Throwback Thursday: Patron gods and patron “saints”

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment! Today, we’re revisiting a slightly re-edited post that was first published back on September 25th, 2015.

Pagan Rome had a very long list of gods who each presided over a certain activity or occupation. Pagan worshipers prayed to their patron god and to other gods as various circumstances and needs arose. As Christianity strengthened its position within the Empire and became increasingly institutionalized, the church’s message devolved from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior into ritualism and legalism. Heathen beliefs and practices were adapted by the church to attract and assuage pagan “converts.” In place of worshiping and petitioning pagan gods, the church substituted “venerating” and praying to “saints” who had jurisdiction over specific occupations and activities. By semi-deifying these “saints” and directing veneration and devotion (aka worship) to them, the Catholic church violates the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.” – Exodus 20:3.  Nowhere in all of Scripture is there even one example of a follower of God praying to anyone other than to Him.

Praise the Lord for leading me out of the ritualism, legalism, and the man-made traditions of Roman Catholicism and for His salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone! Evangelicals should be repulsed by such an anti-Biblical belief system instead of accommodating it.

Below is a partial list of the Roman Catholic “saints” and the occupations and activities they allegedly oversee. At the very bottom is a link to a similar list of Roman pagan gods.

Agabus – prophecy
Adrian of Nicomedia – arms dealers, butchers, guards, soldiers
Agatha – bakers, bellmaking, nurses
Albertus Magnus – natural scientists
Alexander of Comana – charcoal-burners
Alexius – belt makers and nurses
Aloysius Gonzaga – Catholic students, Jesuit scholastics
Amand – bartenders, brewers, innkeepers, merchants, vine growers, vintners, boy scouts
Ambrose of Milan – bee keepers, wax-melters and refiners
Anastasius the Fuller – fullers, weavers
Andrew the Apostle – fishmongers, fishermen
Andrew Kim – clergy of Korea
Ann – miners, equestrians, stablemen, French-Canadian voyageurs, cabinet makers, homemakers and sailors
Ansovinus – gardeners
Anthony Mary Claret – weavers
Anthony the Abbot – basket-makers, swineherds, motorists, gravediggers
Anthony of Padua – those seeking lost items or people, nomadic travelers, brush makers, women seeking a husband,
Antipas – dentists
Apollonia – dentists
Arnold of Soissons – brewers
Arnulph – millers
Augustine of Hippo – brewers, printers, and theologians

Barbara – miners, artillerymen, military engineers and firemen, Italian marines, architects, builders, foundry workers, fireworks makers, Mathematicians, geoscientists, stonemasons, servicemen of the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces
Bartholomew the Apostle – tanners, leatherworkers, curriers, plasterers
Basil the Great – hospital administrators
Basilides – Italian prison officers
Basilissa – nursing mothers
Benedict of Nursia – farmers, farmhands, engineers, architects, Italian speleologists, husbandry, heraldry and officers of arms
Bénézet – bridge-builders
Benno – fishermen
Bernadette of Lourdes – shepherds, shepherdesses
Bernardine of Feltre – pawnbrokers, bankers
Bernardine of Siena – advertisers
Bernard of Clairvaux – bee keepers, wax melters and refiners
Bernard of Menthon – mountaineers, skiers
Bernard of Vienne – farmers, farmhands, husbandry
Bernward of Hildesheim – architects
Blaise – veterinarians, wool combers, town criers and weavers
Boethius – philosophy
Bona of Pisa – flight attendants, travelers, specifically couriers, guides, pilgrims
Botulph – farmers, farmhands, husbandry
Brendan the Navigator – mariners, seafarers, sailors, those traveling by sea
Brigid of Ireland – dairy workers, medicine/healers

Cajetan – unemployed, gamblers, odd lot dealers, and of job seekers
Camillus of Lellis – nurses, hospital workers
Cassian of Imola – shorthand writers, stenographers, school teachers, parish clerks
Catherine of Alexandria – tanners, librarians, nurses, philosophers, preachers
Catherine of Siena – nurses
Cecilia – musicians
Charles Borromeo and Robert Bellarmine – Catechists
Christina the Astonishing – millers, psychiatrists
Christopher – travelers, surfers, athletes, drivers, pilots (his actual existence is now in serious doubt so the infallible Catholic church has downgraded Christopher to only half a saint – excatholic4christ).
Clare of Assisi – goldsmiths, gilders, laundry workers, needleworkers
Claude – sculptors
Clement – stonecutters
Columbanus – motorcyclists
Cosmas – doctors, pharmacists, surgeons, barbers
Germaine Cousin – shepherdesses
Crispin – tanners, shoemakers, cobblers, leatherworkers, curriers, saddle-makers
Cuthbert – shepherds
Cuthman – shepherds

Damian – doctors, pharmacists, surgeons
Dismas – undertakers
Dominic – astronomers, astronomy, scientists
Dominic de la Calzada – civil engineers
Dominic of Silos – shepherds
Dorothea of Caesarea – horticulture, florists, brewers
Drogo – shepherds, coffee house keepers, coffee house owners
Dunstan – blacksmiths, goldsmiths
Dunstan and Venerius the Hermit – lighthouse keepers
Dymphna – mental health professionals, therapists

Edward the Confessor – kings
Eligius – veterinarians, farriers, farmers, farmhands, husbandry, harness makers, goldsmiths, jewelers, Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers soldiers, numismatists
Elisabeth of Hungary – nursing services, bakers
Elizabeth Seton – sailors
Erasmus of Formiae or Elmo – pyrotechnicians, steeplejacks, chimney sweeps, sailors and anyone who works at great heights
Ephrem the Syrian – spiritual directors and spiritual leaders
Eustachius – hunters, firefighters, trappers

Ferdinand III – engineers
Fiacre – taxi-drivers, horticulturists, gardeners
Florian – firefighters, chimney sweeps
Foillan – dentists, surgeons, truss-makers, children’s nurses
Frances of Rome – automobile drivers
Francis de Sales – writers/authors, journalists
Francis of Assisi – ecologists, animal welfare, and rights workers
Francis Caracciolo – chefs

Archangel Gabriel – diplomats, ambassadors, communications workers, postal workers, emergency dispatchers, police dispatchers, broadcasters, messengers, and radio/television workers.
Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows – students, seminarians, clerics, a society exists whose goal is to have Gabriel declared the patron saint of handgunners
Gangulphus – tanners, shoemakers
Gemma Galgani – students, pharmacists
Genesius – actors, comedians, clowns, dancers, theatrical performers of all kinds, also attorneys, barristers, lawyers
George – agricultural workers, archers, armourers, boy scouts, butchers, cavalry, Crusaders, equestrians, farmhands, farmers, field hands, field workers, horsemen, husbandry, knights, riders, Rover Scouts, saddle makers, saddlers, scouts, shepherds, soldiers, Teutonic Knights (policemen and firefighters in Brazil).
Giles – beggars, spur makers
Gregory the Great – teachers
Gottschalk – linguists, princes, translators
Gummarus – lumberjacks
René Goupil – anesthesiologists

Hervé – bards, musicians
Homobonus – businessmen, tailors, and clothworkers
Honorius of Amiens (Honoratus) – bakers, confectioners, bakers of holy wafers, candle-makers, florists, flour merchants, oil refiners, and pastry chefs
Hubertus – hunters, furriers
Hunna – laundresses, laundry workers, washerwomen

Isidore the Farmer – farmers, farmhands, husbandry, manual laborers
Isidore of Seville – computer scientists, software engineers, computer programmers, computer technicians, computer users, schoolchildren, students
Ignatius of Loyola – Military Ordinariate of the Philippines, Society of Jesus,soldiers, Educators and Education.

Jadwiga of Poland – queens
James, son of Zebedee – veterinarians, equestrians, furriers, tanners, pharmacists
James, son of Alphaeus – pharmacists
Jerome – librarians, translators, spectacle makers
Joan of Arc – Soldiers
John the Almoner – Knights Hospitaller
John the Apostle – tanners
John the Baptist – farriers, bird dealers, Knights Hospitaller.
John of Damascus – makers of images of the crucifix
John the Evangelist – editors, authors, art dealers, tanners, and theologians
John of God – hospital workers, nurses, booksellers
John Baptist de la Salle – teachers of youth
John Bosco – apprentices, editors, printers/publishers
John Gualbert – foresters
John Vianney – priests
Joseph – cabinetmakers, carpenters, craftsmen, laborers, workers, and working people
Joseph of Arimathea – funeral directors, tinsmiths
Joseph of Cupertino – air travelers, aviators, astronauts, test takers, poor students
Joshua – intelligence professionals
John of Capistrano – jurists
Jude (also known as Jude Thaddeus) – police officers, hospital workers, lost (or impossible) causes
Julian the Hospitaller – shepherds, boatmen
Justa and Rufina – potters

Kateri – ecologists, environmentalists, Thomasites

Lawrence – librarians, students, tanners, cooks (having been martyred by roasting alive on a gridiron), comedians.
Leodegar – millers
Lidwina – ice skaters
Luke the Evangelist – doctors, surgeons, artists, painters, notaries

Madeleine Sophie Barat – school girls
Marcellin Champagnat – education and teachers
Margaret of Antioch – nurses
Martha – dieticians, cooks
Mary Magdalene – tanners, hairdressers, pharmacists
Magnus of Avignon – fish dealers, fishmongers
Albertus Magnus – chemists, medical technicians
Macarius of Unzha, Venerable – craftsmen, merchants, travelers
Malo – pig-keepers
Martin of Tours – soldiers
Matthew – accountants, tax collectors, bankers, bookkeepers, joiners, custom agents, security guards, perfumers,
Maturinus – comic actors, jesters, clowns, sailors (in Brittany), tinmen (in Paris) and of plumbers.
Maurice and Lydia – dyers
Maurice – infantrymen
Michael the Archangel – soldiers, paramedics, paratroopers, police officers, security officers

Nicholas of Myra – sailors, fishermen, merchants, pharmacists, archers, pawnbrokers, lawyers in Paris bar
Nicholas of Tolentine – Mariners
Notburga – farmers, farmhands, husbandry

Our Lady of Salambao – fishermen
Our Lady of Loreto – aviators

Pantaleon – doctors, midwives, physicians
Patrick – engineers
Paul the Apostle – hospital public relations
Peter the Apostle – popes, fishermen, fishmongers, sailors, bakers, harvesters, butchers, glass makers, carpenters, shoemakers, clockmakers, blacksmiths, potters, bridge builders, cloth makers
Peter of Alcantara – guards
Peter Damian – traceurs/freerunners
Phocas the Gardener – farmers, farmhands, husbandry
Pope John XXIII – Papal delegates
Pope Celestine V – bookbinders
Piran – tinners, tin miners
Philip – Special Forces

Quentin – bombardiers, chaplains, locksmiths, porters, tailors, and surgeons

Raphael the Archangel – doctors, pharmacists, nurses, shepherds, matchmakers, travelers[19]
Raymond Nonnatus – midwives, obstetricians
Raymond of Penyafort – medical record librarians, Canon lawyers
Rebekah – physicists
Regina – shepherdesses
John Regis – medical social workers
Reinold – Stonemasons
Roch – surgeons, tile-makers, second-hand dealers, gravediggers
Rose of Lima – embroiderers, gardeners

Sebastian – soldiers, athletes
Severus of Avranches – silk and wool makers, drapers; milliners and hatters
Simon – tanners
Solange – shepherdesses
Stephen – bricklayers, casketmakers, deacons, altar servers

Tatiana of Rome – students
Theobald of Provins – Farmers, winegrowers, shoemakers, beltmakers, charcoal-burners
Thérèse of Lisieux – florists, aviators, missionaries
Thomas – architects, politicians
Thomas Aquinas – students, teachers, academics
Thomas Becket – diocesan priests
Thomas More – politicians, statesmen, lawyers, civil servants, court clerks

Urban of Langres – vine-growers, vine-dressers, gardeners, vintners, and coopers
Ursula – archers, orphans, students

Valentine – beekeeping
Veronica – laundry workers; photographers
Vincent of Saragossa – winemakers
Vincent de Paul – hospital workers
Vincent Ferrer – builders
Vitus – comedians, dancers

Walstan – farmers, farmhands, husbandry
Winnoc – millers
Wolbodo – students
Wolfgang of Regensburg – woodworkers, woodcarvers

Frances Xavier Cabrini – hospital administrators

Yves – lawyers

Zeno of Verona – fishermen
Zita – domestic servants, waiters

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patron_saints_of_occupations_and_activities

Below is a link to a similar list of Roman gods and their particular realms of jurisdiction:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_deities