Can't remember confirmation saint

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DonnaNoble

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My daughter is being confirmed and it has had me thinking. Way back, when I was confirmed, I picked a saint I felt close to, but it was a male saint. I was told I couldn’t pick him because I am female. I couldn’t figure one out, so a name was picked for me. I don’t truly remember what my patron Saint’s name was.

For years I thought it was “Alexandria” but there is no such Saint. There is a Catherine of Alexandria. I don’t have a certificate (I don’t remember ever getting one). I plan on contacting the parish, hoping they might know. Is there any other way to find out? And if I don’t find out who my saint was, how should I go about picking one. I’ve felt close to St. Joseph in recent years, but with my daughter’s confirmation and my assumptions about, I’ve read about St. Catherine, she seems akin to me in many ways (and her traditional feast day also has special meaning to me). So maybe it was meant for her to be my patron.

On the other hand, my daughter picked her patron with no problem at all. Knew who she wanted to be her patron right away. St. Cecilia because she is the patron of musicians (and my daughter has a gift for musical instruments and music). I am glad it was more clear for her.
 
If the parish has no record, you really only have two remaining options:
  1. Get the Encyclopedia of Saints out and start at page one. Hopefully, that will jog your memory.
  2. Call the bishop who Confirmed you. He might remember.
 
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Unfortunately, she died a few years back. But that is a good idea. Maybe I can ask family members who were there and see if someone happens to remember.
 
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Personally, my confirmation saint is Our Blessed Mother.

But, I find no significance in having a confirmation saint. If it is of such a significance, why don’t we make this a requirement for Baptism?

Notwithstanding the fact that it’s very hard for us to emulate our confirmation saint.
 
I usually say that the saint choose you instead of you choosing a saint. There always seems to be a saint that is more important to a person than other saints. There are also some persons in the Bible that people identify with or are more fascinated with than others.

Most people have between 1-3 first names and then their family name/s. Almost all have a Christian (biblical or saint) name said when they are baptised. It doesn’t have to be the one used later when receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation but it could be.

On the paper that I filled in for receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation there was a special line to write which Confirmation name was said. The parish where you were confirmed is very likely to have it documented. All documents of you receiving First Holy Communion, Sacraments of Confirmation and Marriage are also sent to the parish where you were baptised. It is that parish responsibility to have everything “filed” so to say.
 
DonnaNoble said:
I’ve felt close to St. Joseph in recent years, but with my daughter’s confirmation and my assumptions about, I’ve read about St. Catherine, she seems akin to me in many ways (and her traditional feast day also has special meaning to me). So maybe it was meant for her to be my patron.
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That’s awesome. That said, I think St Joseph is still your patron saint even if someone else was picked for you. Maybe also the fact that St Catherine was picked on your behalf was a good thing too as you read up on it and like her as a saint. We need a lot more of St Joseph which is a honorable man that treats women with respect and dignity. We need people to lead and truly take care of their children. We need man who want to work and work hard. In a culture where there are a lot of single parent households, we truly need people like St Joseph as our daughter’s (and son’s) role-models. A women deserves to be treated well and he’s definitely a great choice to intercede for that hope.

That said, I don’t think your CCD teacher was properly informed at the time about picking saints.
 
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@DonnaNoble Check the date of your confirmation. may be the saint of the day ,second what is the date of your birthday again check the saint of the day ,thirdly check the day you where baptized here again check the saint of the day. usually at least three saints are recommended to keep the name during baptism ,but you can always have a list of favorite saints who you like,and ask them to pray for you constantly and recommend them to others,call them to pray with you to say the rosary or imitate them their virtues, there is nothing wrong with male or female saints,You can always get a copy of the confirmation certificate on request from your parish office ,God Bless
 
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There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a female having a male saint’s name for confirmation, and vice versa. We had confirmation at our parish last Saturday, and the last girl confirmed was Jude Thaddeus. At my niece’s confirmation last year (large, over fifty confirmands), I noticed that there were many such instances for both boys and girl–Nicholas Mary, Teresa Dominic, and Pedro Rosa were among them. Whoever said otherwise is full of hot air. Just ask St. Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney…

I would say that it is more common to see this in non-English-speaking countries, but thankfully, the Catholic Church is universal, and we don’t lack examples here, either.
 
Unfortunately, many DRE and even priests have strange ideas about confirmation saints.

The one I wanted was a blessed and I was forbidden to have her. I picked another saint at random and gave the bishop some sappy, bogus reasons in my letter.

To this day I consider this now saint my patron and not the one I “officially” received.

When it comes to things like this I think God works around human failings.
 
It is written in the Confirmation record at your parish. Just call them.
If they DID NOT keep a record (they should have) pick another one, it’s fine. And yes you CAN pick a male saint.
Young men choose St. Cecilia all the time barbecue they are musicians.

And many young women choose St Francis of Assisi. .T’s fine WE’re not lumped together by gender in heaven. 😉
 
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OldCAFMember said:
Whoever said otherwise is full of hot air.
To this day I consider this now saint my patron and not the one I “officially” received.

When it comes to things like this I think God works around human failings.
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I’m not the biggest fan of conformity. Bigger fan of truth and practicing the faith.

I’m referring to false conformity here. I’m referring to where not being obedient is the prudent thing to do.

Same here. Don’t remember my confirmation saint. Thus, I’ve adopted Michel as my patron saint.
 
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As Clare said, most parishes are going to have the Confirmation name noted in their sacramental records. I know that our parish’s record books for Confirmation have a column for the Confirmation name. So I would definitely start with a call to the parish you were confirmed at.
 
whichwaytogo47 said:
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OldCAFMember:
Whoever said otherwise is full of hot air.
To this day I consider this now saint my patron and not the one I “officially” received.

When it comes to things like this I think God works around human failings.
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I’m not the biggest fan of conformity. Bigger fan of truth and practicing the faith.

I’m referring to false conformity here. I’m referring to where not being obedient is the prudent thing to do.

Same here. Don’t remember my confirmation saint. Thus, I’ve adopted Michel as my patron saint.
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This isn’t about conformity. This is about the meaning and practice of a sacrament where one was misled on a key–but not vital–issue. In that case, I think that God looks beyond the legalities into a person’s heart. I was also forced to use my non-practicing Godparent as my sponsor because the priest believed the exhortation to have Godparents as sponsors was a mandate. However, my aunt was much more pivotal to my faith life. In the list of people God is going to thank for helping me, my sponsor is going to be far from one of them.
 
If it makes you feel better, I’ve forgotten mine too. We can just choose new ones!
 
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
I think that God looks beyond the legalities into a person’s heart.
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I agree. God does look at the heart. But I still think it helps to receive proper instruction so that you can live the faith to the best of your ability with the help of the Holy Spirit.

I’d also say that many of my Protestant friends have been very helpful in my faith life. They’re much more likely to walk with you thru your faith than most Catholics. In Catholicism, it feels like you have to build a friendship - it’s not something given automatically with no strings attached.
 
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Your Saint might just come back to you if you give it some time. I picked a Saint whose life story I liked but she is not as popular or well-known. After confirmation I didn’t really think about her that much. Well, she showed back up here for me a few years ago. All of a sudden, people at church were talking about her all the time and baking bread. I figured it was a sign to increase prayers and devotion.
 
I feel bad for saying this, but I sometimes regret my choice of confirmation saint. I’m sure that the saint concerned will for forgive me for saying so! The priest who prepared me for my reception into the Church and who then confirmed me was very keen on the Johannine books in the New Testament and this rather rubbed off on me at the time. I do absolutely love John’s account of the incarnation. And so I chose St John the Evangelist. During the ceremony itself the priest admitted he’d forgotten my chosen saint and asked me to remind him! I said “St John the Evangelist”, and he confirmed me, saying, “John, …”

It’s not that I don’t think that John is a great saint, but my regret is that he is a saint to whom I had a particular devotion at that time in my life, but there are other saints who have been more important in my life for much longer. Even before I was a Catholic I had a particular devotion to St Maksymilian Maria Kolbe and to St Kazimierz (since I was born on his feast day). I’d say that I feel a closer connection with these saints than I do to St John. John Paul II was still alive when I was confirmed, but if I’d been confirmed after he was canonised I’m sure I would have chosen him. The priest who confirmed me had a strong devotion to John Paul II even when he was still the pope and not yet a saint!

Out of curiosity, can anybody clarify for me, when a saint has a more specific designation, e.g. St John the Evangelist, to distinguish him or her from other saints of the same name, is it usual for the bishop/priest just to use the actual name, or do they usually use the whole designation? So in my case I was just confirmed John. For example, there are at least 13 saints and blesseds called Catherine (various spellings). Would one be confirmed Catherine or would it be Catherine of Vadstena, Catherine of Siena, etc?
 
Londoner said:
Out of curiosity, can anybody clarify for me, when a saint has a more specific designation, e.g. St John the Evangelist, to distinguish him or her from other saints of the same name, is it usual for the bishop/priest just to use the actual name, or do they usually use the whole designation? So in my case I was just confirmed John. For example, there are at least 13 saints and blesseds called Catherine (various spellings). Would one be confirmed Catherine or would it be Catherine of Vadstena, Catherine of Siena, etc?
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I believe it can be both ways. In my dioceses, a confirmande had to write about their chosen saint to the Bishop, why that saint inspired them, why they asked for their patronage, etc. So either way the Bishop would know who they intended.
 
Interesting. So the minister of the sacrament has the intention to use a certain saint’s name, and I guess that’s what counts. My confirmation patron is John the Evangelist because the priest knew that that was who I meant. There’s no risk that he accidentally confirmed me as Saint John Southworth, for example, as that intention was never there.
 
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