The Comprehensive Dictionary of Patron Saints

By Pablo Ricardo Quintana

If youre unsure of which patron saint to call on when confronting obstacles, then you need this ready reference.

Arranged alphabetically by subject and by saint, it includes thousands of listings and hundreds of holy advocates. Youll discover one hundred and fifty titles for the Blessed Virgin Mary resulting in more than seven thousand invocations.

Youll learn about saints from the British Isles, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Mexico, Northern Europe, South America, Spain, and elsewhere. Almost every country has a patron saint, and some have several.

The saint most commonly invoked for particular needs is marked by bold script, but youll also become acquainted with lesser-known saints that you can invoke. Youll find patrons for sinners, such as thieves; patrons for children, including by gender and type; patrons for various types of animals; patrons for different ailments; and many more.

The Comprehensive Dictionary of Patron Saints is invaluable for authors, churches, libraries, and the faithful seeking to conduct research, answer questions, and overcome lifes most difficult challenges.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jun 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491734407

Pablo Ricardo Quintana

Pablo Ricardo Quintana earned a bachelor’s degree in French Literature from the University of New Mexico and did graduate work at the Sorbonne in Paris and at UNM. In addition to hagiography, he’s interested in genealogy, New Mexico history, and a variety of other subjects. He’s retired and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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Copyright © 2014 Pablo Ricardo Quintana .

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-3439-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-3440-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014909234

iUniverse rev. date: 06/24/2014

Contents

Abbreviations Used

Dedication

Introduction

What Is A Patron Saint?

Why New Mexico?

Why Not Pray To God Directly?

What About The Decanonized Saints?

Holy Advocates In Alphabetical Order

Bibliography

THIS BOOK IS INTENDED AS A READY REFERENCE FOR those seeking to know which patron saint to call on for a given topic. For example, if you are a mother with a child suffering from colic, you need to find the subject quickly. I hope this will provide the information you require. I notice that many fiction writers offer color by indicating the patron saint appropriate to the subject at hand. For example, John Grisham, in The Runaway Jury, tells us that Saint Catherine of Alexandria is the patron Saint of jurors. This book should provide an assist for them in their research. In addition, this should prove useful for pastors or bookstores to assist those who inquire.

Most listings, often as an addendum at the end of a book of hagiographies (stories of the lives of Saints), list their patronages by saint, which is not very practical when you want to see who is the right person for the topic in which you may be interested. Since there are so many saints that are invoked throughout the world, I have tried to list them all, rather than provide the one most commonly invoked.

This book provides the most comprehensive listing available of patron saints, arranged alphabetically by subject and by Saint. Moreover, every country is given the saint or saints popular in that place. No listing is as comprehensive as this one. This book includes over 2500 listings and over 1200 holy advocates, which include 150 titles for the Blessed Virgin Mary, resulting in over 7000 invocations. These have been collected from the British Isles, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Mexico, North America, Northern Europe, South America and Spain. While certainly incomplete, it includes:

•  protected groups,

•  dangers and illnesses protected from,

•  most professions and trades,

•  the fifty United States,

•  many major cities,

•  most countries of the world,

•  Apostles to countries and peoples.

•  Suggested referrals for illnesses not given a specific patron saint

Collected By Pablo Ricardo Quintana

Abbreviations Used

[A] - Invoked Against Some Illness or Evil

Bold Names - Most Commonly Invoked of Choices Given

BVM - Blessed Virgin Mary

[F/A] – For or Against an evil or illness

NDD - Notre Dame de (French for OLO)

NSD - Nuestra Señora de (Spanish or Portuguese for OLO)

OLO - Our Lady Of, Our Lord of

OLOT - Our Lady of The, Our Lord of The

OT - of the (As in John OT Cross)

TG - The Great, The Greater

TL - The Lesser, i.e. James TL

* - One of the Fourteen Holy Helpers

Dedication

THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TO THE LADY WHO PRAYED for me all my life and continues to take care of me even now, Saint Eutimia Quintana, my mother. I also dedicate this to a good man, my father, Sostenes Quintana. I pray that Saint Michael will add this work to my side of the scales when it is my turn to stand before the throne. RPQ

Introduction

MS. KOENIG-BRICKER BEGINS HER BOOK 365 SAINTS BY stating how much she loves and admires the saints, not so much for being saints, but for having become saints in spite of having been an ordinary person in life. This is precisely my feeling as well. It is the humanity of these people that brings me to an admiration and love for them. I remember St. Margaret Clitherow, who is described as beautiful, vivacious and loving. Yet, she willingly died to save others. When accused of being Catholic in Protestant England, she refused to plead either guilty or not, lest she implicate her family and friends, and underwent death by having weights placed on her chest, to get her to plead, until she died under a weight of 800 lbs. What a wonderful woman. The Canadian martyrs, humans just like us, underwent horrible tortures for their faith until they died. I ask myself if I would have the same courage as they and fear what the answer may be. It is not without reason that all the saints are called heroic. For, they all heard God’s call and answered it above and beyond what one would expect of an ordinary person. They are all wonderful.

So, how did I come to create this dictionary? I began this hobby many years ago. Actually, I’ve been interested in Patron Saints all of my life, but I did not take this seriously until my sister, who was dieting at the time, asked me for the patron saint for overweight people. I began searching and found nothing for this. I suggested St. Thomas Aquinas considering that he was very overweight himself and would certainly sympathize with someone who was trying to lose weight. (As a child he was reviled and called the Little Ox. As an adult, they had to cut away a portion of the table so he could reach his food. He was a good candidate.) So, I began my list. Now, through my research, I find that it is appropriate to call on St. Leonard for this. In Mexico, being overweight is called el mal de San Leonardo (St. Leonard’s evil). Nevertheless, I left St. Thomas in, as he is still invoked by some people for this purpose.

Therefore, you will notice that for each subject, where there are two or more choices, the one most commonly invoked is highlighted in bold script. The reader is free to invoke the most commonly invoked saint for his or her needs, or, he/she may select a lesser known saint. Perhaps a better response will be had this way. The choice is up to the individual.

The exception in giving a bold title to the most commonly invoked is for geographical locations where the patrons are all honored equally and no choice is needed. Most countries of the world have a patron saint, usually Our Lady under one title or another. I have included all those that I have come across. I do not doubt that there is a patron for every single location in the world, but I do not know them all. (There seems to be no patron saint for Israel, but they do have their Old Testament patriarchs and prophets.) For a time, I was concerned that there was no one listed for Austria, one of the most Catholic of countries. Finally, I found their eight patrons. France, it seems, wins at having the most patron saints. Every apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in their territory gets added to the list. At last count they have eleven patrons.

During my search, I noticed that most of the listings were in order by Saint’s name. This was not very useful if one is looking for a given subject. That is when I decided to create a Dictionary, for my own reference, which would provide the listing both by Saint and by subject. Someone suggested that I should publish my listing and that is what I have provided here.

The credits I have listed in my bibliography are by no means complete. I have been collecting from so many sources that I could not identify them now. The books listed are just those in my library. In addition, as I find a new patron saint, whether by word of mouth, or otherwise, I just add it in. Many of my listings are from what would best be called tradition. I offer my apologies to anyone whom I did not properly credit.

I am certain that there are errors in my listing. Partly, this is because references for a given patronage do not specify the saint sufficiently. They may say that St. Anthony is patron of domestic animals, for example, but they don’t say whether it is St. Antony Abbot or St. Anthony of Padua. It happens that Saint Anthony of Padua is patron of horses, mules and donkeys, while Saint Antony Abbot is patron of all animals. St. Francis of Assisi is often invoked today primarly for convenience, I believe. Similar confusion arises between Sts. Bridget of Ireland and of Sweden, Sts. Nicolas of Myra and of Tolentino, the many Sts. Peter, John, Stephen and others. I have tried to apply the subject to the one most logical for it. So, if the subject is of stones, such as quarrying, I give it to St. Stephen Martyr, who was stoned to death, and not to St. Stephen of Hungary, who built churches. This is probably safest, but one never knows. If you find an obvious error, please bring it to my attention so that I may correct it.

Now, a word about spelling. There are many variant spellings for many of the Saints, particularly the older ones. For example, St. Elmo is also St. Erasmus, along with a variety of spellings. Besides that, spellings vary by language. St. Elizabeth is Santa Isabel in Spain and Santa Ysabel in Portugal. In most cases, I have used the most accessible spelling to modern ears. Thus, it is St. Gomer rather than Gummarus and St. Onofre or St. Humphrey rather than Onophrius. So, if you are looking for a specific saint from my listing in another book, be a little creative in your spelling.

I had intended to add a brief biography of each Saint in that section, but the project has grown so long and others have done so much better a job, I felt it would be more than I could handle. I recommend the Lives of the Saints by Butler, the Encyclopedia of Saints by Our Sunday Visitor or the Book of Saints by the monks of Saint Augustine, as listed in the bibliography, for this purpose. Most of the Saints listed can be found there. I settled by giving the feast day for each and his/her category of Sainthood. There were many obscure saints listed which I could not identify. The Internet has proved invaluable for this purpose. This is an excellent source for biographies of the Saints also. I have managed to reduce the unknown Saints to just a few, mostly those from the Knights Hospitaller. Any help identifying these people would be appreciated.

There will be those who will criticize me for some of my listings, particularly, for those Patrons given for sinners, such as gay men or thieves. My thinking is that they have as much right to have a patron saint as anyone else. Also, these traditions are perhaps as old as for some other subjects. Saint Sebastian has been patron of gays since the Middle Ages and right through the Renaissance.

It seems that there are more patrons for children than for any other subject, except perhaps illnesses. There are patrons by age, from baby to toddler to student. There are patrons by gender. There are patrons by type, such as orphans or choirboys. Finally, there are patrons by childhood illness or handicap. They are all listed here.

Similarly, the Blessed Virgin Mary has so many titles that I decided to list them together under the Saints listing, just after the ‘A’s, under ‘BVM’, for ‘Blessed Virgin Mary’. One reference I have come across (which I do not now recall) states that a listing exists of all of Mary’s titles, which exceeds three thousand. I have listed only those which have been brought to my attention for a particular patronage. These number about 150. Also, to make my job easier, I have abbreviated ‘Our Lady of’ to OLO, ‘Notre Dame de’ to NDD and ‘Nuestra Senora de’ to NSD. I have no doubt that there are many more titles with patronage. I will add them to the list as I receive them. If you know of one, please let me know.

(Next to Our Lady, the Saint with the most jobs is Saint Nicholas of Myra. He espouses more than 65 causes. Next to him are St. Barbara and St. Joseph with over 50 causes each. Our Lady wins geographically, as she is patron over most of the world under one title or another, but Saint Nicholas wins by category, since he covers all children and a great many professions. Fortunately, this is not a popularity contest.)

WHAT IS A PATRON SAINT?

Let me start out by saying that anyone can pray to any Saint at any time for whatever reason. It is just that through the years, since Christ established his Church, some Saints have become specialists at advocating certain causes.

Some of these are invoked because of some incident in their life that brings them to mind. For example, Saint Lucy was blinded during her martyrdom. She thus became patron over any problems people may have with their eyes. The same is true with Saint Agatha and her breasts. Since her breasts were removed during her martyrdom, she is invoked over any problems a woman might have with her breasts, including breast cancer, making her an important Saint today. What is interesting about Saint Agatha is that she is usually depicted with her breasts on a plate. Some people seeing such a statue, assumed they were bells. Thus, she became patroness over bell ringers and bell founders as well. A bee landed on the lips of Saint Ambrose when he was a baby without stinging him. He is patron of bees and beekeepers.

Others are made patrons by edict of the church. Thus, Saint Therese was made patron over foreign missions by the pope. Again, Saint Joseph of Cupertino is patron of air travelers and astronauts. (This is not without reason. After all, he is the flying saint, famous for his levitations.)

For some Saints it is their profession which qualifies them for a particular patronage. Saint Ives was a lawyer and is patron of lawyers, St. Margaret of Clitherow a businesswoman, St. Francis of Assisi a merchant prior to founding his order, and so on.

At this point, I would like to say that just about every Saint who was a monk, a nun or a hermit is recognized for his or her kindness to animals. For this reason, I included only those specified as patrons of some particular animal. Ms. Koenig-Bricker states that there are few patrons of animals, save St. Francis of Assisi. On the contrary, I find that there are patrons for just about any animal imaginable, from chickens and geese to dogs and cats…and whales. They are all listed.

Likewise, every Saint is invoked for illness. As a Matter of fact, each Saint is required to perform two miracles in order to be canonized and these miracles are usually cures. So, unless the patronage is specified, I did not include them all. The list would be endless.

Other Saints are invoked merely because their name recalls the problem. Poor St. Vivian is patron of those with drinking problems and for hangovers because her name is derived from the Latin root bibere, meaning to drink. Similarly, in France, St. Odo is invoked for rain because, in French, the name sounds like eau d’eau, meaning ‘water from water’. Saint Cloud, in French is pronounced cloo which sounds like clous, meaning nail, so he is patron of all occupations involving hammers.

Still others were selected as patrons by the various guilds that sprang up during the Middle Ages. That is why there are so many patron saints for the same profession. The same guild in a different city or a different country would select a different saint and so, we have thirteen different patron saints for brewers, twelve for bakers and so on.

Similarly, tradition will vary from country to country. Each country will favor its own. A good example is the plague. For protection from the plague, there are over 49 listed patrons. It makes sense. When you are hit with the plague, you will call on your own saints for help. The tradition is established and, as you go from city to city, you will find a different patron for plague in each.

Nevertheless, there are some puzzlers. Why for example is Saint John the Apostle given the job of caring for the feet? In Ireland, why do they pray to Saint Patrick over worry? Well, that kind of makes sense. He is their main Patron Saint and who better to lay