Patron Saint: How to Find Your Saint and Your Name Day

It is the will of the Church that everyone who is baptised should bear the name of a saint, even if they rarely use it. With the name, the Church gives the newly baptised an intercessor in heaven and a model for their own life. If you want to find your patron saint, you need three things: your baptismal name, the calendar of saints and a little care with names that several saints have borne. This guide shows the way according to the books of the Church before 1962, from the baptismal register through the Martyrology to your name day.

What is a patron saint?

A patron saint, in the sense of a name saint, is the saint whose name a Catholic has received in Holy Baptism. The Church sees in this saint both a model whom the baptised person should imitate and an intercessor who prays to God for him or her.

The Catholic Catechism of the German dioceses of 1955 puts it in two sentences: “Parents should give their child the name of a saint. This saint is then the child’s patron saint, its model and its intercessor” (translated from the German). In the lesson on the veneration of the saints, the resolution set before the child reads: “Above all I will get to know my patron saint, call upon him and imitate him” (translated from the German).

The veneration is directed not at the name as a sound, but at the saint who bore that name. Anyone called Joseph has an intercessor in the Spouse of Our Lady. Anyone called John may have the Baptist or the Apostle and Evangelist as patron. Which of the two is meant usually depends on whom the parents had in mind at the Baptism.

Why are Catholics given a saint’s name at Baptism?

At Baptism we receive a saint’s name so that the newly baptised has a model to imitate and a protector. This is the reason given by the Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent, and the Rituale Romanum impresses it on the baptising priest, as far as possible.

The Roman Catechism explains that finally a name is given to the baptised, “which should be taken from someone who, for his outstanding piety and fear of God, has been placed in the number of the saints” (translated from the German). Through the likeness of name, it says, many a person is encouraged to imitate that saint’s virtue and at the same time hopes that the saint will stand by him for the protection of his spiritual and bodily welfare.

The Rituale Romanum, the book of priestly rites, enjoins the parish priest not to give obscene, fabulous or ridiculous names, nor names of pagan gods or of godless heathens, sed potius, quatenus fieri potest, Sanctorum: but rather, as far as possible, names of saints, by whose example the faithful may be stirred to live devoutly and by whose intercession they may be protected (Tit. II, cap. 1, n. 70). St John Chrysostom already urged his hearers not simply to give their children the names of fathers and grandfathers, but the names of holy men who excelled in virtue.

“Finally a name is given to the baptised, which should be taken from someone who, for his outstanding piety and fear of God, has been placed in the number of the saints.”

Roman Catechism according to the decree of the Council of Trent, Part II, On Baptism, no. LXXIII (German edition, Passau 1853, p. 208 f.; translated from the German)

How do I find my patron saint?

You can find your patron saint in four steps: look up your baptismal name on your baptismal certificate, determine the original form of the name, look in the calendar of saints for saints of that name and, if there are several, choose the one your parents had in mind at your Baptism.

1. What counts is the name in the parish baptismal register, not the name you are called by. If the priest added a saint’s name, both names stand in the register according to can. 761. An extract, the baptismal certificate, is issued by the parish office of the parish where you were baptised.
2. Many everyday names are short or variant forms. In German, Hans goes back to Johannes (John), Sepp to Josef (Joseph), Lisa to Elisabeth (Elizabeth). What you look for is always the form under which the saint stands in the calendar.
3. The 1962 calendar of saints gives the feasts of the universal Church; the Martyrology adds numerous other saints for every day.
4. If several saints bear the same name, the one your parents had in mind at your Baptism is your patron. If this can no longer be found out, you may choose one of them and venerate him or her as your patron from then on.

An example of the fourth step: the 1962 calendar has St Teresa of Avila on 15 October and St Thérèse of the Child Jesus on 3 October. For John there are, among others, St John the Baptist on 24 June and the Apostle John on 27 December. A selection of saints as statues can be found in the collection Statues of saints.

What is the Roman Martyrology?

The Martyrologium Romanum, the official register of saints of the Roman Church, lists for every day of the year the martyrs and saints whom the Church commemorates, each with place and a short tribute. In choir it is read at Prime, every day except the last three days of Holy Week.

After the reform of the calendar Pope Gregory XIII had the Martyrology revised and prescribed it for the choral Office by the brief of 14 January 1584. Benedict XIV supplemented and corrected it in 1749. The rubrics lay down that it is read in choir at Prime before the verse Pretiosa, every day except the three days before Easter, and always on the eve, with the saints of the following day.

For 19 March it says: In Judaea natalis sancti Joseph sponsi beatissimae Virginis Mariae, in Judaea the birthday of St Joseph, Spouse of the most Blessed Virgin Mary, whom Pius IX declared Patron of the universal Church. By natalis, “birthday”, the Martyrology as a rule means the day of death, on which the saint was born into heaven. If you are looking for a name that is missing from the general calendar, you will often find it in the Martyrology.

“Habet enim Sanctorum innocentiae, charitatis, fortitudinis, ceterarumque virtutum commemoratio stimulos quosdam acerrimos, quibus tum maxime incitamur, cum, illorum propositis exemplis, nostram desidiam agnoscimus, quamque procul ab illorum laude et perfectione absumus, cogitamus.” For the remembrance of the innocence, charity, fortitude and other virtues of the saints holds certain very sharp spurs, by which we are most strongly roused when, with their example set before us, we recognise our own sloth and consider how far we are from their praise and perfection.

Gregory XIII, brief of 14 January 1584, printed in the Martyrologium Romanum, Rome 1902. Our translation

When is my name day?

Your name day is the feast of your patron saint in the Church’s year. According to the 1962 calendar it is kept on the day on which the Church celebrates the feast of that saint, quite independently of your own birthday and of the day of your Baptism.

The following selection gives the dates according to the Missale Romanum of 1962. Under the 1917 Code of Canon Law two of these feasts were even holy days of obligation for the whole Church: the feast of St Joseph and the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul (can. 1247 § 1).

If you would like to follow the Church’s year day by day, you will find the liturgical details according to the 1962 rubrics in the Catholic pocket calendar 2027 in our range. According to the product description it also gives the date of the liturgical lunar calendar according to Roman custom for the Martyrology.

What if there is no saint with my name?

If there is no saint with your name, first look in the baptismal register, because a second saint’s name may be recorded there. If there is none, you may choose a saint as your special patron, such as the saint of the day of your Baptism or your Confirmation patron.

The 1917 Code of Canon Law provided for this case. If parish priests cannot obtain a Christian name, they are to add the name of a saint to the name chosen by the parents and enter both names in the baptismal register (can. 761). So anyone with a modern first name may have a second, perhaps forgotten, patron.

Holy Confirmation offers a further opportunity. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1911 reports that it has become customary to take a new name at Confirmation, at which, as at Baptism, a sponsor stands by. The Confirmation patron then joins the patron saint received at Baptism.

How do you honour your patron saint?

You honour your patron saint by getting to know his or her life, by calling upon your patron daily for intercession and by imitating his or her virtues. A picture or statue in the home and keeping your name day keep the bond with your patron alive throughout the year.

Old prayer books include the patron in daily prayer. The catechism of Joseph Deharbe of 1871 includes in the morning prayer the petition: “Holy patron saint and all dear saints of God, pray for me” (translated from the German). The indulgence collection Preces et pia opera of 1952 contains under no. 581 the short prayer Caelestis Patrone, cuius nomine glorior, “Heavenly patron, in whose name I glory”. Its Latin wording: Caelestis Patrone, cuius nomine glorior, semper precare pro me apud Deum: in fide confirma; in virtute robora; in pugna tuere, ut victor de hoste maligno gloriam aeternam consequi merear. Amen.

Whoever prays it devoutly can gain an indulgence of 300 days, and whoever prays it daily for a month a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions. These conditions are sacramental confession, Holy Communion, a visit to a church or public oratory and a prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father. The indulgence is tied to the Latin wording or to a translation approved by the Church (CIC 1917, can. 934 § 2).

O holy N., in Baptism I received your glorious name. Thereby you have become in a special way my protector and intercessor in heaven, but also my model, whom I as a Catholic Christian am to imitate. Help me to keep my baptismal promises with unshakeable fidelity, to preserve the light of faith and one day to come before the judgement seat of God in the garment of innocence and grace. I will always keep your shining example before my eyes and follow it, so that I may do honour to your holy name and one day share with you the fellowship of eternal life. Amen.

Prayer to one’s holy patron saint, from: Heiliges Volk. Gebete und Gesänge zum Gottesdienst für das Bistum St. Pölten, 6th edition, St. Pölten 1960, p. 293 (translated from the German)

Mentioned in this article St Joseph with the Child Jesus Wall picture on matt photo card in A5 or A4, without frame, packed by hand. View the wall picture

Frequently asked questions about patron saints