Finding the Patron Saint of Just About Anything

Researching for today's post in the "Loonfoot Falls Chronicle-Gazette," a column from a fictional weekly newspaper in an equally fictional small town, I found this list of patronage. Saint's patronage, that is.

It's on the SQPN (Star Quest Production Network) website. The page is a massive list of links to pages, showing the patron saint of everything from the city of Aachen, Germany, to Zutphen, Nederlands.

There's a companion page that's of a rather more manageable size, Patronage Groups, linking to information about:

• Patron Saints of Animal Topics
• Patron Saints of Cities
• Patron Saints of Countries
• Patron Saints of Dioceses
• Patron Saints of Education Topics
• Patron Saints of Family Matters
• Patron Saints of Medical Conditions
• Patron Saints of the Medical Field
• Patron Saints of Military Topics
• Patron Saints of Nobility and Caste
• Patron Saints of Occupations
• Patron Saints of States in the US

I don't have time to go into Catholicism and the saints, saintly patronage, and why we venerate (not worship) saints - and just what veneration is. That'll have to wait for another time.

The Catholic Church's patron saints - and a shaky understanding of them - has produced a number of more-or-less well-intentioned gags about the patron saint of some unlikely thing.

Like the patron saint of left earrings, bottle caps, or pencil makers.

Oddly enough, there is a patron saint of pencil makers.

Enough. I'm a few hours behind, and need my sleep.