Parishes with a Blessed as a Patron

Status
Not open for further replies.

SMHW

New member
Who belongs to a parish with a Patron who is beatified but not yet canonized? Or perhaps the Patron is now canonized but wasn’t when you became a member.

Our parish is now Saint Junipero Serra but for most of its existence was Blessed Junipero Serra.
 
Last edited:
It’s possible that naming a church after a Beati might be allowed in the specific diocese or region where the Beati was living and working, or perhaps if the church is associated with the specific religious order to which the Beati belonged.

I see there’s a “Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos” church in New Orleans, for example.

https://seeloschurchno.org/
 
Last edited:
I never did, but a new parish in our Archdiocese was named Blessed St Teresa of Calcutta until she was canonized.
 
Last edited:
There is a statue of him in the St. John Neumann shrine in Philadelphia. That’s how I learned about him.

Also there is a feast day for him on the US calendar. When my priest from Ohio came to his feast day in the calendar, he said from the pulpit, “I’ll admit I don’t know anything about Fr. Seelos” and I had to restrain myself from jumping up and saying “I do!” (it was a small Mass for a pilgrimage group). It would be nice if he were a saint. We need more American saints.
 
The Personal Ordinariate of Walsingham as a whole is under the patronage of Blessed John Henry Newman.
 
The Newman Center at UT-Knoxville was “John XXIII” for the entirety of its life. They had a multi-purpose room where Sunday and funeral Masses were said. Then had the smaller chapel for daily Mass and reservation of the Blessed Sacrament.

When the pope in question was canonized, the center became St. John XXIII. My FIL’s obit flub was actually prophetic. The copy editor put in “St John’s the 23rd” or something similar. They were going to have a memorial Mass for him.

St. Vincent de Paul told his Daughters of Charity that it was ok to pray to someone uncanonized in private, but to wait for the church’s word where public veneration was concerned. I’ve always been a little stumped where naming this particular Newman Center was concerned. As an aside, both of my boys were baptized there.

Blessings,
Mrs Cloisters OP
Lay Dominican
http://cloisters.tripod.com/
http://cloisters.tripod.com/charity/
 
What is the rule on naming churches? Obviously they can be named after (put under the patronage of) beati, canonized saints (including Mary), and God, including incidents in Christ’s life. There are churches named for The Blessed Trinity, and for Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, but I have never heard of one named specifically after God the Father. Why not?

If naming a church means putting it under their patronage, that would seem to rule out living persons, or those who are considered “only” Venerable at this time, or deceased persons not yet identified as Venerable.

I would guess that the rules for naming parishes, and dioceses, are stricter, since you are also choosing a patron. There are chapels, shrines, etc that might not be under the same rules, if they do not necessarily have a patron if they are not a parish.
 
What is the rule on naming churches? Obviously they can be named after (put under the patronage of) beati, canonized saints (including Mary), and God, including incidents in Christ’s life. There are churches named for The Blessed Trinity, and for Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, but I have never heard of one named specifically after God the Father. Why not?
Canon law covers this:
http://www.ourladyontheriver.net/TogetherInFaith/Merger Renaming Rules.pdf

(I’m so glad canon law doesn’t recognize the words “Catholic Community”. If St. Bartholomew’s is essentially a parish or a church, call it “parish” or “church”. No need to use fluffy “community” language.)
 
Last edited:
The answers seem to reflect the fact that certain ancient heresies made this imprudent, due to confusion. OK, but there were other heresies that would also open the door to confusion, about naming for Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Mary and the saints. But those names are considered prudent?
 
I didn’t get a clear sense from the answers given. Maybe one of the canon lawyers or priests on here can shed more light.

If it’s anti-Trinity to name a church after God the Father, I would think it also anti-Trinity to name the Church after one of the other two persons of the Trinity.
 
Bl. Stanley Rother was just beatified this last year, and there’s already a Church named after him in Decatur, AR.
 
Any Parish named for the Blessed Trinity is implicitly also named for the Father, seeing as the whole Godhead flows forth from the Father, the Son eternally begotten of the Father and the Spirit eternally proceeding from the Father.
 
No mention as to naming parishes for God the Father. Why?
I think the main reasons as to why you don’t see Churches named just after “God the Father” comes to us from Jewish tradition.

Historically, we typically view the Jewish God as God the Father. Jews do not write or speak the Name of God. To do so, would be consider blaspheme for them.

So my guess, is that the tradition of not naming Church buildings directly after God the Father came from that tradition.
 
True. and besides, there’s a Holy Trinity parish in every Diocese it seems anyway.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top