How can a particular trade of modern times get a patron saint?

Question

In days of yore, tradesman and guilds had patron saints. These days patrons seem to only be attributed to profession in vague ways via papal declaration (i.e. St. John Vianney is the Patron of all priests as of 2010), not from the ground up.

As a computer programmer, I'd like to have a patron, but Catholic programmers seem few and far between. I'm not specifically asking as a programmer, but as a person who has a noble trade, how can I get Rome to acknowledge that me and my cohort say a particular saint should be the patron of our work?

Answer 1

In 2002 the Church selected St. Isidore of Seville to be the official patron of computer programmers.

Write a simple letter laying out the reasons why a particular saint would be a good patron for a profession, industry, or hobby and find co-signatories. Then begin sending your letter to Rome. In a big institution there are lots of doors and you should knock on all of them repeatedly. As appropriate try:

• Pontifical Council for the Laity: www.laici.va
• Pontifical Council for the Family: www.familia.va
• Pontifical Council for Culture: www.cultura.va
• Pontifical Council for Social Communications: www.pccs.va
• The Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization Year of Faith: www.annusfidei.va
• Pontifical Academy of Sciences: www.casinapioiv.va
• Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences: www.pass.va
• Congregation for the Causes of Saints: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/csaints/

Also write to your bishop's office.

As for a place to find cosignatories, you might try a place where likeminded folks are likely to be present. I work in IT and know what you mean - there aren't that many Christians running around, and few of us are Catholic. But where is the intersection? Set logic:

Catholic /\ IT = IT workers at Catholic institutions?

Try canvassing computer science departments, IT and IS departments, and so on at local Catholic schools, hospitals, Catholic Charities, etc. Contact them with a brief intro to gauge interest.

Maybe build an online petition they can sign and submit it, with all due respect, to the possibly relevant departments. Make noise. And be patient. Nothing moves quickly in Rome.

But then, since computer scientists already have at least one patron saint, maybe we're all cool.

St. Isidore of Seville, pray for us.

Answer 2

_Source

Patron saints tend to be associated with a given profession. They could have performed that profession in life or have been associated with some miracle that can (in some way) be associated with the profession.

Saint Veronica, for example was associate the profession of Photography once that profession became popular.

As far as computer programming, this article might interest you. However, it appears that St. Isidore of Seville is the patron saint of computer people (and the internet).