Confirmation Name & Patron Saint

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vince2paul

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I believe that it’s the saint himself that choose us. For example, my first name is Paul (my mum got it when she saw Late Pope John Paul II on TV) she was agnostic and my dad was buddhism at that time, funny eh? and for my baptism name, I ‘chose’ St. Paul to be my patron saint, and yes, looking back now, part of my life quite similar to St. Paul.

However, I have a little problem here. I chose Vincent as my confirmation name 7 years ago. I was still 14 then and didn’t know how to pick a good patron saint, so end up choosing a name that sounds nice to me. 😛

Now, I’m kinda confused, which Vincent is my patron saint? I tried to recall and honestly, I can’t remember anything. What shall I do?
 
:rolleyes: Well, maybe look at Butler’s Lives of the Saints or go to the New Advent website.They have the Catholic Encyclopedia online.Go to the V’s and look at the various St.Vincents and read about each one,and then from what you have read,decide which one you want as your patron.
I was named Hilda for my grandmother and St.Hilda.
My confirmation name is Cecilia,for St.Cecilia,the patron saint of music and musicians and an martyer under the Romans.I chose her because i love music and singing.
 
I ignore my confirmation name.

It was the kind of one that most of the girls picked because we had just read about the saint - there really was no thought or choice involved.
 
I converted to the catholic faith and went through RCIA but I was never asked to choose a confirmation name. Do only those born as catholics get to choose a confirmation name or was this simply an oversight, do you think? 🤷 Also, what is the importance of choosing a patron saint & confirmation name? What is the tradition or history behind it?

Peace & blessings,
brea
 
In my RCIA, it’s not emphasized, but we’re allowed to choose one if we wish. So, it’s not forbidden either. I have chosen a confirmation name, and have submitted it. But for all I know I might be the only one in the group! 😃
 
vince2paul said:
I believe that it’s the saint himself that choose us. For example, my first name is Paul (my mum got it when she saw Late Pope John Paul II on TV) she was agnostic and my dad was buddhism at that time, funny eh? and for my baptism name, I ‘chose’ St. Paul to be my patron saint, and yes, looking back now, part of my life quite similar to St. Paul.

However, I have a little problem here. I chose Vincent as my confirmation name 7 years ago. I was still 14 then and didn’t know how to pick a good patron saint, so end up choosing a name that sounds nice to me. 😛

Now, I’m kinda confused, which Vincent is my patron saint? I tried to recall and honestly, I can’t remember anything. What shall I do?
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Well, why not pray to St. Vincent and ask him to reveal or lead you to some information about him? If he picked you, he knows who he is and would probably like to share the information with you!
Or you could read up on the different saints with that name and then pray for guidance.
 
You know everyone knows each other well up there, while it -may- be that -one- Vincent chose the name for you, it may also be that -two- did.

Do though you look deeply into the matter of the differences between them and what they have to say to the world. 🙂
 
St Vincent De paul is one of the incorruptibles. look him up. Maybe you’ll like him, and he’s the most famous Vincent i think. Could be for you? God bless:thumbsup:
 
vince2paul said:
… I chose Vincent as my confirmation name 7 years ago. I was still 14 then and didn’t know how to pick a good patron saint, so end up choosing a name that sounds nice to me. 😛

Now, I’m kinda confused, which Vincent is my patron saint? I tried to recall and honestly, I can’t remember anything. What shall I do?
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I don’t recall confirmation names even being discussed in RCIA except for our sacramental worksheet, where I had a choice of taking a confirmation name or not. (I do know from elsewhere that our Bishop does allow it, albeit reluctantly.)

I did choose, and the reason I’m posting on this thread, as old as it is, is because I took St. Vincent of Saragossa as my patron, as he was my patron saint through most of my years in the Episcopal Church and he’s been a faithful friend all those years. Since I’m female, the actual name I chose was “Vicenta” rather than “Vincent.”

And actually, I came into the church only yesterday at the Easter Vigil, so I’m newly confirmed as well.

Like Vinnie Louisa, I don’t know if anyone else took confirmation names or not. I think most of the people I actually know personally kept their own baptismal names.
 
At the Easter Vigil last night, all our new Catholics were confirmed, and the priest called them by their Confirmation names as he confirmed them,“Raymond, receive the Holy Spirit…” and the person’s name is Bill.

Peace,
Linda
 
This seems somewhat horrible, but to be honest, I really only chose Saint Francis of Assisi because I happened to know a lot about his life and I didn’t feel like having to research another saint and write a report about him. Yeah back then, even though I suppose I believed in everything, I didn’t take it as seriously as I should have 😊
 
LindaS said:
At the Easter Vigil last night, all our new Catholics were confirmed, and the priest called them by their Confirmation names as he confirmed them,“Raymond, receive the Holy Spirit…” and the person’s name is Bill.

Peace,
Linda
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Yeah, same with me. My baptismal name is Donna (Doni is a nickname), but I was confirmed Vicenta in just that manner. My sponsor had to introduce me to the priest as he came down the line, and she was struggling to remember the confirmation name! The priest, who doesn’t know my real first name anyway, probably is going to be calling me Vicenta from here on out, LOL.

But the others in the group, those within earshot, whose names I know, I did hear them being confirmed by their birth names, rather than a different confirmation name. So it looks like I’m in a minority.😃
 
I was sad when I was confirmed in 2002 that although my whole RCIA class did chose confirmation names, they’re not recorded anywhere (like on our confirmation certificates or anywhere else) and they were not used at the Vigil. 😦

However, a few years later I legally changed my last name and I added my two confirmation names as legal middle names.

As far as Vincent – yes, I think reading up on the various St. Vincents and seeing which one draws you to him is the way to go.

Francesca
 
Like Vinnie Louisa, I don’t know if anyone else took confirmation names or not. I think most of the people I actually know personally kept their own baptismal names.
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Turns out two other people in my RCIA group took names different from their baptismal names besides me. I took Therese. My first name is Lavinia, and there isn’t any saint by that name that I could find. But I read Story of a Soul and really got to liking Therese. I could have tried to match up Louisa, but I think there’s something to choosing a saint you have a bond with.
 
In my RCIA class, we all chose confirmation saints. We had several reference books to look through. Some of us already had names chosen. I chose St. Joan of Arc after reading about how brave she was.
 
We were all asked to choose one for confirmation in CCD class and do a report. Well, of all the saints I could have picked, I picked St. Stanislaus, for these wonderful reasons:
  1. Grandma’s church was St. Stanislaus and they had a real pipe organ, as opposed to our electronic one :rolleyes:
  2. He stood in opposition to the king of Poland to say “You are doing wrong” and I kind of felt that way about many authority figures in my life :rolleyes:
  3. He was Polish and I’m 3/4ths Polish :rolleyes:
But, given how things are today, he could be a great patron for our holy bishops 😉 As for me… idk, I could ask him to pray for our bishops every night? 🤷

Seems St. Vincent de Paul would be the obvious one for you, lol 😉 but I hope and pray you figure it out!
 
Vinnie_Louisa said:
In my RCIA, it’s not emphasized, but we’re allowed to choose one if we wish. So, it’s not forbidden either. I have chosen a confirmation name, and have submitted it. But for all I know I might be the only one in the group! 😃
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I didn’t know we had to pick a Confirmation name?! never heard of such a thing. hm…
I’m not sure if my Baptism name is after a saint either…
 
Brea1234 said:
I converted to the catholic faith and went through RCIA but I was never asked to choose a confirmation name. Do only those born as catholics get to choose a confirmation name or was this simply an oversight, do you think? 🤷 Also, what is the importance of choosing a patron saint & confirmation name? What is the tradition or history behind it?

Peace & blessings,
brea
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I am so glad you asked this! I had the same experience, and found out about a year after that a confirmation name was something we could do. My sponsor was useless, she only showed up at confirmation, I was shocked when she came up and stood behind me. She has actually never spoken a word to me. I don’t even know her name. So now, no sponsor, no name. I kind of felt ripped off! I guess I still do!

But I have been thinking often lately of choosing a patron saint and what the importance is as you asked.
 
Glad to see this thread as I’ve suddenly found out that I need to have a Christian name. I’m in RCIA. We were told to choose a saint we feel close to. I’ve always felt close to St. Michael. However, last night I was told it had to be a female saint as I was female.

The only other two saints I was even thinking about were St. Luke because I’m a writer and student of iconography and St. Francis because of my closeness to dogs. All men.

The only female saint I’ve found connected to st. Michael is St. Joan and for whatever reason I’m not feeling drawn to her or inspired.

I’m also having a hard time determining the spiritual path of St.Michael, or rather how it is displayed by those inspired by him. Some saints it seems easier to tell.

So now I don’t know what to do. One of the main reasons I’ve pushed forward on my journey to Catholicism is due to the election of Pope Benedict. But even his saint, Benedict, is a man.

I don’t have a lot of time to sort this out. If anyone knows of any female saints associated with St. Michael please let me know.

I know of St. Clare with Francis but, again, I’m not feeling that affinity.
 
Vikk said:
I’ve always felt close to St. Michael. However, last night I was told it had to be a female saint as I was female.
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This information is erroneous in more than one way.

First of all, St. Michael is an angel, and angels are neither male nor female. If people could only be named only after saints of one’s own sex, no human could ever choose the name Michael.

Second, both my confirmation names are from saints of the other sex, and many people do the same when choosing confirmation or religious names. I am acquainted, for example, with a Sister Joseph Andrew. 🙂

There is no reason you cannot choose the name Michael or, if you prefer, some variant like Michelle.
 
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