Nowadays, almost every industry and thing has a patron saint. For instance, the patron saint of the Internet is a 560–era Spanish scholar..
And did you know that the patron saint of unattractive people is also the patron saint of the mentally ill, farmers, sheepherders, and proprietors of coffee shops?
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that everyone working in the legal profession has a patron saint of their own. Here is all the information you need to know about the legal profession’s patron saints.
Who Is the Lawyers’ Patron Saint?
Lawyers’ most well-known and respected patron saint is St. Ivo of Kermartin. He is also Brittany’s patron saint, a western France region, and abandoned children. Yves Hélory was his name, and he was the Lord of Kermartin’s son.
After studying there, he received his civil law degree from the University of Paris in 1267. A decade later, he continued to Orleans to study canon law. Ivo led a simple life despite coming from a wealthy family.
Ivo was keen on helping the ill, widowed, needy, and orphans. While many people are concerned about how lawyers get paid, he used his money to cover their expenditures.
He persuaded contending parties to settle out of court to save their own money. He represented the weak in court.
Although he was later designated to the priesthood, he is also reported to have studied theology and joined the Third Order of Saint Francis, or what we may call a “terzjarju” in Maltese.
He earned the nickname “the advocate of the poor” due to his humanitarian nature, mainly because he represented the oppressed and covered their legal bills. He also paid visits to the prisoners he had helped.
All of this is probably being done out of a higher sense of altruism than a sense of responsibility and diligence.
Ivo’s health deteriorated in 1303 during Holy days. He kept up his work till his passing in May of that year. In 1347, he became a saint. May 19 is his birthday.
Other Lawyers’ Patron Saint
Numerous more patron saints are associated with attorneys in addition to St. Ivo. A couple of them are listed below.
Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Perhaps around 287, the young saint was born in Alexandria, Egypt. At the time, Alexandria was among the most stunning cities in the world, and it served as a hub for scholarship, culture, and religion.
Saint Catherine, raised in the Roman province of Egypt as a princess of the Alexandrian governor, dedicated her early life to education. She was motivated to become a Christian after witnessing a vision of Mary and Jesus.
She opposed Maxentius, the ruthless Roman Emperor when he started persecuting Christians.
It was said that Catherine used powerful logic to persuade the Emperor’s most renowned pagan philosophers and debaters to convert to Christianity, even though doing so would have led to their immediate execution.
Despite being imprisoned and subjected to torture, she managed to convert more than 200 people, including the wife of the Emperor, during the entire situation.
She eventually received a beheading verdict after they had all been martyred. She is also the patron saint of single women, defenders of the faith, lawyers, and scholars.
Saint Genesius of Rome
Genesius was the director of an acting company in Rome and a talented actor, comedian, and playwright.
Genesius, a pagan, devised a grandiose plan to create a play mocking the Christian sacraments to expose them to the audience’s mockery when Diocletian began his great persecution.
Consequently, he decided to portray Baptism and its rituals as ridiculously as he could one day.
To achieve this, he thoroughly studied the events of holy Baptism, assigned the roles for the play, and gave the actors instructions on how to perform.
Emperor Diocletian and his court were present the day the play was performed. As the main character, Genesius launched the comedy.
He sat down while faking illness and asked his buddies to fetch him something to ease his agony. He then requested to be “baptized” after expressing his desire to become a Christian and feeling that he would soon pass away.
Everything was set up on the baptismal stage, and a priest mimics entered the scene to “baptize” the sick catechumen. He was asked every question of individuals who would be baptized.
The ritual was so ridiculous that the Emperor and the entire crowd roared in amusement. As the actor poured water over his head during the pagan actors’ mocking and cursing of the Holy Sacrament of the true Church, the Almighty touched Genesius’ heart.
It illuminated it with a ray of His glorious Grace. The moment the actor realized the truth of Christianity, he had a complete transformation, professing his trust in Jesus Christ with great enthusiasm.
Unaware of what had occurred, his companions kept up the offensive ridicule. After the entire ritual, they dressed Genesius in a white robe in mockery of the one typically given to those who had just been converted and baptized. This caused great laughter as they presented him to the crowd.
However, Genesius, already a devoted follower of Christ, turned before the Emperor and other spectators and confessed with great dignity what had happened inside him.
He openly confessed that, up to that point, he had hated and mocked Christianity, having been misled by paganism. As a result, he volunteered to mimic Baptism on stage for the audience’s pleasure.
However, his heart abruptly changed during the blasphemous performance, and he wished to convert to Christianity.
When the baptismal water was thrown over him, he claimed to have seen the heavens open and felt a hand touch him.
He added that before being baptized, he had seen an angel carrying a book with a record of all his past misdeeds in it.
The angel had assured him that all of these transgressions would be washed away by holy Baptism, and he had observed that all of his character flaws had been erased from its pages.
He continued by saying that he had repented of paganism and that, from this point on, he would live and die as a Christian, believing that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and the Redeemer of the world.
He urged the Emperor and everyone in attendance to imitate him and worship the one and only true God.
Saint Thomas More
Saint Thomas, a lawyer, is better known to history as Sir Thomas More, King Henry VIII’s Lord High Chancellor and author of Utopia.
Thomas was a devout Catholic who often considered becoming a monk. Still, he ultimately decided to marry and be a layman since he believed his lawyer work would benefit others.
He progressed in English politics thanks to his stellar reputation, and he finally succeeded Henry VIII as the king’s secretary, personal advisor, and Lord Chancellor.
When Henry VIII famously decided to sever ties with the Catholic Church, Thomas resigned because he felt his personal beliefs went against what Henry VIII wanted.
He was afterward put to death for refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of Henry VIII’s marriage from a theological perspective.
If you’re religious, you should pray to these patron saints before pursuing legal action that might support your beliefs.
You would be astounded at the wonders that a little faith can perform.
So if you’re a Catholic or Christian lawyer interested in displaying one or two saints at your office, why not make it an image of these saints?