My Patron Saint?

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lilyoflight

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Hello everyone~ šŸ˜› Well, Iā€™ll be having my confirmation on May 1st this year but before that happens, my class has come to a point where we need our patron saint chosen. My initial thought was St. Bernadette since I attend Our Lady of Lourdes, but Iā€™m just not sure if itā€™s my calling. I feel as if I need some direction to help me choose my patron saint but I donā€™t know where to start. šŸ¤·

Iā€™m a sixteen-year-old girl, my first name meaning ā€œLightā€ and my middle ā€œLilyā€, devoted to my school studies and my closest family and friends. Iā€™m particularly strong in writing and in technological areas as well as drawing and photography. My music tastes are quite wide and I love everything from pop to classical to religious types. As far as being a social butterfly, Iā€™m really more on the shy side and keep to myself or to a select few people. My favorite era in time is actually the Victorian Age in London but I do adore our present time with all of our medical improvements and ways of communication from vast distances. Family is the world to me and I canā€™t imagine life without them supporting me. I love gardening, specifically planting flowers and trees, during the spring and summer time and also enjoy collecting tea cups. Iā€™m not perfect, as to be expected, and I do falter with tendencies to be jealous and, unfortunately, sensitive. When I grow up I want to be a computer engineer as well as a wedding planner at some point in my life.

Soā€¦any suggestions? :heaven:
 
Good morning Lily of Light!

Congratulations on your upcoming Confirmation. I am a Confirmation catechist and my own daughter will be confirmed this spring as well. She is the 4th of my 6 children to be confirmed so far. One of our favorite activities as always been selecting a patron saint. Each of my four children have approached the project in a different way. My two oldest selected their patron saints because their grandfatherā€™s had the same name (Raymond and James). Neither of them really cared much about what the saint did in his life, they just wanted to honor their grands by choosing their name. That is fine. St. Raymond and St. James were both fine men - as are all the saints - that is why they are saints! They both have medals and cards with their saints on them. My 3rd daughter selectes St. Veronica who wiped the face of Jesus along the Way of the Cross because a parishioner came to her after Mass and said, ā€œI just know you will chose St. Veronica as your patron saint when you are confirmed.ā€ My daughter was about 10 at the time and a regular altar server. She felt like she couldnā€™t chose anything else!

My 4th daughter recently selected St. Clare. Clare is a name I wanted to give each of my daughters at birth but their father doesnā€™t care for it. Clare was the name of one of my childhood friends. When I read the story of how St. Clare defended her monastary from invaders by holding aloft the Most Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance, my daughter and I were very impressed.

I like to go online to the Catholic Encyclopedia and read about our Saints. One I really admire is St. Anne Catherine Emmerich. I read her book *The Blessed Virgin Mary *and it was life changing. She also wrote the book *The Passion of the Christ *from which Mel Gibson got much of the information for his motion picture of the same name.

My patron Saint is St. Therese of Liseaux. Her *Little Way *is such a beautiful book and her life is inspiring. When I was in the 4th grade and ready to be confirmed, I was so impressed with the fact that sometimes when she was praying for people and had obtained a miracle for them from Jesus, she would send them roses or the smell of roses. I thought it was important to have signs back then.

I think it is a good idea to pray for guidance about which saint God has chosen to be your patron. Perhaps He wants you to hear about many of his beloved saints first.

Blessings,
Jennifer
 
I think the best thing to do is look for a saint who you admire. I chose mine by looking through this list of female saints catholic.org/saints/female.php - I eventually chose Saint Emiliana.
Though a close contendor was Saint Emerentiana, a martyr and foster sister of the martyr Saint Agnes.
Another favourite of mine is Saint Maria Goretti, a young girl who was murdered but forgave her murderer and said she wanted him to join her in heaven (he later saw a vision of her and repented, attending her canonization with her mother).
I also almost chose Mary Magdalene, the sinner who repented and followed the Lord devotedly.
There are just too many amazing saints to choose from!

You could see if there is a saintā€™s feast day on your birthday and use that. For example, my birthday is the feast day for Saint Louise.
Or see if there is a patron saint for your city or country.
You say you like gardening, perhaps Saint Rose of Lima, the patron saint of gardeners?

If you want to look at more patron saints, theyā€™re listed here alphabetically by their patronage catholic.org/saints/patron.php?

I hope these suggestions help. God Bless you
 
Sheā€™s unfortunately somewhat obscure nowadays, but have you looked into Bl. Hildegard von Bingen? She was a medieval polymath and visionary who described God in her visions as the ā€œLiving Lightā€ that was a constant presence in her life. Hildegard was also a strong writerā€“the number of treatises she wrote would have been unusual for a man in her age, let alone a woman. She also kept a steady correspondence with kings, popes, and emperors. We still have most of her works today, including her letters. Like you, Hildegard was fascinated by music and wrote a great deal herself. You can listen to her hymns, still in use today, online. She was also very interested in the natural world, especially plants, and in medicine. Her theological treatises emphasize the beauty and God-given benefits of the natural world and one of her more famous works is a medical treatise called Physica. She was also a great defender of the Church against the rising Cathar heresy that threatened the Christian world. In many ways, her interests seem to align with yours and you might find her a good heavenly friend to identify with. You do need to be careful when researching her, though, because her legacy has been distorted in certain circles. Hildegard herself is perfectly orthodox and was highly respected in her time; however, there are some today who want to ignore her orthodoxy and focus only on her affirmations of nature.
 
I forgot to mention that many of Hildegardā€™s visions as described in her theological works are accompanied by miniatures. These miniatures are believed by many scholars, though not all (it canā€™t be definitively proven), to have been painted by Hildegard herself, which would add art to her list of talents.
 
You donā€™t have to just pick from female Saints!

I donā€™t have to pick a patron Saint - its optional, but I am considering St. Christopher. My mum had a bad accident and was wearing one of the necklaces at the time, and she seems to think he protected her - even though sheā€™s not a devout Christian or Catholic. At the time she was a practising Methodist.

Anyway, my mother moved far from home, and so did my dad. And now Iā€™ve moved far from home. Both of my parents travel great distances regularly, and I travel for journeys that take longer than an hour on an almost daily basis.

So Iā€™m considoring asking if St. Christopher, the patron saint of travellers can be my patron. I love travelling - I love being on a bus, train, boat, car - I find it so relaxing. I love moving to new places - when I went to university I just - not joking - picked a random place on a map, without even visiting it. I plan to move to Australia once I have the money, never been there either - just like journeying into the unknown, even if I do find it stressful at times because I get lost easily. šŸ™‚

Also, I have travelled on the route to being a Catholic. šŸ˜‰

My name is not a Christian name, so I am considering asking to be baptised Christina/Christopher.

So donā€™t think in terms of hobbies/occupation/gender - but an aspect of your life which seems to cover your past, present and future. šŸ™‚
 
CatholicFireman said:
LOL. Silly girlā€¦thatā€™s the Holy Spirit working through you!
Click to expand...
:eek::D:thumbsup:šŸ˜Š

Thatā€™s all of my emotions mashed up together that I experienced on that realisation - I had a sneaky feeling that sometimes the Holy Spirit works through me, but I never thought it was possible because Iā€™m constantly guilty of sins and Iā€™m unbaptised. šŸ˜¦

Anyway, I forgot to wish the OP good luck on finding a patron Saint! The process for me was obvious, but you will know when you have the right one. šŸ™‚
 
Iā€™m getting confirmed this Easter also, Iā€™m really excited. I came into the Church discerning my Priesthood, Iā€™ve been called for years into the catholic faith and the Priesthood, I just have been to scared to take it until now.

Iā€™m a senior in college and for my Patron Saint I was going to do something that pertains a lot to me based on my skills and loves but I was just completely drawn to St. John Vianney. I donā€™t know why, I just am, I hear his sermons or I read his biography and he just gets me.

I want to preach with the fire of the Spirit that St. Vianney gives in his sermons, my friends already tell me Iā€™m a powerful preacher and that my sermons shake their soul. They say they hear a fire in my voice that just hits down to the soul and makes them actually rethink their life and relationship with God, it makes them draw closer to him. Which is awesome to me that I can affect peopleā€™s lives positively through Christ.

I would say go into prayer and truly listen. Ask God to give you a guide, show you a brother and sister that will help you in this life, to be a good example. They are all AMAZING examples of ways to live, but who knows there maybe that specific saint that you are drawn to.

St John Vianney and I, have a lot of similarities and its truly amazing. We both have a strong love for God, were in the Army and Medically Dismissed, and both of us have faced struggles in our lives that we have overcome through the power of Christ. Stay in prayer always and who knows God may give you some ideas. =)

God Bless.
 
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