Patron saints by name
Find your patron saint by name
Every Orthodox Christian bears the name of a saint who keeps watch over them, and keeps that saint’s feast as a name day. Type a first name to find the saint, the name day on both calendars, and the icon to give.
Your name’s saint. St Gertrude of Nivelles, name day 17 March (30 March on the Old Calendar). St Gertrude of Nivelles & Guardian Angel, $69 (normal price $99).
Your name’s saint
St Gertrude of Nivelles
Αγία Γερτρούδη της Νιβέλ · Преподобная Гертруда Нивельская
Name day 17 March (30 March on the Old Calendar)
St Gertrude was born around 626 into the leading Frankish family of her day, the daughter of Pepin of Landen and St Itta. When she was only about ten, the king offered her a politically advantageous marriage at her father's table.
The faithful ask St Gertrude for
- a safe journey and safe return home
- protection at sea and in storms
- a fruitful garden
- the grace to keep a vow of dedication to Christ
- a generous and hospitable heart
Today, 16 October, the Church remembers St Longinus the Centurion; on the Old Calendar, St Dionysius the Areopagite.
The gift for a name day
Each folding icon pairs the patron saint with the Guardian Angel, printed under glass in velvet covers. The Name-Day Gift Set adds a crucifix and a prayer rope, in a gift box with a card giving the saint’s life and feast day.
Add Consecration, $49, if you wish: our priest consecrated each folding icon before it left the workshop, one by one, with holy water and the prayers of the Church.
Among the saints we carry
St Nicholas, St Matthew, St Mark, St Patrick, St Edward, St Olaf and the Holy Foremother Eve, each beside the Guardian Angel, and the St John the Warrior and Guardian Angel diptych for those who serve.
Or give the saint’s folding icon on its own, $69: every saint we carry.
How name days are kept
Two calendars
The Greek, Antiochian, Romanian and Bulgarian Churches and the Orthodox Church in America keep the feasts on the New Calendar. The Russian, Serbian and Georgian Churches, Jerusalem and Mount Athos keep the Old Calendar, thirteen days later. We give both dates.
One day, or the nearest saint
Greek custom keeps one name day for each name. In the Russian custom a person keeps the day of the saint of their name whose feast comes first after their birthday, so a name can have several days.
A name with no saint
A name that no saint bore keeps its name day, by Greek custom, on All Saints’ Sunday. By an old custom a patron can also be chosen among the saints of the birthday or the baptism day, and every Orthodox Christian has a Guardian Angel from baptism. Many take a saint’s name at baptism or chrismation: if they have one, type that name.
Name days and saints from the Greek name-day calendar (eortologio.net), the Russian Church’s calendar of saints (azbyka.ru) and the Orthodox Church in America’s Lives of the Saints.
