Greetings & God Bless!

I have been searching for a Patron Saint specifically for 'Victims' of Divorce e.g. spouses who remain faithful to thier marriages yet are left by the other...

I have found many sources of information regarding saints and have yet to find one for this specific? What I have found regarding saints and patronage seems to be a mix of faith, culture and possibly political correctness.

I have found patron saints for 'the divorced'; however, I do not feel that my wife who left etc and I should 'share' a saint when our paths our diametrically opposed and most assuredly NOT both inline with church teaching -is this wacky thinking on my part?

I have found patron saints for 'victims' of abuse, even patron saints for victims of 'verbal abuse'?

Anyway I have some questions that some may help with in addition to the above:

Is there an 'official' listing of Saints recognized by our Church and if so where?

How does 'patronage' come about, who sanctions it and or recognizes it -is there an official mechanism and listing or is it just something that 'happens' culturally etc?

Thanks.

Daniel///

-- Daniel Hawkenberry (dlm@catholic.org), October 04, 2003

Answers

Here's a good place to start.

For anyone with a wayward spouse, I highly recomment my personal favorite, St. Rita. Not that I have a wayward spouse, but St. Rita sure did. I've obtained many favors through her intercession. She truly seems to love to help people devoted to her.

-- jake (jake1REMOVE@pngusa.net), October 05, 2003.

Don't forget St Juda, the patron of impossible things.

-- Abraham T (lijothengil@yahoo.com), October 05, 2003.