We are well aware of the patron saints of students, poor people, charity, and health workers. But if you are a motorcyclist, to whom you should pray for the intercession? If you are fond of swimming, do you know there is a patron saint for swimmers? If you are working as a Public Relations officer, who can be your best saint to ask for spiritual assistance? Here Catholicnews.in shares some unusual patron saints for your special needs.
- Saint Adjutor
During the First Crusade, the saint had escaped from Muslim captors by swimming (according to various stories, he either swam to Crusader territory or swam all the way to France or was recaptured and then transported back to France by Mary Magdalene), or else calmed a whirlpool that had emerged beside a boat he was traveling on. Hence he’s now considered the patron saint of swimmers and those in danger of drowning.
- Saint Balthasar
Medieval tradition held that the three kings who visited Jesus in the manger came from all corners of the Medieval world; Balthazar hailed from Africa—precisely Egypt. At the time, Romani card sharps and sideshow sleight-of-hand merchants were popular entertainers across Europe. As it was mistakenly believed that they came from Egypt (hence the name Gypsies) the Egyptian king—St. Balthasar—became the patron saint of playing card manufacturers.
- Saint Bernardino of Siena
St. Bernardino of Siena was so well known for his public preaching. He was so crowd-pleasing in the early 15th century that he’s now considered the patron saint of advertising and public relations.
- Saint Columbanus
St. Columbanus spent much of the 6th and 7th centuries roaming around Europe, and that love for the open space and roads led him to be considered the patron saint of motorcyclists.
- Saint Drogo
You love to spend time at a coffee house and it is quite normal. While sitting there have you ever thought of the patron saint of coffee houses? St. Drogo is the patron saint of coffee houses. He was afflicted with a mysterious ailment that made him physically repulsive; and he’s now considered also the patron saint of unattractive people.
- Saint Erasmus
St. Erasmus, Bishop of Formia in modern-day Italy, endured quite an ordeal during the persecution of the Christians by the Roman Empire in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Initially he was captured and imprisoned sometime in the late 200s; Erasmus is said to have been freed by an angel and fled to Turkey to continue his preaching. He was arrested a second time and his undying faith so angered Emperor Maximian that he had him beaten, whipped, placed in a barrel of spikes and rolled down a hill, covered in pitch and set alight, and finally—after he had somehow miraculously survived—his stomach was cut open and his intestines were wound around a winch. It’s for that latter torture that Erasmus is now considered the patron saint of stomach ailments, colic, and appendicitis.
- Saint Giles
A mother, nursing her baby, can pray to this saint. St. Giles is said to have lived as a hermit in the south of France in the later part of 7th century, nourishing himself only with the milk of a female deer. Therefore he is considered as the patron saint of breastfeeding.
- Saint Gummarus
St. Gummarus of Belgium lived in the 8th century and his wife, a local noblewoman named Guinmarie, was known for her shrewish and abusive behavior. Despite Gummarus’s attempts to salvage their relationship, they separated; and later he went on to found an abbey at Lier, he is considered patron saint of difficult marriages.
- Saint Januarius
The saint was a 3rd-century Bishop of Naples and his blood was preservd after his death in 305. The blood is the subject of a longstanding miracle that claims, despite its age, that it liquefies on three dates in the year: September 19, December 16, and the Saturday before the first Sunday in May. For that reason, Januarius is the patron saint of blood banks.
- Saint Julian the Hospitaller
St. Julian the Hospitaller’s name refers to the fact that he opened a hostel for travelers and dedicated his life to providing hospitality to the sick and needy—but only after he’d killed his parents in a twist on the story of Oedipus. For that reason, he’s the patron saint of murderers, should you ever need one.