**PATRON SAINT (LITURGY).**
**I. CONCEPT.**
In liturgical usage, a patron saint is understood to be a saint who, by ancient tradition or legitimate election, is venerated with particular devotion by the clergy and people of a place as a special protector and intercessor before God (*S. Congr. of Rites, Authentic Decree 3048, 3754*). Theologically, the concept of patronage is founded upon the dogma of the Communion of Saints and the Pauline doctrine of the Mystical Body (*1 Cor* 13:8-13; cf. also 12:18 and 28-30).
In early Christian writers, the term *patronus* is used to denote a patron saint, though other related terms such as *defensor*, *adesor*, *advocatus*, *protector* (less commonly), and *domnus* are also employed. St. Paulinus of Nola (d. 431) frequently refers to St. Felix as *dominus*, a term peculiar to this writer (*Epist.*, 5, 15; 18, 3; 28, 6; 29, 13; 32, 10; *PL* 61, 153-437), though he also uses *domnus* (*Carm.*, 1, 10; *PL* 61, 463; *O pater, o domine, indignis licet, amme servis*). Once, Prudentius applies the title *orator* to St. Vincent, martyr: *orator ad thronum Patris* (*Perist.*, 5, 548; *PL* 60, 409).
The Greeks, unfamiliar with the juridical relationship of patron and client, employ their own vocabulary: *paraklēxōn* (advocates), *βαρυφόροι* (spirators), *πάρκοι* (assessors), *πολύουχοι* (custodes civitatis), *φύλακες* (defensors), *συνήγοροι* (custodes). The term *cliens*, the correlative of *patronus*, is rarely used in Christian literature, where more familiar equivalents such as *alumnus*, *servus*, or *famulus* are preferred. Paulinus refers to himself as an *alumnus* of St. Felix (*Carm.*, 13, 356), and all devotees of the saint are likewise called *alumnus*. The town of Abella is described as *tanti memoratur alumnus patroni*, i.e., of St. Felix (*Carm.*, 13, 795; *PL* 61, 602). For Prudentius (d. after 404), the Romans are *alumnus* of St. Lawrence: *tuosque alumnus urbicos... paterno amore nutrias* (*Peristeph.*, 2, 269). The same usage appears in funerary inscriptions, as in the case of SS. Marcellinus and Peter: *Suscipite vestrum alumnum* (A. Silvagni, *Inscriptiones christianae Urbis Romae*, I, Rome 1922, no. 947). An inscription from Carpentras for a deceased faithful, dated May 21, the vigil of the feast of the martyr St. Baudilius of Nîmes, reads: *Domino dulcem suum commendat alumnum martyr Baudelius per passionis diem* (E. Le Blant, *Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule*, II, Paris 1865, p. 768). St. Theodore prays to St. Bartholomew to protect his *alumnus*, the honored community of Lipari (*PG* 99, 802).
**II. ORIGIN AND CHRISTIAN ACCEPTANCE.**
Though traces of patronage can be discerned among various ancient peoples, the juridical concept of *patronus* is distinctly Roman. In Rome, *patronus* denoted the head of a household in relation to *clientes* and freedmen; the relationship of patronage was recognized by the Law of the Twelve Tables. Subsequently, the personal sense was extended to collective entities: *patroni coloniae*, *provinciae*, *civitatis* (which became *defensores* in the 4th century), and *collegia* (guilds). Figuratively, among poets, the term was synonymous with "patron" or "benefactor."
Roman law also defined the duties of the *cliens* toward the *patronus*, including fixed services (*operae*), regular gifts (*dona*), and occasional offerings (*numerae*). All these elements were transmitted to the Middle Ages, where they were adapted into customs and formulas.
The Church, inheriting the Roman concept of patronage, spiritualized its meaning by applying it to the saints, the *cives optimo iure* of the heavenly city. The earliest Christian reference to patronage is found in the apocryphal *Acts of Peter with Simon* (c. 150-70). Of the senator Marcellus, who had become a Christian, the writer states: *Marcellum omnes pauperi (1) patronum vocabant* (*Acta apostolorum apocrypha*, Leipzig 1891, p. 55), where *patronus* still reflects the classical sense but with a nuance of Christian differentiation. In the *Passio Petri et Pauli* (another apocryphon from the second half of the 2nd century), the Apostles are called *patronos magnos... et amicos Domini nostri Iesu Christi* (ibid., p. 173). This passage marks a more pronounced shift toward the Christian transformation. Though the Apostles are still living, their role already partakes of the heavenly.
The process of transformation, barely begun in the 2nd century, was in full development by the 4th. St. Ambrose (d. 397) serves as a bridge between the classical and Christian worlds. In his treatise *De viduis* (written in 376), the saint advises widows to choose generous patrons among the Apostles and martyrs but to present themselves to them adorned with good works (*c.* 8, 54; *PL* 16, 250). During the Arian controversies, Ambrose placed himself and his Church under the protection of SS. Gervasius and Protasius, whose relics he had discovered almost miraculously on June 17, 386, in the "Ambrosian" basilica. He writes 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 maior, eo tutior patrocinia sunt. Horum opto praesidia.*
And again:
> *Patronos habebamus et nesciebamus.*
The same concept is reiterated four years later in his commentary 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 fiunt supplices, hi patroni.*
In Ambrose’s sense, the term *patronus* reappears in Prudentius (d. 410). In the hymn to St. Lawrence, the ailing poet expresses confidence in being healed *per patronos martyres*. Fruitosus, Augurius, and Eulogius are the special patrons of all Spain, while Emeterius and Chelidonius attract so many pilgrims to their tomb that the poet calls them *orbis coloni, patroni mundi* (*Perist.*, 1, 10). In the hymn to St. Romanus, the saint’s mother utters this poignant invocation:
> *Vale... dulcissime - et cum beatus regna Christi intraveris - memento matris, iam patrones ex filio.*
(*Perist.*, 10, 831)
For a mother to be the *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, for whom the Redeemer is the *Magnus Patronus*; believers are his *clientes*. St. Stephen and all the saints are patrons insofar as they defend the souls of the departed before the tribunal of God.
Prudentius’ concept, however, is echoed in 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). Thanks to Felix, Nola may be said to rank second only to Rome, which surpasses all other cities by the apostolic tombs (*Carm.*, 13, 397). In the *Acta s. Genesii*, the pseudo-Paulinus calls the martyr of Arles *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 becomes more clearly defined when applied to non-martyr saints. St. Martin of Tours is the *sanctus patronus*, ever surrounded by countless *clientes* (*Vita s. Martini*, I; *PL* 61, 1016). All manner of the needy commend themselves to his patronage; a virgin is delivered from grave danger, another is healed but later abandoned by the saint (*dono tanti spoliata patroni*) for relapsing into sin and dies miserably (*ibid.*, VI; *PL* 61, 1067). A young man commends his health to Martin, and the entire household of the vice-governor Licentius begs to be preserved from the plague (*ibid.*, V; *PL* 61, 1063). Whoever seeks protection has only to lift trusting eyes to the holy patron.
No less powerful for Rome is the patronage of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, whom St. Leo I (d. 461) invokes as patrons of the Urbe together with St. Lawrence (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 who shares his kingdom with other colleagues. The colleagues are the holy patrons of the city: “Abraham sanctis merito sociandae 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 writing by Apollinaris concerning St. Julian, of whom Mamertus, returning the head to his native city, Vienne, writes: “Pro compensatione deposcimus, ut nobis inde veniat pars patrocinii, quia vobis hinc rediit pars patroni” (Epist., 7, 17; PL 58, 564). Testimonies become rarer after the 6th century. A mention of a peculiar patron is found in Caesarius of Arles (d. 543); then in the works of St. Gregory of Tours (d. 593–94) there is a true flourishing on the efficacy of the patronage of the saints, fostered by the spread of relics (brandea, patrocinia), and by the growing confidence in the aid of the saints. By the end of the 6th century the custom of choosing patrons must have been common. Venantius Fortunatus (d. early 7th century) attests to it for Gaul: “Gallia sic proprios dum fudit ubique patronos — quos hic terra tegit, 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 urges the faithful to procure in the holy martyrs strong patrons: “Adsunt defensores nostri sancti martyres. Hos adiutores vestrae orationis quaerite, hos protectores vestri reatus invenite” (Hom., 33, 8: PL 76, 1238). With the 7th century the Christian concept of patron is definitively established, which in three centuries has completed its entire evolutionary parabola. The cited testimonies represent, roughly, the entire Western world. Their authors all came to the Church from the Roman juridical world. This is an assurance that the terminology used has an exact value. Later writers will follow the path already traced, applying the now acquired concept to various cases.
III. PATRONS
In Holy Scripture the functions of patronage are performed by 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 in the rebuilding of Jerusalem and other cities destroyed during the Babylonian exile (Zech. 1, 12). Others take part in the conversion of sinners (Lk. 15, 10), in the growth of the Church (1 Cor. 4, 9; Eph. 3, 10), protect the poor (Mt. 18, 10), the Apostles (Acts 12, 15). Every people, every city, community, or Church has its own guardian angel (Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6, 17; Origen, Contra Celsum, 5, 20; Tertullian, De pudicit., 14). St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael already enjoyed particular veneration in the early Middle Ages. St. Michael was invoked as the guide of souls to heaven (cf. F. Cumont, Les venus et les anges psychomorphes, in Pisciculi, Münster in V. 1939, pp. 70, 75; B. Serpilli, L'Offertorio della Messa dei defunti, Roma 1946, pp. 87–95) and defender of the Christian people. He is indeed found as patron of cities, provinces, and Catholic kingdoms: his banner was carried in the front line of battles and his statue was placed, as a symbol and defense, on fortresses, such as Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome.But the saints, far more, were invoked as patrons in the needs of individual and collective life. St. Proclus is the gratuitous defender of widows and orphans (PG 65, 847): a title enjoyed also by St. Titus in Crete. St. Stephen is the defender of the afflicted and of pilgrims (PG 100, 1186). St. Phocas was in the East the patron of fishermen, who during navigation reserved for the Saint, as if he were one of them, his portion of flour, which, upon arrival in 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, eosque in ea navigantes” (C. Bayet, Revue archéol., 17 [1876], p. 287). A thought that recurs in an inscription from the Catacomb of Callisto (4th–5th c.): Petite spiritus sancta ut Verecundus cum suis bene naviget (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 Theodorus (Historia, II, 24), before the battle in which Eugenius was defeated (a. 394), at night the holy apostles John and Philip appeared to Theodosius and promised to become his allies. More frequent was the recourse to patrons in sickness and public calamities. Victor (d. 409) enumerates a series of cities in which the respective patrons were attributed with functions of celestial physicians: “Curat [in a therapeutic sense] Ephesi Ioannes Evangelista. Curat Bononiae Proculus, Agricola. Curat Placentiae Antoninus. Curat in Macedonia Saturninus, Traianus. Curat Mediolano Nazarius: Mutius Alexander, Datusus, Chindeus large virtue pour forth the grace of salvation. Curat Rogata, Leonida, Anastasia, Anatoclia” (Lib. de laude sanct., 11: PL 20, 453). No less frequent is the invocation of the patronage of the saints for spiritual needs. St. Agnes is celebrated by Prudentius as a special patron of feminine chastity (Perist., 1, 124: PL 60, 589). The saints are advocates of our sins (PL 20, 443). They assist the prayers of their devotees: St. Mamers is an adiutor ad precandum (PG 131, 599), St. Stephen is an advocatus et patronus who grants the petitions of those devoted to him (Avitus of Braga, c. 415: Epist., ed. Florez, in España sagrada, XV, Madrid 1750, p. 374).
With their prayers the saints commend ours confidently to God (S. Caesarius of Arles, Hom. in deposit. s. Honora, sermo 214: ed. G. Morin, I, Maredsous 1937). The patronage of the saints is invoked especially against demons. St. Plato is the powerful patron “against visible and invisible enemies” (PG 99, 848). For Victor life in Christ is a continual struggle in which God “has not denied his arms, his protection.” He concludes: “Let no one abandon the signs of the Saviour. He has given an example, he has given aid; certain victory is ours when we fight with such comrades-in-arms and with Christ as our emperor” (PL 20, 455). And after defending us against the evils and enemies of this life, the saints will be our patrons in the life to come.
Ancient Christian literature dwells on the saints’ intercession before the divine tribunal: “Make them patrons,” exhorts St. Gregory the Great, “employ these defenders against so great a terror on that day” (PL 16, 1238). This thought is reflected in the fine inscription from the Coemeterium Ciriacae: Sancti martyres apud Deum et X (= Christianum) erunt advocati (G. B. De Rossi, in Bull. archeol. crist., 1864, p. 34). Nor is there lacking, in this connection, some strong touch of naïve faith, as when Prudentius declares that on the day of judgment he would wish to stand at the judge’s left hand so that St. Romanus might come to his rescue (Perist., 10, 1136: PL 60, 529).
Early Christian art, for its part, abounds in scenes of the dead welcomed into Paradise by saints or accompanied and defended at judgment: a transparent allusion to their effective patronage. In the Domitilla catacomb (a painting not much later than 356: Wilpert, Pitture, p. 428), a veneranda Domitilla is introduced into Paradise by St. Petronilla. A painting from the Coemeterium maius (ibid., p. 386) shows the deceased before Christ enthroned, surrounded by six seated saints who act as assessors. At the tombs of SS. Peter and Marcellinus (ibid., p. 428) the deceased is seen in an attitude of prayer while the saints assist her by supporting her arms (cf. the expression adiutores orationis in St. Gregory, In evang. II, hom. 38, 8). In the cemetery of the Nunziatella, Christ enthroned is surrounded by four saints and an equal number of the dead. Two saints plead the cause of their clients as advocates; their defence is valid and the case won, for the dead are shown already in possession of beatitude.
Linked with this idea is the very widespread ancient practice of being buried near martyrs. The custom is universal: at Rome, Catania, Aquileia, in Gaul, at Salona, in Africa, in the East. The privilege, “quod multi cupiunt rari accipiunt” (G. B. De Rossi, Inscrip., Roma 1857, p. 319), is indicated by such expressions as “ad sanctum Cornelium,” “ad domum Gaium,” “ante domum Emerita,” “ad Criscent(ionem),” “in crypta nova retro sanctus,” “intra tua limina martyre” (at St. Paul’s), “pro viribus martyrum” (Catania), and the like. “Sociatus martyribus,” a phrase extremely common in epigraphy, precisely denotes this practice. It is not clear what thought lay behind this incontestable desire to secure the proximity of the saints after death. St. Ambrose and St. Paulinus connect it with the belief that the blood of the martyrs should penetrate the adjacent tombs, purifying the remains of the dead; but in most cases the dominant thought is to feel the effective patronage of the saints on the day of judgment and to share in the prayers offered in their honour.
Two needs of a collective character are especially commended to the patronage of the saints: the Church and one’s own city (= the homeland). The Church is entrusted especially to the patronage of SS. Peter and Paul, “by whose protection all Christian peoples are defended” (St. Leo 7, G. Morin, Rev. bénéd., 13 [1896], p. 345). A fine prayer in the Leonian Sacramentary says: “Defend your family (= the Church) with apostolic protection” (PL 55, 54). St. Lawrence is also called patron of the Roman Church, and St. Sebastian in the fifth-century Passio is termed defensor Ecclesiae (cf. B. Pesci, Il culto di s. Sebastiano a Roma, in Antonianum, 20 [1945], p. 182). All the martyrs are the valiant defence of the Church conceived as a city, “which is fortified by the great towers of the martyrs” (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 else could one seek defence and protection if not in the saints? Titus is the tower of refuge, the bulwark of Crete; Amandus is that of Bordeaux; Pantagatus of Vienne. Constantine transferred the bodies of SS. Andrew and Titus to Constantinople “so that their apostolic memory might gladden the city and protect it” (PG 46, 746). Gregory of Nyssa prays that St. Theodore may defend his city from the menace of the Scythians. The possession of the relics of the saints, precisely called patrocinia, gave a sense of security. “Let those whom arms protect be covered by them,” exclaims Victricius, “we shall be guarded by your ranks, your standards” (PL 20, 48). And the presbyter Silvius of Ivrea, depositing relics of the martyrs in the new church, “strengthened the homeland and people with great protection, securing the city with these holy guardians” (C. Gazzera, Iscriz. crist. ant. del Piemonte, Torino 1849, p. 80). The protection of the saints toward the city will never fail. Prudentius says that at the end of the world Fruictuosus will prevent even the fire of the divine judgment from consuming his Tarragona (Perist., 6, 158: PL 61, 424).
This confidence in the protection of the saints gave rise to another widespread medieval custom: naming the gates of cities after saints, as if to place them as guardians over the gates. Usually the saint whose shrine was nearest was chosen. Procopius (d. after 562) may reflect this idea when he relates that after the Gothic War the Romans refused to repair the crumbling gates of the city, entrusting it to the protection of the Princes of the Apostles (De bello Gothico, I, 23; ed. Niebuhr, II, 110; cf. H. Grisar, Roma alla fine del mondo antico, II, Roma 1808, p. 101). An echo is found also in Venantius Fortunatus (d. 530), when he writes (Carm., III, 7: PL 88, 127): “Two bulwarks stand against hostile faces—towers of faith which the city, capital of the world, possesses.” In an inscription of King Wamba (672–80) placed above a gate of Toledo, commemorating the fortifications erected around the city, it is stated that despite the colossal works accomplished, the defence of the city is entrusted to its holy patrons: “You, holy lords, whose presence shines here, guard this city and people with your accustomed favour” (J. Vives, Inscriptiones cristianas de la España romana y visigoda, Barcelona 1942, p. 125). Finally, in an Algerian inscription (CIL, VIII, 5352) of 539 it is affirmed: “No one will be able to storm the foundation of Patricius Solomon, because the entrance is guarded by the martyr Vincent, the exit by Clement.”
St. Ambrose, however, repeatedly insists that the efficacy of the saints’ patronage is not confined to places but extends through their merits to all who invoke them in faith (Sermo, 55, 9: PL 17, 718).
In another sphere, the concept of the patron saint seems to have influenced the naming of the titulars of churches. It is well known that in the signatures of the presbyters at the Roman Council of 499 the titles are designated by the name of the founder of the titulus: Pammachius, Julius, Vestina, etc.; only a few bear the name of a saint: s. Clementis, s. Matthaei. A century later (595) all the titles have a saintly patron, which sometimes corresponds to the name of the founder preceded by the appellation sanctus (titulus sancti Damasi replaces titulus Damasi, titulus sancti Eusebii replaces titulus Eusebii, titulus Caeciliae first and titulus sanctae Caeciliae later, titulus Sabinae and titulus sanctae Sabinae [cf. H. Delehaye, Sanctus, Bruxelles 1927, pp. 149-50; id., Les origines du culte des martyrs, 1933, pp. 296-98]); at other times the patron is different from the conditor tituli: thus the titulus Lucinae became the title of St. Lawrence, St. Vitalis is the ancient titulus Vestinae, Sts. John and Paul replaced the titulus Pammachius. The founders became the patrons of their churches.
Another usage, which gradually became general to the point of becoming a law, now codified in liturgical books (cf. Rituale Romanum, tit. II, c. 11, n. 30), is the adoption of the name of a saint at Baptism, so that the saint may be a valid protector of life. This practice is closely related to the custom of a client taking the name of his patron. The earliest testimony is that of Dionysius of Alexandria (d. 265), who notes that the names of Peter and Paul were very common among the faithful of his time, and that formerly the same must have been true of the name of John, in emulation of his virtues (Eusebius, Hist. ecc., 7, 25, 14). St. John Chrysostom also urges his faithful to prefer the names of saints, who have great power with God. “Children are given the names of martyrs,” says Theodorus, “to secure for 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 SAINT
The choice of the patron saint occurred for various reasons. The birth, apostolate, or martyrdom of a saint in a place, or an extraordinary miracle performed there, or the possession of a notable relic, determined the choice of the patron. Often the patron is the first bishop of the city, as founder of the Church in that place. Urban VIII on 3 March 1592 (S. Congr. dei Riti, Decreta auth., 526; cf. also 555) established: 1) that the saint to be chosen as patron must be canonized; 2) that the election must be made by the people with the consent of the bishop and clergy; 3) that such election must be approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites. Current legislation (can. 1278, cf. also can. 1247 § 2) substantially reflects these norms.In the election, the clergy and people, civil authorities, and religious considerations were to be involved. Much weight was given to the civil element, because at that time the people took a great part in ecclesiastical affairs, and moreover because the adoption of a patron implied a festum de praecepto (a day of obligation), an obligation that had to be agreed upon jointly. As times changed and the day of obligation was abolished, the people’s involvement was greatly reduced, though it still exists in theory. On the other hand, popular involvement is not required for the election of moral patrons, which are of more recent origin, being declared directly by the pope, or at the initiative of some bishop, or to satisfy 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 greatly increased in recent times. Here are those of the universal Church: St. Aloysius Gonzaga, patron of students (1729, Benedict XIII; and 1926, Pius XI); St. Joseph, of the universal Church (8 Dec. 1870); St. Thomas Aquinas, of universities, colleges, and Catholic schools (4 Aug. 1880); St. Vincent de Paul, of all charitable associations (12 May 1885); Sts. Camillus de Lellis and John of God, of hospitals and the sick (22 June 1886) and of nurses (1930, Pius XI); St. Peter Claver, of missions among Negroes (1896, Leo XIII); St. Paschal Baylon, of Eucharistic congresses and confraternities of the Most Holy Sacrament (28 Nov. 1897); St. Francis Xavier, of the work of the Propagation of the Faith (25 March 1904); St. John Chrysostom, of sacred oratories (8 July 1908); St. Ignatius of Loyola, of spiritual exercises (25 July 1922); St. Leonard of Port Maurice, of popular missions among Catholics (17 March 1923); St. Francis de Sales, of Catholic writers and journalists (26 Apr. 1923); St. Bernard of Menthon, of mountaineers and inhabitants and travelers of the Alps (20 Aug. 1923); St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, of missions in pagan lands (14 Dec. 1927); St. John Vianney, of parish priests (23 Apr. 1929); St. Michael the Archangel, of radiologists and radiotherapists (15 Jan. 1941); St. Albert the Great, of scholars of natural sciences (16 Dec. 1941); St. Joseph Calasanz, of popular schools (13 Aug. 1948); St. Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori, of confessors and moralists (26 Apr. 1950); St. John Baptist de La Salle, of Catholic teachers (15 May 1950); St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, of emigrants (8 Sept. 1950). And here are some of the more recent patrons for Italy: St. Matthew, patron of the Guardia di Finanza (10 Apr. 1935); Sts. Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena, primary patrons (18 June 1939); St. Francis of Paola, of seafarers and shipping companies (17 March 1943); St. Catherine of Siena, of nurses, and St. Catherine of Genoa, of hospitals (15 Sept. 1943); St. John Bosco, of Italian publishers (25 May 1946); Madonna of Castellazzo, of motorcyclists (11 Feb. 1947); Madonna of Montenero, of all Tuscany (5 May 1947); St. Michael the Archangel, of the public security forces (29 Apr. 1949); Blessed Virgin of Ghisallo, of cyclists (13 Oct. 1949); Blessed Virgin Mary “Virgo fidelis,” of the Carabinieri (11 Nov. 1949); St. Martin of Tours, patron of the infantry (21 May 1951).
In the Middle Ages various classes and professions had their patron saints, though these varied from place to place. Here is a list of those most universally accepted: farmers, St. Isidore the Farmer; silversmiths, St. Andronicus; lawyers, St. Ivo; motorists, St. Christopher; gravediggers, Sts. Tobias and St. Joseph of Arimathea; hunters, St. Hubert; shoemakers, Sts. Crispin and Crispinian; charcoal burners, St. Alexander; jailers, Sts. Hippolytus, St. Processus and Martinian; actors, Sts. Genesius and St. Vitus; domestic servants, St. Zita; tax collectors, bankers, money changers, St. Matthew; carpenters, St. Joseph; foresters, St. John Gualbert; philosophers, Sts. Justin and St. Catherine of Alexandria; gardeners, St. Fiacrius; jurists, St. Raymond of Peñafort; nurses, Sts. John of God and St. Camillus de Lellis; bookbinders, Sts. Peter Celestine and St. John of God; midwives, St. Raymond Nonnatus; mothers of families, St. Anne, Bl. Anna Maria Taigi; teachers, Sts. Cassian and St. John Baptist de La Salle; seafarers, Sts. Nicholas of Bari and St. Francis of Paola; physicians, St. Luke, Sts. Cosmas and Damian; miners, St. Barbara; musicians, Sts. Gregory the Great and St. Cecilia; goldsmiths and jewelers, St. Eligius; fishermen, Sts. Peter and Andrew; painters, St. Luke; tailors, St. Homobonus; knife grinders, St. Stephen; telecommunications workers, St. Gabriel the Archangel; weavers, St. Onuphrius; widows, St. Frances of Rome.
Other saints are commonly invoked as protectors in various needs: for sea voyages, St. Francis Xavier; in desperate cases, St. Gregory Thaumaturgus; to recover lost things, St. Anthony of Padua; for a happy death, St. Joseph; for children, Sts. Francis of Paola and St. Rita; against thieves and theft, the Good Thief Dismas; against lightning and thunderbolts, St. Barbara; in impossible cases, St. Rita; to find a husband, St. Paschal Baylon.
Certain saints are finally invoked for particular illnesses or calamities: to be healed of apoplexy, St Andrew Avellino; from demonic infestations, St Ubald; from scruples, St Ignatius of Loyola; from calumnies, St Onofrius; from the plague, St Roch; from earthquakes, St Emidius; from error, St Catald; from leg ulcers, St Peregrine; from eye ailments, St Lucy; from toothache, St Apollonia; from sore throat, St Blaise; from headache, St Peter Martyr; from hoarseness, St Bernardino of Siena; against dog bites, St Hubert; from murmuring and slander, St John Nepomucene; against falls, St Venantius.
V. LITURGY
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, provincial council or the whole Church. The latter are patrons of certain classes of persons, religious, social or charitable works, initiatives, associations and moral entities. Not infrequently there are several patrons, one principal, the others equally principal or secondary.Local patrons differ from moral ones in the manner of election and in their privileges. The principal or equally principal local patron enjoys the rite of the 1st class (to which all the local clergy, including religious, are bound), with a common octave; has a privileged votive Mass when his feast, impeded, is transferred to another day; has the right to the Creed and other particularities enumerated by liturgists (cf., e.g., C. Callewaert, Institutiones liturgicae, II, De Officio divino, Bruges 1931, pp. 267-69). Secondary local patrons are venerated with a major double rite. Moral patrons, on the other hand, have no liturgical privileges. Papal documents that expressly mention the former make no mention of the latter. Once these privileges varied from one patron to another. With the reform of Pius X all patrons enjoy equal privileges.
Patrons are distinguished from titulars (v.).