What even are patron saints?

Search: patron saints history

Why: According to this Bacon Bits fact sheet Chandler sent:

Saint Anthony the Abbot (aka Saint Anthony the Great) is the patron saint of pigs, swine herders, and butchers. As such, he has been dubbed "The Patron Saint of Bacon." He is also the patron saint of epilepsy, amputees, shingles, gravediggers, hermits, lost items, and Canas, Brazil.

Answer: They are intercessors! According to Catholics:

Seeking the intercession of a patron saint does not mean that one cannot approach God directly in prayer; rather, it's like asking a friend to pray for you to God, while you also pray—except, in this case, the friend is already in Heaven.

I don't really want to summarize all this stuff, so here is how it all started:

• The practice of adopting patron saints goes back to the building of the first public churches in the Roman Empire, most of which were built over the graves of martyrs. The churches were then given the name of the martyr, and the martyr was expected to act as an intercessor for those who worshiped there. They soon began to dedicate churches to other holy men and women—saints—who were not martyrs. Today, they still place some relic of a saint inside the altar of each church and then dedicate that church to a patron. That's why a church is St. Mary's or St. Peter's or St. Paul's.
• Patron saints of churches (or regions or countries) were generally chosen because of some connection of that saint to that place—he had preached there, died there, or something. As Christianity spread to areas with few martyrs or canonized saints, it became common to dedicate a church to a saint who was especially venerated by the founders of the church. Thus, US immigrants chose for their churches the saints who had been venerated in their native lands.
• By the Middle Ages, the practice of adopting patron saints had spread beyond churches to "the ordinary interests of life, his health, and family, trade, maladies, and perils, his death, his city and country." Thus, St. Joseph became the patron saint of carpenters, St. Cecilia of musicians, etc. Saints were usually chosen as patrons of occupations that they had actually held or that they had patronized during their lives.
• Patron saints for diseases often suffered from the malady assigned to them or cared for those who did. Sometimes, though, martyrs were chosen as the patron saints of diseases which were reminiscent of their martyrdom. For example, St. Agatha was chosen as the patron of those with diseases of the breast, since her breasts were cut off when she refused marriage to a non-Christian.

Re: St. Anthony's relationship to pigs:

Skin diseases were sometimes treated with applications of pork fat, which reduced inflammation and itching. As Anthony’s intervention aided in the same conditions, he was shown in art accompanied by a pig.



People who saw the art work, but did not have it explained, thought there was a direct connection between Anthony and pigs - and people who worked with swine took him as their patron.

Other fun patron saints:

• Accountants - St. Matthew
• Actors - St. Genesius
• Comedians - St. Vitus
• Compulsive Gambling - St. Bernardine of Siena
  
• Earaches - St. Polycarp
  
• Editors - St. John Bosco
• Florists - St. Dorothy
• Hairdressers - St. Martin de Porres
  
• Housewives - St. Martha
• Internet - St. Isidore of Seville
• Pawnbrokers - St. Nicholas
• Taxi Drivers - St. Fiacre
• Venereal Disease - St. Fiacre

Source: About.com: Catholocism, Saints.SQPN.com, American Catholic

The More You Know: Are you still thinking about bacon? Me too. There is a good reason why wet chewy Canadian bacon is rill different from delicious crunchy USA bacon: