A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person.^[1] Patron saints, because they have already transcended to the metaphysical, are believed to be able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges.^[2]

Saints often become the patron saints of places where they were born or had been active. However, there were cases in Medieval Europe where a city which grew to prominence and transferred to its cathedral the remains of a famous saint who had lived and was buried elsewhere, and made him or her the city's patron saint – such a practice conferring considerable prestige on the city concerned. In Latin America, Spanish and Portuguese explorers often named location for the saint on whose day the place was first visited – that Saint naturally becoming the patron saint of a town or city which developed there.