Patron Saint vs. Confirmation Saint

[Fauken]

Hey everyone!

Is there a real difference between these two? Can you have a Patron Saint and a Confirmation Saint? Or are they one and the same? For those of you who chose a Patron Saint after Confirmation (and assuming they’re different), why did you pick one? Obviously the more Saints the merrier, but I am curious.

 

[sirach2v4]

I’m probably wrong, but I thought “patron saints” were widely recognized for certain types of intercessions by many people. So, maybe there’s a patron saint for priests, for ALL priests.
So, all priests invoke the intercession of St. John of Vianney,

But, a saint invoked at the time of one’s sacramental confirmation is a personal choice, for any number of personal reasons. So, here, maybe someone chooses a personal saint for intercession like st. Colomba, as one’s personal patron.

They’re two different things.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

Hey everyone!

Is there a real difference between these two? Can you have a Patron Saint and a Confirmation Saint? Or are they one and the same? For those of you who chose a Patron Saint after Confirmation (and assuming they’re different), why did you pick one? Obviously the more Saints the merrier, but I am curious.

Your confirmation saint is the saint whose name you received from the Bishop at the time he confirmed you. It is, therefore, part of your name and part of your identity. Hopefully you chose well! I never use my confirmation name but my confirmation patron saint’s name is very much my own, even if never used, and there is a profound affinity between he and I across all these years. I celebrate his feast day in a special way…and so forth.

I remember spending many months in discernment. Oddly enough, it is so long ago now, however, I can’t tell you who the other saints were that I was considering.

On the other hand, I place different aspects of my life under the patronage of a saint. The patroness of my priesthood for example is, actually, a female saint who had a great love for priests. I don’t have…nor would I assume…her name as is the case with my confirmation patron.

Yes, you could have more than one personal patron saint…and that is at your choice. The opportunities to formally receive the name of a saint, however, are relatively limited…baptism, confirmation, and religious life – although many third orders secular (and some monasteries with regard to their secular oblates) will allow the option of adopting the name of a saint or blessed, based on the model that Religious do this. The use of the name, however, is usually discreet and limited.

 

[Usige]

I must be one of those oddities in that I did not take a new name at confirmation. We were encouraged to be confirmed under our baptismal name to maintain the linkage between the dual sacraments.

That being said I do have two saints who I feel affinity too and semi-regularly ask to intercede on my behalf. One I chose because I was born on his feast day and am discerning to the diaconate (St Stephen). The other is St Paul because I identify with his rapid and wholesale conversion and a zeal to spread the Gospel in the face of a world that is hostile to the message.

 

[Graceful_Lamb]

My patron saints are the same as my Confirmation names. I picked out my Confirmation names (I have two) very easily. One had to do with it being a variation of my middle name and is also the first part of my a relative’s name. My second confirmation name is also from another relative’s first name. Actually, I like what both of them are for and I try to live up to the way they lived their lives, and I I like what my patron saints are patrons of.

 

[christofirst]

I was 12 or 13 years old when I was confirmed, and my understanding and level of maturity has changed somewhat since then. The saint I chose for my confirmation name was as much influenced by my friend with the same name as it was with the saint himself! Since then, I have become drawn to certain different saints through the reading of their lives and works, and I now consider them my patrons. But my confirmation name and that good saint are still mine as well.

 

[Casilda]

I must be one of those oddities in that I did not take a new name at confirmation. We were encouraged to be confirmed under our baptismal name to maintain the linkage between the dual sacraments.

That being said I do have two saints who I feel affinity too and semi-regularly ask to intercede on my behalf. One I chose because I was born on his feast day and am discerning to the diaconate (St Stephen). The other is St Paul because I identify with his rapid and wholesale conversion and a zeal to spread the Gospel in the face of a world that is hostile to the message.

These two statements resonate with what I have learned to reclaim my Catholic faith. I come from a long line of Catholics. My maternal grandfather would have all his children baptized with their ‘patron saints’ name based on whose feast day they were born. That’s how my mom kept track of her eleven sibling’s birthdays, their saint namesake feast day.

The Eastern churches (Catholic and Orthodox) confirm at baptism. I was baptized Roman Catholic but confirmed as an Eastern Catholic. I did not receive a confirmation saint but reclaimed my full baptismal name (I was given two saints names) I became aware that their patronage has followed me my whole life.

 

[Graceful_Lamb]

My patron saints are the same as my Confirmation names. I picked out my Confirmation names (I have two) very easily. One had to do with it being a variation of my middle name and is also the first part of my a relative’s name. My second confirmation name is also from another relative’s first name. Actually, I like what both of them are for and I try to live up to the way they lived their lives, and I I like what my patron saints are patrons of.

Actually, my middle name is a Saint’s name, but I didn’t know it until recently.

 

[PassioAmator]

I think you should choose your Confirmation name after your patron Saint, and not vice versa. Many people today choose their name by someone they look up to(i.e. an uncle or an aunt) instead of a Saint whom they are similar to. The patron saint should always be someone who you can desire to imitate and go through the same struggles they did. For example, think of how Tim Tebow and Olivia Culpo split up because Tim Tebow was saving himself for marriage. His patron Saint could be Maria Goretti because she gave up her life to keep her unstained from impurity.

 

[Heather914]

I’m glad I found this thread. I chose St. Catherine of Siena as my Confirmation Saint, but lately I have really been drawn to St. Bernadette of Lourdes. I feel as if she is really tugging at my heart. I have been asking for her intercession lately.