How can I choose which saint to pray to for a special need?

“I do not have to carry alone what in truth I could never carry alone. All the saints of God are there to protect me, to sustain me and to carry me,” said Pope Benedict XVI at the inaugural Mass of his pontificate on April 24, 2005. The Church's great cohort of saints are not only models for the faithful, but also effective intercessors with God. They are not the ones who grant graces directly—only God is capable of miracles—but they bring and present people's prayer intentions to the Lord's infinitely merciful Heart.

There's nothing magical about this way of praying: the intentions entrusted to them are not always answered in the way we want. But by associating a saint with them, we can feel supported in our surrender to God's will. We aren’t alone in our poor prayers to God. A saint is an ideal go-between. It's just a question of choosing the right one!

“When my wife had a stroke, and I was following the ambulance to the hospital, I immediately prayed to St. John Paul II,” says Antoine, who is in his fifties. “We're from the 'John Paul II generation' as they say. We both have great admiration for him. His teachings formed us when we were young. One of our children is called Karol in his honor, so it was only natural that I turned to him to ask him to save my wife. And he did!”

It's easy to feel naturally inclined to pray to one saint rather than another. It may be because we’ve been inspired by the saint’s story, or simply because we know them better than others. This can be the case when we’re named after a saint, who thus becomes our patron saint. They’re often the first saints we get to know, through lives of the saints or small devotional objects received as gifts from an early age.

“I rarely pray to saints. I don't know many of them! But I'm very fond of my patron saint, Camille de Lellis, whom I discovered during my nursing studies, and whose way of caring for the sick really touched me,” says Camille, a 26-year-old nurse.

There are also saints who have something in common with us, through their character, their family situation, their profession, the trials they went through... These similarities make it easier to identify with them, and create a special relationship.

For example, Blessed Carlo Acutis, a young Italian who died of leukemia at the age of 15 in 2006, resonates with the hearts of many teenagers today. Such is the case of Alban, 23, who is suffering from a brain tumor. “I connected with Carlo very quickly due to his simplicity, his faith, and his adoration of the Eucharist, but also because he’s anchored in our time. His simple words shed new light on the mysteries of faith for me,” Alban recently told Aleteia. He testified to the graces, both physical and spiritual, that he has received through the young Italian Blessed.

As for Emmanuelle and Pierre, parents of five daughters, they regularly ask the holy couple Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, also parents of five daughters (including little Thérèse), to intercede for them. “I entrust many intentions to them, for our family and for loved ones,” explains Emmanuelle.

“Zélie loved children; she lost four of them in infancy. I entrust to her couples among my friends who are hoping for children. One of their daughters, Léonie, was very slow in school and caused them a lot of worry, but her cause of beatification is underway! It's a great comfort, for us who have children with learning difficulties, to know that holiness doesn't depend on academic performance!”

In addition to personal proximity to saints, what they’re famous for can also be a good criterion for choice. St. Jude, patron saint of hopeless causes, and St. Anthony, invoked for lost objects, remain among the best-known. However, others designated by the Church's long tradition for certain circumstances are no less real supporters.

Indeed, some saints are known to be particularly effective for specific causes. Such is the case of St. Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus, who is often invoked when trying to sell a house. He is also said to be an excellent intercessor when it comes to having children, finding a soulmate, or finding work.

Holy martyrs are generally invoked to heal the part of the body through which they suffered. For example, St. Agatha, whose breasts were cut off, is traditionally invoked by breast cancer sufferers. St. Apollonia, who had her teeth pulled, is said to have expressed the wish that all those who invoke her because of toothache would receive immediate relief. People pray to Sts. Tryphon and Respicius, whose shoes were filled with nails and crushed glass, for foot wounds. St. Lawrence, condemned to be burned alive on a grill, is invoked to heal burns.

According to a devotion dating back to the 14th century, a small group of 14 saints, known as the Fourteen Holy Helpers, are considered to be particularly helpful. Each saint has his or her own specialty. St. Barbara protects against storms, fires, explosions and sudden death. St. Blaise cures sore throats; St. Christopher guides travelers; St. Gilles and St. Guy ward off madness; St. Margaret of Antioch cares for pregnant women...

Among the holy healers, St. Charbel, a Maronite monk who died in 1898, enjoys an excellent reputation. Thousands of testimonies of cures have been collected by the St. Maron monastery in Annaya, Lebanon, where his tomb is located. In many cases, incurable illnesses, malignant tumors, or the serious after-effects of a serious accident have been totally healed.

Those whose process of beatification or canonization is underway are too often forgotten, or underestimated! But they “need” miracles to one day be elevated to the altars.

In the classic canonization procedure, in addition to the recognition of heroic virtues, one miracle is required to be declared blessed, and two miracles to be declared a saint. Servants of God, Venerables, and Blesseds can listen attentively to people's requests.

A case in point is Léonie Martin, sister of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, whose diocesan investigation ended on February 22, 2020. It’s now up to Pope Francis to rule and declare her “venerable.” A process has also been underway since 2009 for the Servant of God Zita, wife of Blessed Charles of Austria. The diocesan phase of the trial for Anne-Gabrielle Caron, the little girl who died of bone cancer at the age of 8, will be completed on December 7 after more than four years of work. These and others whose causes have begun, have not yet been canonized, but who knows whether your prayers will bring about the miracle through their intercession that will make them saints?