# how do Catholics or Anglicans pick the patron saint for a new church?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-catholics-or-anglicans-pick-the-patron-saint-for-a-new-church/548753>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 1, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-catholics-or-anglicans-pick-the-patron-saint-for-a-new-church/548753 "2010-08-01T01:02:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-catholics-or-anglicans-pick-the-patron-saint-for-a-new-church/548753/41 "2010-08-25T05:11:18Z")

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I asked an Episcopalian bishop last weekend how the patron saint for a new church is picked. He said that the people who are starting the church sit around and pick whatever saint they like, and that’s all there is to it.

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**Author:** ![evilhomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/43a26b/32.png) [@evilhomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhomer)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-catholics-or-anglicans-pick-the-patron-saint-for-a-new-church/548753/42 "2010-08-25T17:53:43Z")

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When I was around 10 or 11, we started going to a new Catholic church. I remember parishoners were asked to vote on which saint they wanted to name the church after - there was a list of 5 or 6 choices. I don’t know if that vote was the deciding factor, or just taken as a recommendation. This was before the church was built - we were celebrating mass in the gym of a nearby school at the time.

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