Category: Family & States of Life
St. Jerome Emiliani, an Italian nobleman who survived captivity in a Venetian prison and thereafter devoted himself to orphans, the poor, and the sick, founding the Somascan Fathers for this purpose, is the patron of orphans and abandoned children. He was canonized in 1767 and declared patron of orphans and abandoned youth by Pope Pius XI in 1928. His feast day is February 8.
St. John Bosco, the 19th-century Salesian founder who cared for thousands of street boys in Turin, is also associated with the care of orphans and at-risk youth.
Formally proclaimed patronage — sourced from canonized saints in the Roman Calendar.
Saint Jerome Emiliani is invoked as patron of orphans. Girolamo Miani (Latin: Hieronymus Aemilianus) was born in 1486 to a patrician family of Venice. He served as a soldier in the wars of the League of Cambrai and was captured at Castelnuovo in 1511. Sources: https://www.usccb.org/resources/2026cal.pdf.
Saint Jerome Emiliani is the primary patron saint of orphans. Their feast day is February 8.
A patron saint is a holy man or woman canonized by the Church whose life and heavenly intercession are considered especially powerful for particular needs, groups, or situations. Catholics ask patron saints to intercede — to pray to God on their behalf — drawing on the doctrine of the Communion of Saints.
To ask for a patron saint's intercession, Catholics typically pray directly to the saint, saying something like: "Jerome Emiliani, pray for us." You may also light a candle, attend Mass on their feast day, or make a novena — nine days of consecutive prayer — asking for their help before a particular need.