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Patron saints aplenty
| Saturday, Aug 4 2007 5:00 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Aug 3 2007 1:08 PM
On June 24, the San Joaquin Valley’s Mixtecos — an indigenous Mexican people — gathered in Arvin to celebrate St. John the Baptist, patron saint of San Juan Mixtepec.
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Hundreds at the Plaza Dolores Huerta enjoyed regional dances, foods, and arts and crafts from that region of Oaxaca, Mexico, to which many local Mixteco residents trace their roots.
And on the main stage was, of course, a statue of the honored saint.
Meanwhile in Bakersfield, at the Kern River County Park picnic grounds near Lake Ming, a celebration for the same saint was being hosted by Kern County’s Puerto Rican community: St. John the Baptist is also the patron of Puerto Rico and the namesake of its capital, San Juan.
“San Juan is the patron saint of all the world,” said Ignacio H. Madera, a proud organizer of the event, which he said drew about 2,000 people this year.
While Madera’s statement about the ubiquitous popularity of the holy man who baptized Jesus may be a bit of a stretch, it speaks volumes about the role patron saints play in believers’ lives.
“A patron saint is someone that an individual or a group can identify with,” said Monsignor Ronald Swett, pastor of St. Philip the Apostle Church on Stockdale Highway. For example, “St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland and anyone of Irish ancestry real or fake,” he said.
“They’re seen as a kind of protector,” Swett said. “That special connection to the saint gives someone an extra jolt in heaven because you have someone advocating for you before the throne of God.”
Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Anglicans and Episcopalians have strong traditions of honoring patron saints, Swett said.
“There are saints for almost every human endeavor or activity,” said deacon Jesse Avila, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno.
They are important, Avila said, because they have been recognized officially, through canonization, and popularly — sometimes for centuries — by people for whom the lives and works of saints have special meaning.
Avila gave the example of sailors: “They live an experience that you and I don't have,” he said, often being apart from their families for long stretches of time. “So a saint, because he overcame adversity, is a model for them — he gives strength to them.”
Our Lady Star of the Sea (also known as the Stella Maris), St. Anthony of Padua, St. Brendan the Navigator, St. Brigid of Ireland, Pope St. Clement I and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, like the honored titles of so many heroes in battle, are the names of some patron saints of sailors, Avila said.
“There often is a cultural connection,” he said, “when there are many saints who are the patron for the same activity or the same cause.
“That's why if you go to Portugal you'll find a person who is the saint, then you go to Ireland and they have adopted someone who is more familiar to them for the same activity.”
In the end, however, the purpose of each saint is the same, Avila said: to make believers more Christlike in everything they do.
Which is why they should not be looked upon only to bestow special favors on devotees, he said.
“The saint is not necessarily a person who helps to cure an illness, but also someone who helps you to cope with that illness. That's the greater, more spiritual importance of the saint.”