How do you get (a) patron saint(s)?

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MattofTexas

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I was curious how Catholics come under a saint’s patronage? From what I understand you’re automatically under the patronage of the saints you’re named after (if you are named after saints, for me this would be St. Matthew), the patron of your vocation (if there is one, for me this is St. Genesius of Rome), the patron of your parish (St. Thomas the Apostle), and what ever saint(s) you’re confirmed with (can it be more than one? I feel an attraction to both St. Francis of Assisi and St. Ignatius of Loyola). How do you get patron saints and what do you believe they do?

Thanks and Blessings,
 
MattofTexas said:
I was curious how Catholics come under a saint’s patronage? From what I understand you’re automatically under the patronage of the saints you’re named after (if you are named after saints, for me this would be St. Matthew), the patron of your vocation (if there is one, for me this is St. Genesius of Rome), the patron of your parish (St. Thomas the Apostle), and what ever saint(s) you’re confirmed with (can it be more than one? I feel an attraction to both St. Francis of Assisi and St. Ignatius of Loyola). How do you get patron saints and what do you believe they do?

Thanks and Blessings,
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Hello,
I’m open to correction here. It’s how it strikes me.
When we come in to this world we don’t know anything. We don’t choose our own name, our parents do. What name would we choose and why?
When I was a little boy I had a picture given to me. I know I didn’t understand the picture. It was a picture of a bully to me. I felt sympathy for the poor creature on the receiving end. I didn’t like the picture. Then my mother explained it to me. St. Michael and the devil. That was the name I chose as my Confirmation name. Lucifer. No. Only kidding. I chose St. Michael. Good to have on your side I think.

God bless you.
 
For me, I have 5 favorites: John, Benedict, Germaine, Don Bosco and Clare - all of whom I’ve chosen to be my patrons besides the Blessed Virgin. The patron saint - believer relationship I believe is a very special one as when you have loved a saint enough, the Heart of Jesus (according to Saint Gemma Galgani) allows those saint(s) to protect you (I believe they do this the same way a guardian angel does, by inflaming your soul towards good), pray for you for your advancement towards virtue and should you fall away from the faith, by interceding to God on your behalf. The Blessed Virgin Mary is very powerful in this regard as no one can match her love or gratitude. She feels tremendous gratitude for even small favors, as in the case of one king she saved from Gehenna in return for simply wearing a rosary belt (unfortunately I have forgotten the name of this very fortunate soul).

In my case, to gain their patronage, I simply one day professed my love for them. I told them that my love and loyalty for them would be undying and that they would always hold the top 5 places in my heart as regards saints (with exception, once again, to the Blessed Virgin). In regards John, Germaine and Clare I have even received “returns”, as it were, in the form of a spiritual rose from John and in Germaine’s case by her spending time with me once (which I appreciate deeply - thank you Germaine). I also feel a peculiar attraction to St. Ignatius, my dear best friend’s patron. If you want certain saints to be your patrons, I would advise you to do the same. Pick a holy day, and on that day woo them. Promise them (IMPORTANT - Saints are honored people. You need to mean what you say with them) your love and/or special devotions. When they accept (and they ALWAYS accept) from then on you will hold a very special place in their hearts, as special as one a father feels towards a weak, powerless child. Make sure your adoration of them don’t grow slack, or they will grow lonely. I wish you the best of luck, and if you do end up picking Ignatius of Loyola, do tell me - I will pray to him for you. 😉
 
My patron is the Blessed Mother. I admire her life and she is the perfect mom and woman.
When Mother Teresa is made a saint, I will also ask for her intervention, as I think she is one of the holiest person in my opinion, and feel blessed to have been alive at the time she was serving the poor and children of calcutta.
I think a patron speaks to your heart, and that’s how you choose.
 
I actually chose mine (or mine chose me, I sometimes think) because every time I researched and read about different saints, her name kept coming up. Whether it was difficult marriage, mother, teacher, etc,. If that weren’t enough, it seemed every time I was at Mass I would hear this name, or see a room named after this saint. It began to feel as if God was shouting at me and banging me over the head at the same time!

My chosen saint for Easter Vigil is St. Rita of Cascia. I am soon to cross the Tiber along with my sixteen year old son.

God bless,
oneseeker2
 
You do have one whom your parents chose for you, St Matthew.
His gospel is a great inspiration, including the beatitudes, in Matthew 5.
If you have a second name that is also a saint’s name, that person is also your patron, as is your Confirmation saint…but if you wish to choose another, then you find one who inspires you.
May God bless you 🙂
 
MattofTexas said:
I was curious how Catholics come under a saint’s patronage? From what I understand you’re automatically under the patronage of the saints you’re named after (if you are named after saints, for me this would be St. Matthew), the patron of your vocation (if there is one, for me this is St. Genesius of Rome), the patron of your parish (St. Thomas the Apostle), and what ever saint(s) you’re confirmed with (can it be more than one? I feel an attraction to both St. Francis of Assisi and St. Ignatius of Loyola). How do you get patron saints and what do you believe they do?

Thanks and Blessings,
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All of what you said is true and correct, to my understanding and also:
When I was in grade school the Sisters advised us to read about different Saints, and to pick a name for our Confirmation of someone we could relate to or whose life we wanted to model.
I am not sure if you could pick more than one or not.🤷
I believe they pray for us, with us and encourage us when we ask their intercession.
 
I have several for different reasons. For example, St. Paul (my name), St. Francis of Assisi (my confirmation name), St. Florian (my profession), St. Pio (I’m a spiritual child), to name a few. The Blessed Mother comes before them all. She leads me to Jesus. 🙂
 
CatholicFireman said:
I have several for different reasons. For example, St. Paul (my name), St. Francis of Assisi (my confirmation name), St. Florian (my profession), St. Pio (I’m a spiritual child), to name a few. The Blessed Mother comes before them all. She leads me to Jesus. 🙂
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👍

I think they were asking if we could pick more than one Saints name as our confirmation name, that is what I don’t know. I do agree that we can have several different Patron Saints for different reasons.
Isn’t St. Michael the ArchAngel the Patron Saint of firemen?? (I think he is, do you know?)
 
As a convert I, too, simply chose mine.

I was once praying with some Catholic friends when they asked if I had a patron saint. Well, I had never even thought of such a thing, especially as I’ve never heard of a ‘Saint Reginald’ (other than my humble self.;))

Well, I’m a father and I am a worker. So I chose Saint Joseph. (He now has the job of helping me find more suitable employment!)
In recent years I have also taken St. André of Montreal as a patron once I heard his story.
  • Reg.
 
allhers said:
👍

I think they were asking if we could pick more than one Saints name as our confirmation name, that is what I don’t know. I do agree that we can have several different Patron Saints for different reasons.
Isn’t St. Michael the ArchAngel the Patron Saint of firemen?? (I think he is, do you know?)
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St. Michael is the patron of police officers and EMTs(so I guess I’m included for the latter 😉 ) saints.sqpn.com/michael-the-archangel/ There are several for firefighters and against fire.

Oh I misunderstood the question. I really don’t know. I guess the OP can ask an apologist.
 
Well, I wasn’t born Catholic, but I stil ended up with a decent name. While I haven’t found any St. Christine’s, there are a few St. Christina’s. And I know of five St. Elizabeth’s. But only one has her “feast” day in the month I was born, and there’s a 13 day difference!! Oh, and I was born the day after the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
 
I’m not sure if there’s any set way of doing this. For me, at confirmation, we were asked to choose a patron. I chose St. Francis of Assisi because he liked animals. (I was 12 or 13 at confirmation.)

I have considered several my patrons, anyway those I regularly ask for help such as St. Anthony (finding stuff), St. Jude (difficult cases), St. Joseph (the workman-I have a blessed medal of his in my work area) for example.

I’ve primarily have considered St. Francis my patron due to my confirmation and adding his name to mine. This was in my cradle Catholic life.

Now, in my reversion, I’m a strong devotee to St. Philomena. This came about in a surprising way to me. I visited a shrine of hers last year which is the first I ever heard of her. I read about her, her powerful miracles and intercessions, and asked for her prayers there. Gradually but not long, she began answering my prayers, even if you’ll permit me to be a bit mystical here, manifesting herself to me. A few months after the shrine visit, I was reading about her and she “showed up”. I couldn’t see her with my physical eyes but her presence was so real it was incredible.

Since then, she’s become my primary intercessor and my patroness as deeply (if not more) than St. Francis. I never knew it was even possible to have such a real relationship with a saint until I met her. With St. Philomena, it’s more SHE chose me!

So, I consider St. Francis and St. Philomena my main patrons each from both of my Catholic “lives”.

I also noticed the difference between a saint for me like St. Philomena and others whom I’ve also read about and even thought would become my patrons, yet none have been as real to me as she has. I think maybe God matches us with particular saints.

Don’t know if any of this helps others, but that’s my patron story!

Thanks,
HA
 
I don’t think there is a set way. We have patron saints, some of which we have a stronger devotion to. I develop devotions to saints who I become drawn to because of my circumstances at the time.

It’s a wonderful thing. 🙂
 
CatholicFireman said:
I don’t think there is a set way. We have patron saints, some of which we have a stronger devotion to. I develop devotions to saints who I become drawn to because of my circumstances at the time.

It’s a wonderful thing. 🙂
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that’s a good summary of what I was trying to say too!

Blessings,
HA
 
CatholicFireman said:
I don’t think there is a set way. We have patron saints, some of which we have a stronger devotion to. I develop devotions to saints who I become drawn to because of my circumstances at the time.

It’s a wonderful thing. 🙂
Click to expand...
I know we’re all part of the same Body of Christ, but many times I feel overjoyed at having a heavenly family to pray with and for me.:)🙂
 
oneseeker2 said:
I actually chose mine (or mine chose me, I sometimes think)
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I say the same thing about mine 😃 when I was really young and before I knew what catholicism really was. I kept running across the story of St. Francis and his story made its way back into my life at different points and for different reasons so it was kind of a no brainer when I was confirmed.
 
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