Patron Saint

[Montie Claunch]

If I understand correctly, one receives a patron saint at baptism. I was Baptized outside the Church and later converted. Do I get to just pick a patron saint or is there some process I go through? Thanks and God bless.

[K-McD]

Originally Posted by Montie Claunch

If I understand correctly, one receives a patron saint at baptism. I was Baptized outside the Church and later converted. Do I get to just pick a patron saint or is there some process I go through? Thanks and God bless.

Have you filled out the proper paper work? Oh, the forms, the forms! No patron saint will be selected (or assigned) until the paper work is properly filled out. Good luck

[didymus]

Originally Posted by K-McD

Have you filled out the proper paper work? Oh, the forms, the forms! No patron saint will be selected (or assigned) until the paper work is properly filled out. Good luck

Don't kid, Montie is serious.

Montie, you may pick a favorite saint to be your patron, it doesn't have to be the saint you're named for. If you're in the health field, e.g., you could St. Luke could be your patron.
Your given (baptismal) is very often for a family member or other consideration. I was named Thomas for my grandfather & there are at least six St. Thomases, my favorite being the apostle.

You do get to choose your Confirmation name so you could take your patron for that.

[Veritas41]

Originally Posted by Montie Claunch

If I understand correctly, one receives a patron saint at baptism. I was Baptized outside the Church and later converted. Do I get to just pick a patron saint or is there some process I go through? Thanks and God bless.

You should have been asked to pick a patron saint (your confirmation name) when you were confirmed. When I went through RCIA there wasn't any formal process -- we were just asked to pick a saint or blessed, and at the Easter Vigil, when we were confirmed, we were asked to state our confirmation name (the name of our patron saint). I guess if you didn't do that, you can do that on your own. Personally, I think our patron saint chooses us

[jmcrae]

Originally Posted by Montie Claunch

If I understand correctly, one receives a patron saint at baptism. I was Baptized outside the Church and later converted.

In this case, it is unlikely that you received a patron Saint at Baptism. Typically this only happens at Catholic baptisms - the patron Saint is chosen by the god parents or by the parents.

Do I get to just pick a patron saint or is there some process I go through? Thanks and God bless.

Catholic children and previously baptized converts are permitted to choose their own "official" patron Saint at the time of Confirmation - as mentioned above, it's someone you pick at the time, and the name is recorded on your Confirmation certificate as part of your middle name.

For example, in my case, I chose St. Teresa of Avila, so at the time of my Confirmation I went from being Judith McRae to being Judith Teresa McRae. (It's especially encouraged to do this if your given name is not a Christian-sounding name.)

If that didn't happen, you can certainly have an unofficial patron Saint; there would just be no record of it with the Church, and the Saint's name wouldn't become part of your name - but I'm sure that that wouldn't matter to your Saint, and probably not to you, either, if you had not had the desire to do this at the time of your Confirmation.