)

**Have you looked at any of the websites listing saints ? That should be something there - under Dec. 10th, perhaps. Or perhaps you have a favourite saint of your own, whose name could be used or adapted **##
 
kage_ar said:
From what I know, the parents choose the Godparent(s) and give a Saint’s name at Baptism. Later, at Confirmation, the child will chose a Sponsor and a Patron Saint (the Patron Saint is a tradition, not required) - it is wonderful if the Confirmation Sponsor is one of the Godparents, but, not required.
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I never gave my godson a name. However his middle name is Dominic, and St Dominic’s feast happens to fall the day after my birthday (bit Twilight Zoney - I’m 98% certain it never occurred to his parents 🙂 )
 
Feanaro_s_Wife said:
What do you mean “give a saint’s name at baptism”? I don’t believe I’ve seen this done at our parish…but I may not be understanding you.

Malia
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Just that the baby is baptized with a Saint’s name - the name is picked out by mom and dad - as many above have shown, your dear baby has a Saint’s name, so - you have already done that part!
 
Perhaps things might make more sense when we consider that in the not too distant past a baby was considered to receive his or her name when the child was baptized.

(Today we think this happens when the birth certificate gets filed.)

This name was traditionally the name of a saint or some Christian virtue so you hear phrases like, “given a saint’s name at baptism.” Even now, if the parents try to give the child a name which does not have some Christian association the priest may chose to add a name that does. For example, if the parents want to baptize their child with the name Thor Loki Jonsen, the priest might insist on adding a saint’s name so that the child is baptized with the name “Thor Loki Olaf Jonsen”. (Olaf is a Norwegian saint. By now there may be a St. Thor or a St. Loki but I’m not aware of any such saints. Thor and Loki are the names of non-Christian gods.)

This name is considered by the Church to be the child’s name and will be recorded in the baptismal records even though it will not be reflected on the civil birth certificate. St. Olaf would be this child’s patron saint.
 
SMHW said:
Perhaps things might make more sense when we consider that in the not too distant past a baby was considered to receive his or her name when the child was baptized.

(Today we think this happens when the birth certificate gets filed.)

This name was traditionally the name of a saint or some Christian virtue so you hear phrases like, “given a saint’s name at baptism.” Even now, if the parents try to give the child a name which does not have some Christian association the priest may chose to add a name that does. For example, if the parents want to baptize their child with the name Thor Loki Jonsen, the priest might insist on adding a saint’s name so that the child is baptized with the name “Thor Loki Olaf Jonsen”. (Olaf is a Norwegian saint. By now there may be a St. Thor or a St. Loki but I’m not aware of any such saints. Thor and Loki are the names of non-Christian gods.)

This name is considered by the Church to be the child’s name and will be recorded in the baptismal records even though it will not be reflected on the civil birth certificate. St. Olaf would be this child’s patron saint.
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I have a friend named like this. Her baptismal certificate reads Catherine Renee (last name) but her birth certificate reads Kimberly Renee. There was no St Kimberly so they baptised her with the Saint of her birthday.

I must say I thought then that it was weird and I still think it’s strange. Though it may not be so odd if they had incorporated the Catherine somehow into her birth certificate - Kimberly Catherine Renee or something.
 
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