In Catholic tradition, patron saints are holy men and women whose lives and intercession are considered especially suited to particular needs, groups, or situations. The Church's practice of invoking saints reflects the doctrine of the Communion of Saints — the belief that the faithful departed remain united with the living in the one Body of Christ and can intercede before God on our behalf.
The designation of a patron saint for "Brazil" reflects centuries of Catholic popular devotion and, in many cases, formal proclamations by popes or bishops recognizing a saint's particular connection to this intention through the circumstances of their life, death, or documented miracles.
Formally proclaimed patronage — sourced from canonized saints in the Roman Calendar.
Saint Anthony of Padua is invoked as patron of Brazil. Saint Anthony of Padua was born Fernando Martins de Bulhoes in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1195, of a noble Portuguese family. About 1210 he entered the Augustinian Canons Regular, first at Lisbon and then at the great house of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, where he received his theological training and was ordained priest.In 1220, profoundly moved by the relics of the five Franciscan protomartyrs slain in Morocco that year, Fernando transferred to the Order of Friars Minor and took the religious name Anthony, after the desert father whose hermitage stood near his new friary. Sources: https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100210.html.
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