Patron Saints (baptism, catholic, Christianity, Christian, Christ)

[SoyLeche]

What exactly is a Patron Saint? How does one attain this status? What are they supposed to do?

I have always heard the term, but have never understood it. I know there are probably differing views among the different denominations, so I put this in the more general Christianity Forum.

Any responses will be welcome

[James the Persian]

In our case, the first question I must ask is what you mean by a patron saint. Patron of what? If you mean a personal patron saint, these are the ones we are named after at baptism (or Chrismation if we converted in that way). We venerate them often and ask for their intercession and we believe that they look out for us. If you mean the patron saint of a country, this is roughly similar, except that it means that he is venerated by the country at large rather than individuals. If you mean something like the Roman Catholics have, patron of sailors, conbblers etc. we don't really have those. There are certain saints that are often venerated by certain professions (St George by soldiers, for instance) but they aren't officially assigned by anyone. This, though, is perhaps one of the significant (though minor) differences between us and the RCC. They tend to have a clearly defined process for these things run by the heirarchy. Ours is much more roots up and organic and determined by popular veneration.

James

[SoyLeche]

Since I am ignorant of the topic - I am talking about ANY Patron Saint.

Another question - What do you mean by 'venerated'?

[michel]

Originally Posted by SoyLeche

Since I am ignorant of the topic - I am talking about ANY Patron Saint.

Another question - What do you mean by 'venerated'?

St Chritopher is (or at least was) the Patron Saint of travellers; to venerate is to hold in high esteem, to honour...........

http://www.catholic.org/saints/ will give you the Catholic 'Take'