Confirmation Saints

[CutlerB]

On Saturday, 23 November, the Feast of Christ the King, I will formally be received into full communion with Holy Church. During the Mass, I will be reading the Creed and affirming faith and acceptance of all magisterial teaching. After that, I will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation and First Holy Communion.

I asked Father about Confirmation Saints, since I had heard about this practice, and he said that if I wanted, I could choose someone to be my Confirmation Saint. I have a few questions concerning that:

1. 
   *]Can one choose more than one Confirmation Saint?
   *]Are there (preferably online) resources to help one learn about saints? Since there are so many, I find it rather cumbersome and unproductive to read bios at random. A more organised format would really help.
   
   Hope you can help me with this.

 

[smichhertz]

Hi CutlerB,

Congratulations! Exciting times for you, to be sure.

This is a good site that has a database of saints for you to look at: catholic.org/saints/

You can only choose one saint to be your confirmation saint. It’s a big decision, so I’d recommend giving it some careful thought. Pick a saint that you’re DRAWN to. Not just any saint.

Best of luck!

 

[Avila123]

Sorry I can’t really come up with what you ask. There are so many Saints (thank God), so a good starting point may be to think about what inspires or appeals to you and then pray.

When I was confirmed approximately 6 years ago, I thought long and hard and prayed. I was trying to find a female saint but the name St Nicholas came to mind (probably because I didn’t know that many saints and I love Christmas). After reading up on him, I felt drawn to his open giving and wanted to be inspired to always remember to give. I know my signature block has a different Saint’s name, but that is because after confirmation, I started to learn from other Saints, but St Nicholas stays close to my heart.

May God bless and guide you.

 

[JamesTheJust]

On Saturday, 23 November, the Feast of Christ the King, I will formally be received into full communion with Holy Church. During the Mass, I will be reading the Creed and affirming faith and acceptance of all magisterial teaching. After that, I will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation and First Holy Communion.

I asked Father about Confirmation Saints, since I had heard about this practice, and he said that if I wanted, I could choose someone to be my Confirmation Saint. I have a few questions concerning that:

1. 
   *]Can one choose more than one Confirmation Saint?
   *]Are there (preferably online) resources to help one learn about saints? Since there are so many, I find it rather cumbersome and unproductive to read bios at random. A more organised format would really help.
   
   Hope you can help me with this.

1. 
   Congratulations! I am so happy you have chosen to join the Church!:dancing::extrahappy::bounce::clapping:
   
   One can only pick a single saint to be their patron. Remember: this is the guy who will be your “inside guy” in the Heavenly Court, and who will be your friend and advocate (under Christ, of course) before the Almighty Father. It’s important to choose someone to whom you really connect, and one whom you really admire and wish to imitate. I sadly made the mistake of lazily choosing a saint at the last minute (this is before I became on fire for the faith), and I later discovered a Saint whom I admired more (St James the Just). However, my patron and I are building our relationship, and I have started wearing his medal.
   
   But enough about me. Some great sites that really helped me out are:
   catholic.org/saints/
   americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/byname.aspx
   catholic-saints.info
   saints.sqpn.com
   
   Again, congratulations! I will pray for you.

 

[Casilda]

An elder lady suggested to me that I should look into the saint whose name I already have, that this saint has already been praying for me my whole life. Other suggestions were to look at my baptismal day, or birthday for saints celebrated on that day.

 

[KEP1983]

However, my patron and I are building our relationship, and I have started wearing his medal.

What is wearing medals all about? I would like to wear a medal of my patron saint, but I don’t really know what that means or does. (Also, my patron saint probably isn’t all that widely venerated)

 

[CutlerB]

An elder lady suggested to me that I should look into the saint whose name I already have, that this saint has already been praying for me my whole life. Other suggestions were to look at my baptismal day, or birthday for saints celebrated on that day.

For me that would be Philip I checked out Saint Philip Neri, but somehow…

I was baptised on 10 April, perhaps I’ll find a saint I can relate to of that day.

Hi CutlerB,

Congratulations! Exciting times for you, to be sure.

This is a good site that has a database of saints for you to look at: catholic.org/saints/

You can only choose one saint to be your confirmation saint. It’s a big decision, so I’d recommend giving it some careful thought. Pick a saint that you’re DRAWN to. Not just any saint.

Best of luck!

Thank you!

Really, there are quite a few Saints I find interesting… I’d need to do more reading, but two of them would be Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman (for obvious reasons!) and Blessed Charles of Austria.

 

[JamesTheJust]

What is wearing medals all about? I would like to wear a medal of my patron saint, but I don’t really know what that means or does. (Also, my patron saint probably isn’t all that widely venerated)

catholiccompany.com/patron-saint-medals-c325/
patronsaintmedals.com
catholicsaintmedals.com
The above links have the biggest selections of medals I can find. Who’s your patron? I’d be willing to bet they have him/her. If not, you can always get a generic patron medal.

To my knowledge, medals are commonly used as devotional signs and tools. It’s similar to carrying a picture of one’s family in one’s wallet. It reminds one of the mutual love and connection one has with one’s patron. Mine has been great for when I feel that I should say a prayer, but I don’t know what to say or I don’t have time. I’ll be reminded that I have a friend who can pray better than I ever could, so I’ll just touch my medal and say, “St Peter, pray for me.” For more information, Catholic Encyclopedia has a great entry on medals, found here:
newadvent.org/cathen/10111b.htm

 

[Chatter163]

For me that would be Philip I checked out Saint Philip Neri, but somehow…

I was baptised on 10 April, perhaps I’ll find a saint I can relate to of that day.

Thank you!

Really, there are quite a few Saints I find interesting… I’d need to do more reading, but two of them would be Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman (for obvious reasons!) and Blessed Charles of Austria.

Some relics of Blessed Karl of Austria just made a tour of the Northeastern US, and there was a conference about him as part of that.

 

[edward_george]

In response to those who say that you can’t choose two confirmation saints, I don’t see why you couldn’t. John Paul I and II chose two regnal names as Pope, right? I was never told I couldn’t have a dual Confirmation name and that’s what I did–Edward George was the name under which I was confirmed. The choice of a Confirmation saint is an old custom but it’s not even required; some people are simply addressed by the bishop/priest doing the Confirming by their given name. There was additionally a tradition at some point of which I’m aware of choosing one saint at Baptism and one at Confirmation, such that one had two patron saints. So I don’t see why anything prevents it–there’s no legislation as such about it, and it remains a pious tradition. Choose two saints if you deem that two are appropriate for you.

-ACEGC

 

[ccmcmg]

I’ve talked at length in previous posts about choosing my confirmation saint (St. Dymphna) (well, I thought I chose her…)

Anyway, as far as having one confirmation saint, I know that is the tradition, but there is nothing to stop you from having other saints that you feel close to, and pray with.

Pray, and you’ll not be led astray. Even if the answer might seem ‘crazy’, (no pun intended St. Dymphna!!), trust in the Lord and you’ll make the right decision.

Welcome Home!

 

[CutlerB]

I have been reading through some biographies in my spare time (which is rather short at the moment) and come across a few Saints that intrigue me. Perhaps someone here knows more about them, or even has them as their patron, which might be of interest or help to me? That would be really great.

The Saints that particularly caught my attention are:

• Saint Francis de Sales
• Saint Cajetan
• Saint Edward the Confessor

Some others that I liked, but that I didn’t connect with as well as those above:

• Saint Michael de Sanctis
• Pope Saint Celestine
• Saint Paul of the Cross

 

[Mintaka]

St. Francis de Sales was a great evangelist (or re-evangelist) of Calvinist France and Switzerland. He was fearless and cheerful, and nearly always felt the presence of God. (This is historically unusual among saints, but his evangelization task was very difficult and he probably needed it.) He got beat up a fair amount while evangelizing, but he kept going anyway. His books were many and darned good, he helped St. Jane Frances de Chantal found a religious order and conquer her temper, and he was a good bishop too. Probably his most popular book is Introduction to the Devout Life, a sort of advice book combined with a daily spiritual retreat prayer guide. It’s very good for normal people living in the world and trying to draw closer to God.

St. Cajetan (aka St Gaetano) and his Theatine Order did a lot of cool stuff. I don’t know as much about him as I’d like. Anybody?

St. Edward the Confessor was an interesting guy, as he wasn’t super-great as a king but was very well-beloved (for a very long time) as a saint. The royals of the various Saxon kingdoms of England had plenty of saints and saintly relatives among them, and he was the last in that long tradition. Again, I don’t know a huge amount about him, but of course he comes into the history of the time just before the Norman invasion of England.

 

[CutlerB]

Saint Charles Borromeo, Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Louis de Montfort are further ones I am interested in.

 

[LouiseHine]

In response to those who say that you can’t choose two confirmation saints, I don’t see why you couldn’t. John Paul I and II chose two regnal names as Pope, right? I was never told I couldn’t have a dual Confirmation name and that’s what I did–Edward George was the name under which I was confirmed. The choice of a Confirmation saint is an old custom but it’s not even required; some people are simply addressed by the bishop/priest doing the Confirming by their given name. There was additionally a tradition at some point of which I’m aware of choosing one saint at Baptism and one at Confirmation, such that one had two patron saints. So I don’t see why anything prevents it–there’s no legislation as such about it, and it remains a pious tradition. Choose two saints if you deem that two are appropriate for you.

-ACEGC

I’m so so SO pleased I saw this post… it answers a huge question for me. I’m due to be confirmed on 22.12.13 and I want to hyphenate two saints names as my confirmation name. Thank you so much for posting this. It has really helped me.

Louise