PATRONO (LITURGY). —
I. MEANING
P., in the liturgical sense, means a saint who, by ancient tradition or legitimate election, is venerated with particular devotion by the clergy and people of a place as their special protector and advocate before God (S. Congr. dei Riti, Decr. authent. 3048, 3754). Theologically, patronage is founded on the dogma of the Communion of Saints and on the Pauline doctrine of the Mystical Body (I Cor., 13, 8-13; cf. also 12, 18 and 28-30).P. is rendered in the writings of the ancient Christian authors by patronus; but also by other related terms, such as defensor, adessor, advocatus, protector (more rarely), domnus. S. Paolino da Nola (d. 431) often calls s. Felice dominaedius, a word peculiar to this author (Epist., 5, 15; 18, 3; 28, 6; 29, 13; 32, 10: PL 61, 153-437), but also dominus (Carm., 1, 10: PL 61, 463: O pater, o domine, indignis licet, annue servit). Once Prudenzio uses for s. Vincenzo martire the appellation orator: orator ad thronum Patris (Perist., 5, 548: PL 60, 409). The Greeks, who did not know the juridical relationship between patron and client, are even freer and use a vocabulary of their own: παράκλητοι (advocati), δρυφόροι (stipatores), πάρεδροι (assessores), πολιοῦχοι (custodes civitatis), φύλακες (defensores), συνήγοροι (custodes). Cliens, the correlate of p., is little used by Christian authors, who prefer equivalent, more familiar terms, such as alumnus, servus, famulus. Paolino calls himself the alumnus of s. Felice (Carm., 13, 356); all the Saint’s devotees are alumni (v. alumnus). The town of Abella is memoratur alumna patroni, that is, of s. Felice (Carm., 13, 795: PL 61, 602). For Prudenzio (d. after 404), the Romans are alumni of s. Lorenzo: tuosque alumnus urbicos... paterno amore nutrias (Peristeph., 2, 269). In the same sense the word recurs in cemetery inscriptions, as in that of SS. Marcellino and Pietro: Suscipite vestrum alumnum (A. Silvagni, Inscript. christ. Urbis Romae, I, Roma 1922, no. 947). A funerary inscription from Carpentras for a believer who died on 21 May, the eve of the feast of the martyr Baudilio of Nîmes, says: «Domino dulcem suum commendat alumnum martyr Baudelius per passionis diem» (E. Le Blant, Inscript. christ. de la Gaule, II, Parigi 1865, p. 798). S. Teodoro studita prays to s. Bartolomeo to give particular protection to alumnus decoratus Lipareos (PG 99, 802).
II. ORIGIN AND CHRISTIAN MEANING
Although it is not difficult to discern traces of patronage among various ancient peoples, the juridical concept of patronage is typically Roman. At Rome, patronus designated the head of a family in relation to his clientes and freedmen; the patronage relationship is contemplated in the Law of the Twelve Tables. Later, a collective meaning was added to the personal one: patroni coloniae, provinciae, civitatis (in the fourth century they became defensores), collegii (corporations). In a figurative sense, when applied to poets, it was synonymous with “maecenas.” Roman law also did not fail to define the duties of the cliens toward the patronus in a series of services (operae), fixed gifts (dona), or occasional gifts (munera). All these elements were transmitted by antiquity to the Middle Ages, taking concrete form in customs and formulas.The Church, inheriting the concept of patronage from Roman culture, spiritualized its meaning by applying it to the saints, the cives optimo iure of the urbs coelestis. The first indication of patronage in a Christian sense is found in the apocryphal Actus Petri cum Simone (ca. 150–70). Of the senator Marcellus, who became a Christian, the writer says: «Marcellum omnes pauperi (I) patronum vocabant» (Acta apost. apocr., Leipzig 1891, p. 55), where patronus still reflects the classical meaning, but with a nuance of differentiation arising from the higher Christian motive that inspires II. In the Passio Petri et Pauli (another apocryphal work from the second half of the second century), the Apostles are called «patronos magnos... et amicos Domini nostri Iesu Christi» (ibid., p. 173). This is a more perceptible step toward Christian transformation. The Apostles are still living, but their action already possesses something heavenly. The process of transformation, which had only just begun in the second century, is fully under way two centuries later. St. Ambrose (d. 397) forms a bridge between the classical and Christian worlds. In the treatise De viduis (written in 376), the Saint recommends that widows choose generous patrons among the Apostles and martyrs, but that they present themselves to them supplied with good works (c. 8, 54: PL 16, 250). During the anti-Arian struggles, Ambrose placed himself and his Church under the protection of the holy martyrs Gervasius and Protasius, whose relics he discovered almost miraculously on 17 June 386 in the “Ambrosian” basilica. He wrote to his sister Marcellina (Ep., 22, 10–11: PL 16, 1072): «Cognoscant omnes quales propugnatores requiram. Tales ego ambo defensores, tales milites habeo... quorum quo maiora, eo tutiora patrocinia sunt. Horum opto praesidia». And again: «Patronos habebamus et nesciebamus». The Saint repeated the same concept four years later while commenting on the Gospel of St. Luke (Expos. in Evang. s. Lucae, c. 10, V. 12: PL 15, 1807): «Mortuis regibus, in perpetuum martyres regnum coelestis gratiae honore succedunt; illi fium supplices, hi patroni». In the Ambrosian sense, patronus reappears in Prudentius (d. 410). In the hymn to St. Lawrence, the ailing poet trusts that he will be healed «per patronos martyres». Fructuosus, Augurius, and Eulogius are the special patrons of all Spain, while Emeterius and Caledonius attract so many pilgrims to their tomb that the poet actually calls them orbis coloni, patroni mundi (Perist., 1, 10). In the hymn to St. Romanus, he places this poignant invocation on the lips of the young man’s mother: «Vale... dulcisime et cum bestus regna Christi intraveris - memento matris, iam patrone ex filio» (Perist., 10, 831). The mother as cliens of her son would have been a paradox in Roman law. A return to the classical meaning seems to be found in St. Augustine. Magnus patronus is, for the bishop of Hippo, the Redeemer; believers are his clientes. St. Stephen and all the saints are patrons insofar as they defend the souls of the dead before the tribunal of God. The poems of Paulinus of Nola, in honor of St. Felix, the carus patronus who defends the small Campanian city («coelesti firma patrono», Carm., 18, 5), instead hark back to the Prudentian concept. Thanks to Felix, Nola can call itself second only to Rome, which surpasses all other cities because of the apostolic tombs (Carm., 13, 397). In the Acta s. Genesi, the pseudonymous Paulinus calls the martyr Arelatensis urbis... patronus virtute moriendi (CSEL, 29, p. 425). A reference to the praesidium patronorum of the Theban Legion is found in Eucherius of Lyon (d. 450–55, CSEL, 31, p. 173). With Paulinus of Périgueux (d. after 470), the term defines its contours more clearly, being attributed to saints who were not martyrs. Martin of Tours is the sanctus patronus, always surrounded by innumerable clientes (Vita s. Martini, I: PL 61, 1016). Every kind of person in need commends himself to his patronage; one virgin is freed from grave danger, another is healed, but then, abandoned by the Saint (dono tanti spoliata patroni) because she has fallen again into sin, she dies miserably (ibid., VI: PL 61, 1067); a young boy commends his health to Martin, while the entire family of the governor Liconzius implores him to preserve it from the plague (ibid., V: PL 61, 1063). Whoever wishes to obtain protection need only raise trusting eyes to the holy patron.
No less powerful for Rome was the patronage of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, whom St. Leo I (d. 461) invokes, together with St. Lawrence, as patrons of the Urbs (G. Morin, Notes d’anc. littér. eccl., in Rev. bénéd., 13 [1896], p. 344). Sidonius Apollinaris (d. 489) imagines St. Abraham, patron of Clermont, as a king sharing the kingdom with other colleagues. The colleagues are the city’s patron saints: «Abraham sanctis merito sociande patronis - quos tibi collegas dicere non trepidem... Dat partem regni portio martyrii» (Epist., 7, 17: PL 58, 587). This certain humanization of patronage is accentuated in a letter by Apollinaris concerning St. Julian, about whom Mamertus, returning the saint’s head to his native city, Vienne, writes: «Pro compensatione deposcimus, ut nobis inde veniat pars patrocinii, quia vobis hinc redit pars patroni» (Epist., 7, 1: PL 58, 564). Testimonies become rarer after the sixth century. A reference to a peculiaris patronus is found in Caesarius of Arles (d. 543); then, in the works of St. Gregory of Tours (d. 593–94), there is a genuine flowering of evidence concerning the efficacy of the saints’ patronage, encouraged by the spread of relics (brandea, patrocinia) and by growing confidence in the saints’ aid. By the end of the sixth century, the practice of choosing a patron must have been common. Venantius Fortunatus (d. beginning of the seventh century) attests to it for Gaul: « Gallia sic proprios dum fudit ubique patronos - quos hic terra regit, lumina mundus habet » (Carm., 3, 7; MGH, Auct. Antiq., IV, 1, p. 58). From the same period is a text by St. Gregory the Great (d. 604), in which the Saint exhorts the faithful to obtain powerful patrons in the holy martyrs: « Adsunt defensores nostri sancti martyres. Hos adiutores vestrae orationis quaerite, hos protectores vestri reatus invenite » (Hom., 33, 8; PL 76, 1238). With the seventh century, the Christian concept of patronage became definitively established, having completed its entire evolutionary arc in three centuries. The testimonies cited represent, broadly speaking, the whole of the Western world. Their authors all came to the Church from the Roman juridical world. This guarantees that the terminology used has a precise meaning. Later writers would follow the pattern already traced, applying the now-established concept to various cases.
III. OFFICIAL
In Sacred Scripture, the functions of patronage are carried out by the angels. Two of them, Michael (Dan. 10:13, 20–21; 11:1; 12:1) and Gabriel (Dan. 8:16; 9:21), attend to the interests of the Persians and the Greeks. An angel takes particular care of the reconstruction of Jerusalem and the other cities destroyed during the Babylonian exile (Zach. 1:12). Others take part in the conversion of sinners (Lk. 15:10), in the growth of the Church (I Cor. 4:9; Eph. 3:10), and protect the poor (Mt. 18:10) and the Apostles (Acts 12:15). Every people, every city, community, or Church has its guardian angel (Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6, 17; Origen, Contra Celsum, 5, 29; Tertullian, De pudiciis, 14). St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael already enjoyed a particular cult in the early Middle Ages. St. Michael was invoked as the guide of souls to heaven (cf. F. Cumont, Les vents et les anges psychopompes, in Piscituli, Münster in V. 1939, pp. 70, 75; B. Serpilli, L'Offeritorio della Messa dei defunti, Rome 1946, pp. 87–95) and defender of the Christian people. Indeed, he is found at the p. of Catholic cities, provinces, and kingdoms: his standard was carried in the front rank during battles, and his statue was placed, as a symbol and defense, upon fortresses, as on Castel S. Angelo in Rome.But the saints, much more frequently, were invoked as p. in the needs of individual and collective life. St. Prodo is the gratuitous defensor of widows and orphans (PG 65, 847), a title also enjoyed in Crete by St. Titus. St. Stephen is the afflictorum et peregrinarum defensor (PG 100, 1186). In the East, St. Phocas was the p. of fishermen, who during navigation reserved for the Saint, as one of their own number, his portion of flour, which, once they had reached port, they distributed to the poor. His sanctuary, on the island of Syra, was covered with Christian, Jewish, and pagan inscriptions invoking his protection: « Domine sancte Phoca », says one, « servate navim Mariam, cosque in ea navigantes » (C. Bayet, Revue archéol., 17 [1876], p. 287). The same thought recurs in an inscription from the cemetery of Callistus (4th–5th century): Petite spirita sancta ut Verecundus cum suis bene navigat (G. B. De Rossi, Roma sotterr. II, pp. 17–18). St. Nicetius of Lyons was the special friend of prisoners (St. Gregory of Tours, Vitae patrum, 8, 7; PL 71, 1046). Other saints were invoked as protectors in war (a reminiscence of the assistance of heroes?). According to Theodoret (Historia, II, 24), before the battle in which Eugenius was defeated (A.D. 394), the holy Apostles John and Philip appeared to Theodosius during the night and promised to become his allies. Recourse to the p. was more frequent in illnesses and public calamities. Victricius (d. 400) enumerates a series of cities in which the respective p. were credited with the functions of heavenly physicians: « Curat (in senso « terapeutico ») Ephesi Ioannes Evangelista. Curat Bononiae Proculus, Agricola. Curat Placentiae Antoninus. Curat Saturninus, Traianus in Macedonia. Curat Nazarius Mediolan: Mutius Alexander, Datysus, Chindeus larga virtute gratiam salutis infundunt. Curat Rogata, Leonida, Anastasia, Anatocila » (Lib. de laude sanct., 11; PL 20, 453). No less frequent is the invocation of the saints’ patronage for spiritual needs. St. Agnes is celebrated by Prudentius as the special patron of female chastity (Perist., 14, 124; PL 60, 589). The saints are advocati delictorum nostrorum (PL 20, 443). They support the prayers of their devotees: St. Mamas is adiutor ad precandum (PG 131, 590), St. Stephen advocatus et patronus obsequendum sibi petitionibus (Avitus of Braga, ca. 415; Epist., ed. Florez, in España sagrada, XV, Madrid 1750, p. 374).
By their prayers the saints fiducialiter commend ours to God (St. Caesarius of Arles, Hom. in deposit. s. Honorati, sermo 214; ed. G. Morin, I, Maredsous 1937). The patronage of the saints is invoked especially against demons. St. Plato is the powerful p. « against visible and invisible enemies » (PG 99, 848). For Victricius, Christian life is a continual struggle, in which God « non arma, non praesidia denegavit ». And he concludes: « Nemo signa deserat Salvatoris. Dedit exemplum, dedit auxilia, certa victoria est cum talibus commilitonibus et cum Christo imperatore pugnare » (PL 20, 455). And after defending us against the evils and enemies of this life, the saints will be our boni patroni in the life to come. Ancient Christian literature lingered over the saints’ intervention before the divine tribunal: « Patronos facite », St. Gregory urges the Romans, « hos in die tanti terroris illius defensores adhibete » (PL 16, 1238). This thought is reflected in the beautiful inscription from the cemetery of Ciria: Sancti martyres apud Deum et X (= Christum) erunt advocati (G. B. De Rossi, in Bull. archeol. crist., 1864, p. 34). Nor is there any lack, in this regard, of certain strongly naïve expressions of faith, as when Prudentius declares that on the day of Judgment he would like to find himself on the judge’s left so that St. Romanus might come to save him (Perist., 10, 1136; PL 60, 539). Early Christian art, for its part, abounds in scenes representing the deceased welcomed by saints into Paradise or accompanied and defended at judgment: a transparent allusion to their effective patronage. Veneranda, at Domitilla (a painting not much later than 336: Wilpert, Pitture, p. 428), is introduced into Paradise by St. Petronilla. A painting in the Cosmet. maius (id., ibid., p. 386) represents the deceased woman before Christ enthroned, surrounded by six seated saints who act as assessores. At SS. Peter and Marcellinus (id., ibid., p. 428), the deceased woman is shown in the attitude of prayer, while the saints help her to pray by supporting her arms (cf. St. Gregory’s expression adiutores orationis, In evang. II, hom. 58, 8). In the cemetery of Nunziatella, Christ, seated on a cathedra, is surrounded by four saints and an equal number of deceased persons. Two saints speak, pleading the case of their clientes as advocates: their defense is effective and the case is won, because the deceased are represented as already possessing beatitude.
Connected with this idea is the custom, much sought after in antiquity, of being buried near the martyrs. The practice was universal: in Rome, Catania, Aquileia, Gaul, Salona, Africa, and the East. The privilege, « quod multi cupiunt rari accipiunt » (G. B. De Rossi, Inscript., Rome 1857, p. 319), is indicated by expressions such as: « ad santum Cornelium », « ad domnum (Gaium) », « ante domna Emerita », « at Criscent (ionem) », « in crypta noba retro sanctus », « intra tua limina martyr » (at S. Paolo), « pro foribus martyrorum » (Catania), and similar phrases. « Sociatus martyribus », an extremely common phrase in epigraphy, precisely indicates this custom. It is not clear what idea lay behind this uncontrollable desire to secure, after death, proximity to the saints. St. Ambrose and St. Paulinus relate it to the belief that the blood of the martyrs should penetrate the neighboring tombs, purifying the remains of the deceased; but in most cases the predominant thought was that of effectively experiencing the saints’ patronage on the day of Judgment and sharing in the prayers offered by the devout in their honor.
Two needs of a collective nature are especially commended to the patronage of the saints: the Church and one’s own city (= homeland). The Church is entrusted especially to the patronage of SS. Peter and Paul, whose protection universi muniuntur populi christiani (St. Leo? V. G. Morin, Rev. bénéd., 13 [1896], p. 345). A beautiful prayer of the Leonine Sacramentary says: « Familiam tuam (= la Chiesa), apostolicis defende
“Familiam tuam (= the Church), defend with apostolic protection” (PL 55, 54). St. Lawrence too is called the p. of the Roman Church, and St. Sebastian, in the Passio (5th century), is called defensor Ecclesiae (cf. B. Pesci, Il culto di s. Sebastiano a Roma, in Antonianum, 20 [1945], p. 182). All the martyrs are the Church’s effective defense, conceived as a city, which maguis martyrum turribus munitur (PG, 31, 599). More numerous are the invocations of patronage over cities and peoples. With the decline of the Empire and the threatening advance of the barbarian hordes, where could one seek defense and protection if not in the saints? Titus is the turris propugnaculum of Crete, Amandus is that of Bordeaux, Pantagathus of Vienne. Constantine transferred the bodies of SS. Andrew and Timothy to Constantinople ut sua apostolicis muniret moenia laetus corporibus. Gregory of Nyssa prays to St. Theodore to defend his city from the threat of its scelesti Scythiae neighbors (PG 46, 746). Possession of the relics of the saints, which were precisely called patrocinio, gave a sense of security. “Let them arm whom they will,” exclaims Victricius, “your battle lines, your standards will guard us” (PL 20, 448). The presbyter Silvius of Ivrea, depositing the martyrs’ relics in the new church, “armed his homeland and people with great protection, strengthening the city with holy guardians” (C. Gazzera, Iscrix. crist. ant. del Piemonte, Turin 1849, p. 80). The saints’ protection over the city would never fail. At the end of the world, says Prudentius, Fructuosus will prevent his Tarragona from being consumed even by the fire of divine Judgment (Perist., 6, 158; PL 61, 424).
This confidence in the saints’ protection gave rise to another custom, widespread in the Middle Ages, of giving the city gates the names of saints, as though appointing them their guardians. Generally, the saint whose shrine was nearest was chosen. Procopius (d. after 562) perhaps reflects this idea when he relates that, after the war against the Goths, the Romans did not wish to repair the city’s collapsing gates, entrusting it to the protection of the Princes of the Apostles (De bello Gothico, I, 23; ed. Nieb, II, 110; cf. H. Grisar, Roma alla fine del mondo antico, II, Rome 1808, p. 101). An echo of it is also found in Venantius Fortunatus (d. 530), when he writes (Carm., III, 7; PL 88, 127): “Two strongholds stand guard against the hostile face—those whom the city, head of the world, holds as towers of the faith.” In an inscription of King Wamba (672–80), placed above a gate of Toledo in memory of the fortifications erected around the city, it is stated that, despite the colossal works completed, the defense of the city is entrusted to its holy p.: “Vos, sancti domini, quorum hic praesentia fulget, hanc urbem et plebem solito servate favore” (J. Vives, Inscriptiones cristianas de la España romana y visigoda, Barcelona 1942, p. 125). Finally, an Algerian inscription (CIL, VIII, 5352) from 539 states: “Patricii Salomonis institutionem nemo expugnare tuilebit, because the entrance is guarded by the martyr Vincent, the exit by Clement.” St. Ambrose, however, repeatedly insists on the idea that the efficacy of the saints’ patronage non clauditur locis, but diffunditur meritis, and extends to all who invoke them in faith (Sermo, 55, 9; PL 17, 718).
In another sphere, the concept of p. seems to have influenced the designation of the titular saint of churches. It is well known that in the signatures of the presbyteri of the Roman Council of 499, the titles are designated by the founder’s name: titulus Pammachi, Iulii, Vestinae, etc.; only a few bear the name of a saint: s. Clementis, s. Matthaei. A century later (595), all the titles had a saintly p., who sometimes corresponded to the founder’s name preceded by the appellation sanctus (titulus sancti Damasi replaced titulus Damasi, titulus sancti Eusebii replaced titulus Eusebii, titulus Caeciliae first and titulus sanctae Caeciliae later, titulus Sabinae and titulus sanctae Sabinae [cf. H. Delehaye, Sanctus, Brussels 1927, pp. 149–50; id., Les origines du culte des martyrs, ibid. 1933, pp. 296–98)]); at other times the p. differed from the conditor tituli: thus titulus Lucinae became the title of St. Lawrence, St. Vitalis is the former titulus Vestinae, and SS. John and Paul replaced titulus Pammachi. The founders became the p. of their churches.
Another custom, which gradually became general, to the point of becoming a law now codified in the liturgical books (cf. Rituale Romanum, tit. II, c. II, n. 30), is the adoption of a saint’s name at Baptism, so that the saint might be a powerful protector throughout life. This practice was closely related to the custom whereby the cliens took the name of his patronus. The earliest testimony is that of Dionysius of Alexandria (d. in 265), who observes that the names Peter and Paul were extremely common among the faithful of his time, and that in ancient times the same must have been true of the name John, out of emulation of his virtues (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., 7, 25, 14). St. John Chrysostom too urges his faithful to prefer the names of saints, who have great power with God. “Children are given the names of martyrs,” says Theodoret, “to ensure them protection and guardianship” (Graecorum aff. curatio, 8, 67; cf. C. A. Kellner, Was die ältesten christlichen Eigennamen erzählen, in Stimmen aus Maria Laach, 62/63 [1902], pp. 171–82).
IV. CHOICE OF THE PATRON
The choice of the patron arose from various circumstances. The birth, apostolate, or martyrdom of a saint in a place, or an extraordinary miracle performed there, or possession of a distinguished relic, determined the choice of the patron. Often the patron is the city’s first bishop, as founder of the Church in that place. On 23 March Urban VIII (S. Congr. dei Riti, Decreta auth., 526; cf. also 555) established: 1) that the saint to be chosen as patron should be canonized; 2) that the election should be made by the people with the consent of the bishop and clergy; 3) that this election should be approved by the S. Congr. dei Riti. Present legislation (can. 1278, cf. also can. 1247 § 2) substantially reflects these norms.In the election, the clergy and people, the civil and religious authorities, were formerly required to participate. Considerable importance was given to the civil element, because at that time the people took an active part in ecclesiastical affairs, and also because the adoption of a patron entailed a feast de praecepto (a public holiday), a commitment that had to be undertaken by common agreement. As times changed and the public holiday was abolished, popular participation was greatly reduced, although it theoretically still exists. On the other hand, popular participation is not required for the election of moral patrons, who are in any case of recent origin, being declared directly by the pope, or at the initiative of some bishop, or to meet the aspirations and needs of the times. Today there is no religious corporation, diocese, or nation that does not have its patrons. The number of moral patrons has grown considerably in recent times. Here are those of the universal Church: St. Luigi Gonzaga, patron of student youth (1729, Benedetto XIII; and 1926, Pio XI); St. Giuseppe, of the universal Church (8 Dec. 1870); St. Tommaso d'Aquino, of universities, colleges, and Catholic schools (4 Aug. 1880); St. Vincenzo de' Paoli, of all charitable associations (12 May 1885); St. Camillo de Lellis and St. Giovanni di Dio, of hospitals and the sick (22 June 1886) and of nurses (1930, Pio XI); St. Pietro Claver, of missions among the Negroes (1896, Leone XIII); St. Pasquale Baylon, of Eucharistic congresses and confraternities of the Blessed Sacrament (28 Nov. 1897); St. Francesco Saverio, of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith (25 March 1904); St. Giovanni Crisostomo, of the Sacred Oratories (8 July 1908); St. Ignazio di Loyola, of spiritual exercises (25 July 1922); St. Leonardo da Porto Maurizio, of popular missions among Catholics (17 March 1923); St. Francesco di Sales, of Catholic writers and journalists (26 Apr. 1923); St. Bernardo di Mentone, of mountaineers and of the inhabitants and travelers of the Alps (20 Aug. 1923); St. Teresa del Bambino Gesù, of missions in infidel countries (14 Dec. 1927); St. Giovanni M. Vianney, of parish priests (23 Apr. 1929); St. Michele arcangelo, of radiologists and radiotherapists (15 Jan. 1941); St. Alberto Magno, of students of the natural sciences (16 Dec. 1941); St. Giuseppe Calasanzio, of elementary schools (13 Aug. 1948); St. Alfonso M. de' Liguori, of confessors and moral theologians (26 Apr. 1950); St. Giovanni Battista de La Salle, of Catholic teachers (15 May 1950); St. Francesca Saverio Cabrini, of emigrants (8 Sept. 1950). Here are some of the more recent patrons for Italy: St. Matteo, patron of the Guardia di Finanza (10 Apr. 1935); St. Francesco d'Assisi and St. Caterina da Siena, principal patrons (18 June 1939); St. Francesco di Paola, of seafarers and shipping companies (17 March 1943); St. Caterina da Siena, of nurses, and St. Caterina da Genova, of hospitals (15 Sept. 1943); St. Giovanni Bosco, of Italian publishers (25 May 1946); Madonna di Castellazzo, of motorcyclists (11 Feb. 1947); Madonna di Montenero, of all Tuscany (5 May 1947); St. Michele arcangelo, of public-security guards (29 Apr. 1949); Blessed Virgin of Ghisallo, of cyclists (13 Oct. 1949); Blessed Virgin Mary « Virgo fidela », of the carabinieri (11 Nov. 1949); St. Martino di Tours, patron of the Infantry (21 May 1951).
In the Middle Ages, various classes and professions had their own patron, which nevertheless varied from place to place. Here is a list of those more universally accepted: farmers, St. Isidoro-agricola; silversmiths, St. Andronico; lawyers, St. Ivo; motorists, St. Cristoforo; gravediggers, St. Tobia and St. Giuseppe d'Arimatea; hunters, St. Uberto; shoemakers, SS. Crispino and Crispiniano; charcoal burners, St. Alessandro; jailers, St. Ippolito, SS. Processo and Martiniano; actors, St. Genesio and St. Vito; domestic servants, St. Zita; tax collectors, bankers, and money changers, St. Matteo; carpenters, St. Giuseppe; foresters, St. Giovanni Gualberto; philosophers, St. Giustino, St. Caterina d'Alessandria; gardeners, St. Fiacre; jurists, St. Raimondo da Peñafort; nurses, St. Giovanni di Dio and St. Camillo de Lellis; bookbinders, St. Pietro Celestino and St. Giovanni di Dio; midwives, St. Raimondo Nonnato; mothers of families, St. Anna, Blessed Anna M. Taigi; teachers, St. Cassiano, St. Giovanni Battista de La Salle; seafaring navigators, St. Nicola da Bari, St. Francesco di Paola; physicians, St. Luca, SS. Cosma and Damiano; miners, St. Barbara; musicians, St. Gregorio Magno and St. Cecilia; goldsmiths and jewelers, St. Eligio; fishermen, St. Pietro and St. Andrea; painters, St. Luca; tailors, St. Omobono; pavers, St. Stefano; telecommunications workers, St. Gabriele arcangelo; weavers, St. Onofrio; widows, St. Francesca romana.
Other saints are commonly invoked as protectors in various needs: on sea voyages, St. Francesco Saverio; in desperate cases, St. Gregorio Taumaturgo; for recovering lost objects, St. Antonio da Padova; for a good death, St. Giuseppe; to have children, St. Francesco di Paola and St. Rita; against thieves, theft, etc., St. Disma buon ladrone; against lightning and bolts, St. Barbara; in impossible cases, St. Rita; to find a husband, St. Pasquale Baylon.
Finally, certain saints are invoked in particular illnesses or calamities: for healing from apoplexy, St. Andrea Avellino; from demonic infestations, St. Ubaldo; from scruples, St. Ignazio di Loyola; from calumny, St. Onofrio; from the plague, St. Rocco; from earthquakes, St. Emidio; from hernia, St. Cataldo; from sores on the legs, St. Pellegrino; from eye disease, St. Lucia; from toothache, St. Apollonia; from sore throat, St. Biagio; from headache, St. Pietro martire; from hoarseness, St. Bernardino da Siena; against dog bites, St. Uberto; from gossip and evil tongues, St. Giovanni Nepomuceno; against falls, St. Venanzio.
V. LITURGIA
Two classes of patrons are distinguished: local and (so to speak) moral. The former (patroni loci) are patrons of a particular country, city, province, region, nation, or several nations and, according to ecclesiastical terminology, of a parish, diocese, ecclesiastical province, or the entire Church. The latter are patrons of certain classes of persons, religious, social, or charitable works or initiatives, associations, and moral entities. It is not uncommon to find several patrons, one of whom is principal, while the others are aeque principales or secondary.Local patrons differ from moral patrons in the manner of their election and in their privileges. The principal or aeque principal local patron is accorded the rite of the 1st class (to which all the clergy of the place, including religious, are bound), with a common octave; he has a privileged votive Mass when his feast, if impeded, is transferred to another day, and is entitled to the Credo and to other particular observances listed by liturgists (cf., e.g., C. Callewaert, Institutiones liturgicae, II, De Officio divino, Bruges 1931, pp. 267–69). Secondary local patrons are venerated with the greater double rite. Moral patrons, on the other hand, have no liturgical privilege. The pontifical documents that speak explicitly of the former make no mention of the latter. Formerly, these privileges differed from one patron to another. With the reform of Pius X, all patrons enjoy equal privileges.
The Titulars (v.) are distinguished from patrons.