medal(med-l) n. - A flat piece of metal stamped with a design or an inscription commemorating an event or a person, often given as an award.
Medal, a piece of metal, cast or struck, often coin-shaped. The obverse and reverse bear bas-relief and inscription. Commemorative medals are issued in memory of a notable person or event. Civil and military decorations are those medals (disk, cross, or star) conferred by state, order, or organization for signal bravery or service or for distinction in science or the arts. Religious medals, often worn by Roman Catholics, are believed to be efficacious if blessed by the Church; an indulgence may be attached to a blessed medal. Medals have ranked as works of art since Greek times; Roman medals are notable for their realistic portraiture. Medals returned to fashion during the Renaissance, especially through the fine work of Pisanello. Many sculptors and painters were famous also as medalists, notably Leone Leoni, Benvenuto Cellini, and Albrecht Drer. France in the 19th cent. became the leader in producing medals of artistic merit. Cast medals were predominant in the 15th cent., but by the 16th had been largely superseded by die-struck medals. Dies may be cut direct, or a wax or plaster model about four times the intended size of the medal may be reproduced as a metal electrotype from which a die is made in the desired size by a reducing machine operating on the principle of the pantograph. See also numismatics; ribbon.
patron saint - n. A saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, or person.
A saint from whom a person or group claims special protection or prayers. Saint Christopher, for example, is considered the patron of travelers; Saint Luke, the patron of doctors; and Saint Patrick, the patron of Ireland. People who have the same name as a saint may consider the saint their patron. The honoring of patron saints is especially common in the Roman Catholic Church.
patron saint
In several forms of Christianity, a patron saint has special affinity for a trade or group. St. Florian is the patron saint of firefighters, and St. Christopher is the patron saint of travellers, for example. Eastern Orthodoxy generally doesn't associate saints with occupations and activities, or does so to a much lesser degree.
Patron saints can also be associated with geographical areas: St. Joseph is the patron saint of Belgium, and St. Patrick is patron saint of Ireland, for example.
Association with a particular area or profession can be found with tutelary deities from other religions as well.
Saints associated with occupations and activities
Agatha - nurses, bellmaking
Alexius - nurses
Amand- bartenders, Boy Scouts, brewers, innkeepers, merchants, vine growers, vintners
Ambrose of Milan - bee keepers, wax melters and refiners
Andrew the Apostle - fish dealers, fishermen
Anne - equestrians, stablemen
Anthony the Great - swineherds, motorists
Anthony of Padua - fishermen, swineherds
Apollonia - dentists
Augustine of Hippo - brewers, printers, and theologians
Barbara - architects and builders, artillerymen and arsenals, prisoners
Bartholomew the Apostle - tanners, leatherworkers and curriers
Basil the Great - hospital administrators
Benedict of Nursia - farms, farmers, farmhands, ranches, husbandry
Benno - fishermen
Bernadette of Lourdes - shepherds, shepherdesses
Bernard of Clairvaux - bee keepers, wax melters and refiners
Bernard of Venice - farms, farmers, farmhands, ranches, husbandry
Blaise - veterinarians, wool combers and weavers
Botulph - farms, farmers, farmhands, ranches, husbandry
Brigid of Ireland - dairy farms and workers, healers
Camillus of Lellis - hospitals and hospital workers, nurses
Catherine of Alexandria - tanners, nurses
Catherine of Siena - nursing services, nurses
Cecilia - musicians
Clare of Assisi - television
Cosmas - doctors, pharmacists, surgeons
Germaine Cousin - shepherdesses
Christopher - travellers
Crispian - tanners, leatherworkers and curriers
Crispin - tanners, leatherworkers and curriers
Cuthbert - shepherds
Cuthman - shepherds
Damian - doctors, pharmacists, surgeons
Dominic of Silos - shepherds
Drogo - shepherds
Dymphna - mental health professionals, therapists
Eligius - veterinarians, farriers, farms, farmers, farmhands, ranches, husbandry, harness makers
Elisabeth of Hungary - hospitals, nursing services
Erasmus of Formiae (Saint Elmo) - sailors
Erhard of Regensburg - hospitals
Eustachius - hunters
Fiacre - Taxi-drivers, venereal disease sufferers, horticulturists, hemorrhoid sufferers
Foillan - dentists, surgeons
Francis of Assisi - animal welfare and rights organizations and workers; environment
Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows - students, seminarians, clerics, youth
Gemma Galgani - pharmacists
George - soldiers, farms, farmers, farmhands, ranches, husbandry, equestrians, scouts
Rocco Gonzalez - Native American traditions
Rene Goupil - anethesiologists
Hubert of Liege - hunters, furriers
Isidore the Farmer - farms, farmers, farmhands, ranches, husbandry
Isidore of Sevilla - computer scientists, programmers, programming
James the Greater - veterinarians, equestrians, furriers, tanners, pharmacists
James the Lesser - pharmacists
Januarius - blood banks
Jeanne de Chantal - forgotten people, loss of parents, parents separated from children, widows, girls
Jerome - librarians, translators
Joan of Arc - Girl Guides
John the Almoner - Knights Hospitaller
John the Apostle - tanners
John the Baptist - farriers, bird dealers, Knights Hospitaller, Wroclaw
John of God - hospitals and hospital workers, nurses
John Bosco - apprentices, editors, printers/publishers
Joseph the Betrothed - fighting Communism
Joseph of Cupertino - air travelers and aviators
Juan de Castillo - Native American traditions
Jude (also known as Jude Thaddeus) - hopeless cases, and hospitals and hospital workers
Julian the Hospitaller - shepherds
Saint Lawrence - librarians, tanners
Luke the Apostle - doctors, surgeons, artists
Margaret of Antioch - nurses, pregnancy
Martha - dieticians
Mary Magdalen - tanners
Magnus - fish dealers
Albertus Magnus - chemists, medical technicians
Martin of Tours - equestrians
Michael the Archangel - radiologists, soldiers, paramedics, police officers
Nicholas of Myra - fishermen, pharmacists
Notburga - farms, farmers, farmhands, ranches, husbandry
Our Lady of Salambao - fishermen
Pantaleon - doctors
Paul the Apostle - hospital public relations
Peter the Apostle - popes, fishermen, fishmongers, sailors, bakers, harvesters, butchers, glass makers, carpenters, shoemakers, clockmakers, blacksmiths, potters, masons, bridge builders, cloth makers, penitents, virgins; helps against: snake bites, rabies, demonic possession, ill legs, thefts
Phocas the Gardener - farms, farmers, farmhands, ranches, husbandry
St. Raphael - shepherds, shepherdesses
Raphael the Archangel - doctors, pharmacists, nurses
Raymond of Penyafort - medical record librarians
St. Regina - shepherdesses
John Regis - medical social workers
Roch - surgeons
Alonso Rodriguez - Native American traditions
Severus of Avranches - silk workers, wool weavers and manufacturers
Simon - tanners
Solange - shepherdesses
Tomas de Aquino - students
Thomas More - Politicians, Statesmen
Turibius of Mogroveio - Native American rights
Valentine - bee keepers
Vincent de Paul - hospitals and hospital workers
Walston - farms, farmers, farmhands, ranches, husbandry
Wolbodo - students
Francis Xavier Cabrini - hospital administrators
Zeno of Verona - fishermen
Occupations and activities under the patronage of Mary
The Blessed Virgin Mary may be taken as a patron of any good activity; indeed, she is cited as the patron of all humanity. However, certain occupations and activities are more closely associated with her protection.
airplane crews and pilots (esp. Belgian, Spanish and French)
Andorran security forces
Argentinian Army, Navy and military chaplains
bicyclists
blood donors
boatmen
Bolivian Navy builders
Chilean Army and Navy
Cistercian Order
clothworkers
coffee house keepers and owners
construction workers
cooks
coopers
distillers
drapers
Ecuadorian Army
enlightenment
fishermen and sellers
goldsmiths
harness makers
lamp makers
mothers
motorcyclists
navigators
needle and pin makers
news sellers
nuns
oblate vocations
potters
restauranteurs
ribbon makers
sailors
silk workers
silversmiths
soldiers of the United States
Spanish architects and police officers
tapestry workers
Teutonic Knights
travellers
tilemakers
uphosterers
Venezuelan National Guard
virgins
yachtsmen
Saints associated with countries, nations and/or regions
Adalbert of Magdeburg - Czech Republic
Adalbert of Prague - Bohemia, Poland, Prussia
Aeden of Ferns - Ferns, Ireland
Afra - Augsburg
Agatha - Catania; Palermo, Italy; Zamarramala, Spain
Agathoclia - Aragon, Spain
Agnellus - Naples, Italy
Agricola of Avignon - Avignon
Alexander of Bergamo - Bergamo, Italy
Amalberga - Ghent, Belgium
Ambrose of Milan - Milan, Italy
Andrew the Apostle - Achaia; Amalfi, Italy, Greece; Patras, Greece, Russia, Scotland
Anne - Brittany, Canada, Quebec, Santa Ana Indian Pueblo; Taos, New Mexico
Ansanus the Baptizer - Siena, Italy
Ansgar (or Anskar) - Denmark, Norway, Scandinavia, Sweden
Anthony of Padua - Brazil, Native Americans, Portugal
Antoninus of Sorrento - Sorrento, Italy
Antony of Vilna - Vilna, Lithuania
Arnulph - Gap
Arthelais - Benevento, Italy
Astricus - Hungary
Arsenius of Corfu - Kerkira Island, Greece
Asicus - archdiocese of Elphia
Augustine of Canterbury - England
Augustine of Hippo - dioceses of Bridgeport, Connecticut; Kalamazoo, Michigan; Saint Augustine, Florida; Superior, Wisconsin; Tucson, Arizona. Cities of Cagayan de Oro and Saint Augustine, Florida.
Gerald Aurillac - Upper Avergne
Andrew Avellino - Naples, Italy, Sicily
Josephine Bakhita - Sudan
Peter Baptist - Japan
Barbara - Syria
Barnabas - Antioch, Cyprus
Barbatus of Benevento - Benevento, Italy
Bartholomew the Apostle - Armenia
Basil the Great - Russia
Bavo - Ghent, Belgium; Haarlem, Netherlands
Pascal Baylon - Obando, Bulacan, Philippines
Thomas Beckett - Portsmouth, England
Benedict - Europe
Benedict the Black - African-Americans, Palermo, Italy
Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - Europe
Benezet - Avignon
Benignus of Dijon - Dijon
Berach - Kilbarry, Ireland
Bernard of Clairvaux - Gibraltar
