Patron Saints of Professions and the Stories Behind Them

Catholics have long asked particular saints to pray for particular kinds of work. Accountants turn to St. Matthew, the tax collector Jesus called from his booth. Lawyers have St. Thomas More and St. Ivo. Cooks have St. Lawrence and St. Martha, and funeral directors have St. Joseph of Arimathea, who gave Jesus his own tomb.

Most of these patronages grew up by tradition, usually from something in the saint’s life or legend. A few were formally declared by a pope. This list sticks to professions that match the kinds of businesses in our directory, and it marks which patronages a pope declared, which grew up by tradition, and which rest on a story the Church itself treats with caution.

How a saint becomes the patron of a profession

There’s no single process. Most patronages start with a natural connection: a saint did the same work (Luke was a physician, Joseph a carpenter) or a well-known episode linked the saint to a trade. Over centuries, guilds, confraternities and ordinary workers adopted these saints, and the custom stuck.

Sometimes a pope makes it formal. In 2000, St. John Paul II issued an apostolic letter in which he declared St. Thomas More “the heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians,” after requests from heads of state, politicians and bishops. In 1923, Pope Pius XI’s encyclical Rerum Omnium Perturbationem named St. Francis de Sales “the Heavenly Patron of all Writers.”

Either way, a patron saint isn’t a lucky charm or a job-specific deity. Catholics ask saints to pray for them the way they’d ask a trusted friend (the same communion of saints the Church celebrates on All Saints Day), and a patron is simply a friend who knows something about your work.

Patron saints of professions at a glance

Money, law and public life

St. Matthew: accountants, bankers and bookkeepers

Matthew collected taxes for the Roman occupiers, a job that made him widely despised. Jesus called him anyway, and Matthew “got up and followed him” (Matthew 9:9). Franciscan Media lists him as patron of accountants, bankers, bookkeepers and tax collectors. For anyone who handles other people’s money, he’s a reminder that honesty is part of the vocation.

St. Ivo and St. Thomas More: lawyers

St. Ivo (also called Yves) was born in Brittany in 1253, studied civil and canon law, and served as a church judge. His charity earned him the title “advocate and patron of the poor,” and he was canonized in 1347. The old Catholic Encyclopedia records a Latin verse lawyers have teased each other with for centuries: “Sanctus Ivo erat Brito, Advocatus et non latro, Res miranda populo.” Roughly: St. Ivo was a Breton, a lawyer and not a thief, and the people marveled at it.

St. Thomas More, the English lawyer and chancellor beheaded in 1535 after refusing to approve Henry VIII’s divorce and his claim to head the Church in England, is honored by attorneys and court staff as well. His formal patronage, from John Paul II, is of statesmen and politicians.

St. Homobonus: business people

Homobonus was a cloth merchant in Cremona, Italy, who died on November 13, 1197, while at Mass. Pope Innocent III canonized him barely a year later, in 1199. In a 1997 letter marking the anniversary, John Paul II described him as the “heavenly merchant” and noted that people called him “father of the poor.” We’ve written more about him in Business Wisdom from St. Homobonus.

Health care

St. Luke and Sts. Cosmas and Damian: doctors

St. Paul calls Luke “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14), and tradition has made the Gospel writer the patron of physicians and surgeons, as well as artists. Cosmas and Damian were twin physicians martyred, probably around 287, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. It says they “accepted no pay for their services” and were called the anargyroi, “the silverless.”

St. Apollonia: dentists

Apollonia was a respected Christian woman of Alexandria, probably a deaconess, martyred around 249. Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria, in a letter the historian Eusebius preserved, wrote that a mob “by repeated blows broke all her teeth” before she died in the fire they had built. She is usually pictured holding a tooth in a pair of pincers, and dentists and people with toothaches have long asked her prayers.

St. Camillus de Lellis and St. John of God: nurses and hospitals

Both men gave their lives to caring for the sick. Camillus founded a religious congregation for that work, and the helpers drawn to John of God formed the Brothers Hospitallers after his death. Franciscan Media notes that Camillus, along with John of God, “has been named patron of hospitals, nurses, and the sick.” According to New Advent’s edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia, Pope Leo XIII made John of God patron of hospitals and the dying, and in 1930 Pope Pius XI named the two men co-patrons of nurses. Franciscan Media also lists St. Agatha as a patron of nurses.

Food, trades and the land

St. Lawrence and St. Martha: cooks and servers

St. Lawrence, a deacon of Rome martyred in 258, is the traditional patron of cooks because of the story that he was roasted to death on a gridiron. That story is a good example of why it helps to separate history from legend: the Catholic Encyclopedia notes that the gridiron account “gives rise to grave doubts.” His martyrdom is certain. The details are less so.

St. Martha is the busy hostess of Luke 10, the one who welcomed Jesus into her home. Franciscan Media lists her as patron of cooks, homemakers and restaurant servers, which makes her a natural choice for anyone who works in hospitality.

St. Joseph and St. Eligius: carpenters, builders and metalworkers

St. Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth, is patron of carpenters and of workers generally. Pope Pius XII added the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, May 1, in 1955. St. Eligius was a seventh-century goldsmith who became a bishop. The Catholic Encyclopedia calls him “the patron of goldsmiths, blacksmiths, and all workers in metal,” which makes him a fitting patron for welders and others in the metal trades.

St. Isidore the Farmer

Isidore was a Spanish farm laborer who died in 1130 and who went to Mass every morning before work. He is patron of farmers and rural laborers, and of the U.S. National Rural Life Conference, according to Franciscan Media.

Funeral service, teaching, writing and travel

St. Joseph of Arimathea: funeral directors

Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus, wrapped it with Nicodemus, and laid it in his own new tomb (Mark 15:43 to 46). Franciscan Media says that for these reasons “Joseph is considered the patron saint of funeral directors and pallbearers.”

St. John Baptist de La Salle and St. Francis de Sales

John Baptist de La Salle founded the Brothers of the Christian Schools, whose community opened one of the first training colleges for teachers. In 1950, Pope Pius XII named him patron of schoolteachers. St. Francis de Sales, the gentle bishop of Geneva whose letters and books were aimed at ordinary lay people, is patron of writers by Pius XI’s declaration and is widely honored by journalists too.

St. Christopher and St. Frances of Rome: travelers and drivers

Much of what people know about St. Christopher comes from legend, such as the story of his carrying the Christ Child across a river, but the Catholic Encyclopedia holds that a real martyr named Christopher existed. He’s popularly invoked by travelers and drivers, and Franciscan Media writes of his “talent for keeping worried travelers at peace.” Our article on Saint Christopher’s legend and devotion sorts out what’s known. Franciscan Media also lists St. Frances of Rome as patron of motorists.

Bringing a patron saint into your workday

You don’t need anything elaborate. Some Catholics keep a small image or medal of their patron at a desk or in a truck. Others mark the saint’s feast day with a short prayer before a staff meeting, or simply ask, “St. Matthew, pray for us,” before closing the books for the month. Our article on prayer practices for Catholic business leaders has more ideas that fit a working day.

If your trade isn’t listed above, St. Joseph is always a good choice, since he spent his life working with his hands to support his family. You can also choose a saint whose life speaks to you for some other reason. A patronage doesn’t have to be official to be a real friendship in prayer.

Sources and further reading

• John Paul II, apostolic letter proclaiming St. Thomas More patron of statesmen and politicians (2000)
• Pius XI, Rerum Omnium Perturbationem (1923)
• John Paul II, letter on the 800th anniversary of St. Homobonus’s canonization (1997)
• Franciscan Media: Saints Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus
• Catholic Encyclopedia (1910): St. Yves (Ivo)
• Catholic Encyclopedia (1910): St. Lawrence

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