Category: Clergy & Religious Life
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 "Religious Freedom" 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.
Saints John Fisher and Thomas More is invoked as patron of religious freedom. Saint John Fisher was born at Beverley, Yorkshire, in 1469. A scholar of Cambridge, he became Master of Michaelhouse, then Vice-Chancellor, and chaplain to Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII. Sources: https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_20001031_thomas-more.html.
Saints John Fisher and Thomas More is the primary patron saint of religious freedom. Their feast day is June 22.
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: "John Fisher and Thomas More, 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.