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 "Christian Unity" 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 Josaphat is invoked as patron of Christian unity. Born Ioann Kuntsevych around 1580 in Volodymyr (Volhynia), Josaphat grew up in the wake of the Union of Brest of 1596, by which the Ruthenian (Ukrainian and Belarusian) bishops of the Kyivan Metropolia entered into communion with the See of Rome while retaining the Byzantine liturgical and canonical patrimony. Apprenticed as a youth to a merchant in Vilnius, he chose instead the monastic life, entering the Holy Trinity monastery there in 1604 and taking the name Josaphat. Sources: https://www.usccb.org/resources/2026cal.pdf.
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