Confirmation Names...

  • Thread starter Thread starter MissRose73
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

MissRose73

Guest
Do you have a confirmation name, if so and if you wish, please share it and why you chose it?

If not, why did you not pick one, and if you could have chosen one, who would you have chosen and why?
When I was confirmed 20 years ago, our priest did not force us to choose Confirmation names during the preparation classes, and to be honest I don’t ever recall him or our catechists asking us to research saints to choose one. So, as far as I know, no one in my class chose a Confirmation name including myself.

If I could have chosen a Confirmation name, I most likely may have chosen Therese (of Lisieux). Even as a child, I always found her and her life fascinating when I first read about her in my Saints book my uncle (and Godfather) gave me for my First Communion.

Are the already confirmed allowed to pick a Confirmation name after the fact even if it has been a long time since Confirmation?

My parents have Confirmation names as they grew up Pre-Vatican II, and I am sure they may even remember what they are.
 
Mine was Bernadette (of Lourdes). See my profile picture next to my name!! I am a post Vat 2 confirmation. I am 32. Our priest told us that we should pick a name of a saint that we liked. He encouraged us to research some saints and to pick one that was important to us. I picked Bernadette because I thought that it was wonderful that Mary appeared to her (because I have always loved Mary). I also liked the idea that she was a young girl (like I was at the time). And, truthfully, I liked the name Bernadette. I still do!!

If I was getting confirmed today, I think that I would still pick the same name. I have never thought of changing it.

I know that people can pray to different saints at different times in their lives. I don’t think that you can CHANGE your confirmation name once it has already happened. But you can have a devotion to a different saint 20 years later.
 
My confirmation name is Bernadette. I love St. Bernadette! It’s my dream to make it to Lourdes one day!
I do love St. Therese, The Little Flower, too! Her life is so inspiring and easy to relate to. Her idea of how little things can mean a great deal is a wonderful way to live your life!
 
Joseph, because St. Joseph is the patron of the universal Church, fathers, workers and the dying. He was close to Our Lord and Our Lady. And where I grew up, there was a good deal of popular devotion to St. Joseph, many males with this name. He is a great protector.
 
OscarsMama said:
Mine was Bernadette (of Lourdes). See my profile picture next to my name!! I am a post Vat 2 confirmation. I am 32. Our priest told us that we should pick a name of a saint that we liked. He encouraged us to research some saints and to pick one that was important to us. I picked Bernadette because I thought that it was wonderful that Mary appeared to her (because I have always loved Mary). I also liked the idea that she was a young girl (like I was at the time). And, truthfully, I liked the name Bernadette. I still do!!

If I was getting confirmed today, I think that I would still pick the same name. I have never thought of changing it.

I know that people can pray to different saints at different times in their lives. I don’t think that you can CHANGE your confirmation name once it has already happened. But you can have a devotion to a different saint 20 years later.
Click to expand...
Awesome! 🙂
I’ll be 32 in October!
 
My confirmation name is Marie for the blessed mother, I don’t know why I didn’t just say Mary. I guess thought Marie sounded prettier. I was only 8 when I was confirmed.

I thought about Therese, too. I love the story of her life, and a neighbor had prayede for her intercession when she had trouble getting pregnant. She had a beautiful baby girl whom she named…Therese.
 
My confirmation name was Faustina. 🙂

I was looking for a Patron Saint/Confirmation name when I read about Divine Mercy and the Holy Souls Devotion. This was something I really felt passionate about and I picked up a Holy Souls devotional prayer book and Holy Souls Rosary beads. On my special black and white rosary beads there was a medal of St Faustina, and I read a bit about her in the prayer book.

As a sign for my devotion to the Holy Souls I chose her as my patron.

Going to read her diary soon. I keep meaning to but I have 2 weeks holiday coming up. 😃
 
My confirmation name is Jose Maria . Father Jose Maria Robles Hurtado was a Mexican priest who died a martyr during the Cristero War.The way he died made me cry since he put the noose around his own neck because he didn’t want his persecutors to sin.
 
Mine is Dymphna. My sisters are autistic, so it seemed logical…but had I known that someone could choose a name of someone of the opposite sex, I would have chosen Francis. All my life I have been surrounded by Franciscans and have loved St. Francis for as long as I can remember. 🙂 By I love St. Dymphna as well, so it’s great.
 
Mine is Aquinas (In honor of the great St. Thomas Aquinas) I share the same love for writing, and deep thinking like him :cool:
 
I was 43 before I even heard of the practice – not something we did in our diocese, even before Vat. II. I’m already Marie for our Blessed Mother.
 
Johannes (John in English), after one of the many vietnamese martyrs. I also had John The Baptist in mind when i took the name.
 
Phemie said:
I was 43 before I even heard of the practice – not something we did in our diocese, even before Vat. II. I’m already Marie for our Blessed Mother.
Click to expand...
And as I illustrated here, it’s not (as people sometimes think) that the practice of taking a confirmation name was once taught by the Church and universal but in modern times fell out of favor in some places.
 
Maximilian after St. Maximilian Kolbe.

I remember thinking of saints and I was set on my confirmation name being Francis after St. Francis de Sales (patron saint of writers and I like writing). One day I was at a Catholic bookstore and in the kids section there is a series of books on saints. The one for Maximilian Kolbe was called Mary’s Knight. Since I have a devotion to the Blessed Mother I got the book and read a little about his devotion to Mary. Then when I found out he died in Auschwitz I said, “OK, he’s gonna be my confirmation saint.” So I went to my teacher and changed from Francis to Maximilian.

I originally wanted John Paul after our late Pope, but I was confirmed in 2007, so I couldn’t. Though my cousin’s confirmation name is John Paul. Both John and Paul are saints. Loophole I never thought of. Oh well. I love my confirmation name though.
 
These are great posts and great reading.

Mine is the great doctor and saint Augustine. His struggle with concupiscence was my struggle. I’ll just leave it at that. God freed me from this type of sin through the sacrament of confession.

When I read The Confession of St. Augustine, I knew he had been interceeding on my behalf all along and that he was my man. 👍 He also used reason and intellect to understand that Christianity made the most sense whereas other religions didn’t make logical sense. He then let the Holy Spirit take him where reason and intellect fell short. That was me too.

I hope to meet him some day. 😃

-Tim-
 
MissRose73 said:
Do you have a confirmation name, if so and if you wish, please share it and why you chose it?

If not, why did you not pick one, and if you could have chosen one, who would you have chosen and why?
Click to expand...
I don’t have one. I was confirmed an infant. Also its not a tradition from where I come from, I’ve never really heard of confirmation names until I came to Canada and joined CAF (about the same time hearing it here and from someone I know at the parish I attend, including the priest).
 
My confirmation name is Margaret, Saint and Queen of Scotland. She was key in unifying the Scottish catholic church to the Roman Catholic church, simply put. She was notably generous to the poor and needy. She is also my ancestor, my 27th greatgrandmother.

I converted to catholicism in 2001, and having always liked the name Margaret, I chose her. I’ve visited Scotland several times, but never to Edinburgh, where she lived and worshipped.
 
Prod_Daughter said:
Mine is Dymphna. My sisters are autistic, so it seemed logical…but had I known that someone could choose a name of someone of the opposite sex, I would have chosen Francis. All my life I have been surrounded by Franciscans and have loved St. Francis for as long as I can remember. 🙂 By I love St. Dymphna as well, so it’s great.
Click to expand...
You know, I tried to choose Francis, but was told I couldn’t choose the name of a saint of the opposite sex. This all happened very last minute and I ended up getting “assigned” the confirmation name Alexandria after the martyrs of Alexandria. Since what was assigned to me had no special significance for me (and because it’s not a single person/saint to read about and learn about), I never had any great attachment to my confirmation name.

Recently, I’ve taken a liking to St. Joseph and ask him to pray for me nightly. Mainly because I started asking for his intervention in my greatest hour of need (unemployed, forced to sell the house, and then later needed to find a new home) and my prayers were answered. So now that things are better for me, I say prayers of thanks for his interceding for me in the past. Plus, my own father died years ago so it’s kind of a way to talk to a father figure. I keep the St. Joseph medal with me at all times.
 
I didn’t know it when I chose my confirmation name, but both my father and myself share the confirmation name Joseph.
 
I was surprised to see two other Bernadette’s in such a short time. It was a long time ago, but I was confirmed in the 5th grade, I believe, and it was shortly after my little sister was borned and my mom gave her the name, Mary Bernadette. That was what I most remember the most but I think that I was also enfluenced by having seen the movie, “Song of Bernadette.” I think that I identified with her in some ways, coming from a poor family and being an average student not feeling particularly smart. Bernadette was an example of God lifting up the lowly, He takes the weak and makes them strong and so on. She was an example of hope for me.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top