Choosing your saint (Confirmation or otherwise) (or vice versa)

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty, ,

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the idea of choosing a patron saint, or having that saint choose you (see my post about St. Anne), and how that relates to choosing names for your children, or for yourself for Confirmation or when taking a religious name.

In that vein, I liked this article giving advice on how to choose a Confirmation name: How to Choose a Confirmation Saint. I thought this bit of advice is something I often forget, and probably others do too?: “The first thing you should do is pray. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance in choosing a saint that will be best for you.” I think that’s where it all converges, all the choosing and being chosen, in patron saints and baby names and Confirmation names and all of life really. I know you know.

This article was really great too, reiterating all that was said in the article above, including pray pray pray, and some further ideas as well: How to “Choose” a Patron Saint. This was well worded: “There is a saying in the Church that we do not choose our saints; they choose us. But as in all things, we allow the Holy Spirit to work more fully when we cooperate with God’s grace. To do this, we must keep an open mind and heart, and prayerfully listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit” (emphasis as in original).

I’d love to hear what names you chose for Confirmation, and why. Are you happy with your choice? If you had it to do over, would you choose the same name, or something different?

32 thoughts on “Choosing your saint (Confirmation or otherwise) (or vice versa)”

  1. My Confirmation name is Ann for Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. My middle name was already Elizabeth, so I picked Ann. I always had a devotion to her because I grew up in Maryland and we used to go to her Shrine a lot on weekend drives. I even have a second class relic from her that my grandfather gave me. One of her causes is converts, which my husband is, so I think that is neat. I guess it could be weird that I took on her middle name as a Confirmation name, since I already had her first name, that did concern me at times that it wasn’t valid. But I figure the intent behind it is clear enough.

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    • Oh sure! I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be valid? I love it, what a meaningful choice for you, and how cool that she’s a patron of converts (I didn’t know that!) and you married one!

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  2. I chose Zita as my confirmation name 🙂 Zita was a servant starting at the age of 12, for a family in Lucca, and for a long time she was despised by both her employer and fellow servants. Her employers also overburdened her with work. But even though she was treated so poorly she still had love in her heart for her abusers and still had inner peace with God. Eventually, her employers recognized her goodness, and put her in charge of the household. She would give away her own food to the poor as well. Also, one morning it’s said that when she was supposed to be baking bread she went out to help someone in need, and when other servants entered the kitchen and saw angels baking bread for Zita.

    Her story really spoke to 13 year old me (and still speaks to me actually). I was horribly bullied all through my childhood, and when I read that she was basically bullied, I related to that, and hoped that I would be able to love my bullies as she loved her. She was also extremely faithful (like all Saints were) and I wanted that as well.

    What drew me to her at first was that I had never heard of her and that she had a cool name (all of my friends were picking Theresa and Elizabeth which a beautiful names, but were not cool enough for me). I then read her story, and it’s just always stuck with me.

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  3. I chose St. Clare as my confirmation saint by a really random happenstance. I was wandering in a bookstore and ran across a prayer book center on her life in the wrong section. I picked it up on a whim and knew she would be my saint.

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  4. I was chrismated in the Orthodox Church before my family became Catholic when I was 4 or 5, so I was never confirmed separately. My “confirmation name” is just my own name, Grace. I consider myself a cradle Catholic although technically I am a convert. As a child young girl, I loved St. Joseph & St. Agnes, and St. Therese a bit later. But more recently, I have especially loved Bl. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Martha, St. Therese (always), and St. Francis Xavier. If I could choose my own confirmation saint today, I think I’d choose St. Martha.

    A few years ago we were able to attend an event with a huge collection (hundreds) of relics. While praying at each relic, my daughter said she felt a hot, tingly feeling before the relic of St. Peter and that’s when she knew he would be her confirmation saint.

    My son has chosen St. Maximilian Kolbe because his story moves him.

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  5. I chose Veronica for my Confirmation name. For two reasons. The first being that it was my Great-Nana’s middle name, and her daughter, my much beloved Nana’s Confirmation name. I also chose it because it reminds me that you should give all that you can to help others in any given moment. When Veronica’s path crossed with Jesus as he carried the cross, she gave him what she could to comfort him – a veil with which he could wipe his face. She gave all she had in that moment to bring him some comfort. It’s not an earth-shattering thing she did, in fact a very simple act. But it’s those simple acts of kindness that often bring the most comfort to people. That is how I aspire to live my life and choosing the name not only honored my family, but serves as a reminder to serve others. When my first daughter was born we gave her Veronica for a middle name to honor my Nana (and her mother).

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  6. I was a convert a few years ago while still nursing my daughter and pregnant with my son. I chose St. Perpetua because not only was she a martyr, but a nursing martyr. I also admire her for being a writer.

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  7. My Confirmation name is Cecilia, because music, especially piano playing, was (and is) such a huge part of my life. She was the one I prayed to the most before I started having children!

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  8. Love these stories!

    I think St Clare chose me… I was born the day before her feast, and I’ve had a string of influential Claras and Claires throughout my life. I had a deep interest in her life all throughout my childhood and even looked into joining the Poor Clares.

    And St Isidore chose my husband and I. We prayed a novena to him before our wedding, and on our wedding day we found a stained glass window of him in the chapel! And someone wrote/painted an icon of him for our wedding gift. We dedicated our oldest son (middle name), and our farm to him.

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  9. All this talk about confirmation kindles my hopes of more bishops resetting the confirmation age to before First Holy Communion. I am tempted to get a PO box in Denver just so my kids can get confirmed earlier than later 🙂

    I was confirmed when I was 12. Hubby was raised in the Ukrainian Rite and received all his sacraments after birth, Lucky duck!, and was given the name David for his confirmation name. I chose Agnes because I was attracted to her bravery, her determination to stay true to her vow to God, her being truly in love with God, and to wanting her purity stained. Her wanting to maintain her purity was probably most attractive because all the young women I looked up to had given themselves up before marriage and I was the next “oldest” female in line in our circle. Not only was it important to me for whomever my future husband was, but it was important to me that all the young girls to follow me had someone they could really look up to. I also thought it flowed well with my given first and middle name 😉 I almost chose Lucy and I really loved Perpetua, but after much prayer, I kept coming back to Agnes.

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  10. I chose St. Joan of Arc because she had the absolute coolest story I’d ever heard. I thought she was the bravest, most resolute woman in history. Years later, as a senior in college, I started dating the man who would eventually be my husband. After we had been dating maybe a year, he casually happened to mention his confirmation saint, which hadn’t come up before. It was…drumroll please…St. Joan of Arc. I fell in love with him all over again.

    Fast forward three years and we were signing the birth certificate of Petra Jeanne, our oldest. I guess Joan of Arc is a little bit of an unusual choice for a family patron, but what can we say–SHE chose US!

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  11. I’m a convert and the pastor at my parish didn’t have adults pick a confirmation saint. What a bummer for me! Luckily both my first and middle names are great saints so I am covered.

    Our family’s patron is St. Lawrence as its my husbands middle name and my fist name is Laura.

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      • A new-to-me tradition was picking a patron for the family for the year. A friend mentioned it at a Epiphany party this year and others at the party seemed familiar with this practice.

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      • Huh. I’ve done that for me — my parish does it every year, and Jen Fulwiler has her saint generator too — but never thought to for the family. I like it!

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