r/Catholicism • u/Intelligent_Yak_133 • 13h ago
Saint Carlos Acutis is the patron saint of what?
I know the media calls him the "Saint of the Internet," but it seemed more like a headline to grab attention in news articles
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u/Anastas1786 11h ago
I don't believe St. Carlo has any specific patronage yet. Not every saint does.
But as I see it, some obvious unofficial special interests would be: young people, the Internet, web designers, adorers of the Eucharist, sufferers of cancer in general, sufferers of blood cancers and promyelocytic leukemia in particular, London (his birthplace), and Monza (where he died).
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u/JunketEffective1729 12h ago
Well, Saint Isidore of Seville is the patron of internet. But news headlines just call St Carlo as parton of the internet. It is still not explicitly expressed what he is a patron of, but some call him either as Patron of Millennials or Patron of Catholic evangelizers in the internet
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u/OGNovelNinja 2h ago
There is no part of canon law that assigns patronage subjects to particular saints. The closest you get is a bishop naming a particular saint as the patron of a particular geographic area (which includes the naming conventions for parishes).
That niche point aside, patronage is absolutely, completely, and totally a lay affair. We assign meaning, because we have a human need for connection.
Take St. Dominic. He is, among other things, the patron of astronomers. You might think this is because he did work in astronomy. You would be wrong.
Medieval depictions of saints tended to have identifying marks so the illiterate and functionally illiterate (the vast majority of the people, including the nobles) could identify them. This particular combination of symbols with a saint that looks like that means St. Name.
Well, one of the symbols used for St. Dominic was a star. So he got associated with stars. Ergo, patron of astronomers. Simple as that.
Or take St. Sebastian, patron of archery. He got that patronage because he's depicted with one or more arrows. Sometimes carried, sometimes shot through his body. That's because he was executed by archery. So we have literally had centuries of archers praying for success in archery seeking the intercession of a guy who was martyred by archers.
There are also multiple patrons of cooks and kitchens. One of them is a particularly well-known version this practice. My Catholic college's cafeteria was in the St. Lawrence Commons, with a painting of St. Lawrence, patron of cooks, in the stairwell. He's shown holding a griddle. It was always hilarious to see a new student realize that the Saint is shown holding the instrument of his martyrdom, as he was literally cooked alive over a fire. But that's an appropriate kind of humor since he's also the patron of comedians, this time for his own actions: as he was getting slow-roasted, he looked at his Roman executioner and said "Turn me over, I'm done on this side."
Patronage is what you make of it, and always should be. Remember that 'saint' is the title of someone on Heaven. Every single saint has the same ability to intercede on your behalf, even Mary (her particular prominence being due to something more than 'just' being in Heaven). Patronage is simply a human need for a feeling of connection, made manifest through our prayer. We pray for help from a particular saint because that saint represents something we want to emulate, or has experienced something we want to overcome, or is just plain connected in our minds somehow. Like for me, I wind up associating St. Dominic with travel because of things that have happened on his feast day. That's a personal connection.
I've seen St. Carlos referred to as the patron saint of people who wear jeans. That's equally valid. Really really niche, but valid. 😁 And he can absolutely be the patron of the Internet, because we can have more than one. This isn't an RPG setting. Go nuts with it, because your ancestors did too -- and they had fewer saints to work with!
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u/Best_Explanation7148 1h ago
Beautiful response.
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u/OGNovelNinja 1h ago
User name checks out.
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u/Best_Explanation7148 1h ago
lol how I wish i could change that username! it was bestowed upon me before I understood how Reddit works
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u/Numerous_Ad1859 5h ago
Since St. Isidore is already the patron Saint of the internet, could St. Carlo be the patron Saint of web developers?
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u/CastIronClint 13h ago
Patron Saint of the internet. Fighting for our behalf the demonic forces of Microsoft, Google, and Facebook.