A Litany of School Saints: Protection and Help for the Academic Year

As the academic year begins, Kate Towne offers a litany of patron saints for students, parents, and schools.

The new school year is looming — indeed, it may have already started for some of you — and from everything I’m seeing and hearing from those whose children would normally attend brick-and-mortar schools, tensions are high.

Many parents are eager for their children to return to in-person school; many parents are scared for their children to return to in-person school. Many parents are choosing to keep their kids home and use virtual schooling options provided by their schools, or are choosing to homeschool; many parents can’t choose to keep their kids home, even though they want to. Many parents of children with special needs are both scared for the continued unavailability in many places of the services their children need to succeed and scared for the risk to their children’s health posed by receiving those very services. Some teachers can’t wait to get back in the classroom, others are terrified to do so; the same can be said for the students.

Fortunately, the Church honors many holy men and women who have a particular attachment to matters of education — praying for their intercession will hopefully give parents, teachers, and students a measure of peace and hope as the 2020-2021 school year begins. I’ve compiled in litany form as many of these patrons as I could find; perhaps you’d like to pray this with your family as you prepare for the school year, and keep it as a go-to prayer when the worries of the school year become too heavy.

Litany of School Saints

Infant Jesus of Prague, patron of schools, colleges, and universities, protect us.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, keep us close to you.
Mary, Mother of God and our mother, pray for us.
Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us.

St. John the Apostle, patron of scholars, pray for us.
St. Brigid of Ireland, patroness of scholars, pray for us. 

St. Gemma Galgani, patroness of students, pray for us.

St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, patron of students, pray for us.

Holy Innocents, patrons of students, pray for us.

St. Symphorian of Autun, patron of students, pray for us.

St. Tatiana of Rome, patroness of students, pray for us. 

St. Aloysius Gonzaga, patron of young students, pray for us.

Bl. Osanna Andreasi, patroness of school girls, pray for us.

St. Ambrose of Milan, patron of schoolchildren and students, pray for us.

St. Benedict of Nursia, patron of schoolchildren and students, pray for us.

St. Jerome, patron of schoolchildren and students, pray for us.

St. Lawrence of Rome, patron of schoolchildren and students, pray for us.

Bl. Solanus Casey, who struggled with his studies, pray for us.

St. Philomena, patroness of students and test takers, pray for us.

St. Joseph of Cupertino, patron saint of studying and taking exams, pray for us.

St. Albert the Great, patron of science students, pray for us.

St. Francis de Sales, patron of writing students, pray for us.

St. Isidore of Seville, patron of schoolchildren, students, computer users, and the Internet, pray for us.

Pope St. Gregory the Great, patron of schoolchildren, students, and teachers/educators, pray for us.

St. Nicholas of Myra, patron of scholars, schoolchildren, students, and teachers, pray for us.

St. Cassian of Imola, patron of students and teachers, pray for us.

St. Catherine of Alexandria, patroness of students and teachers, pray for us. 

St. Gregory the Great, patron of teachers, pray for us.

St. Francis de Sales, patron of teachers/educators, pray for us.

St. John Baptist de la Salle, patron of teachers/educators and school principals, pray for us.

St. John Bosco, patron of schoolchildren, students, schools, colleges, and universities, pray for us.

St. Thomas Aquinas, patron of students and Catholic schools, pray for us.
St. Ursula, patroness of schoolchildren, students, teachers/educators, and Catholic education (especially of girls), pray for us.
St. Joseph Calasanz, patron of schoolchildren, students, schools, schools for the poor, colleges, universities, and Catholic schools, pray for us.
Bl. Contardo Ferrini, patron of schools, colleges, and universities, pray for us.
St. Scholastica, patroness of education, pray for us.
St. John Nepomucene Neumann, patron of Catholic education, pray for us.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, initiator of the parochial school system in America, pray for us.
St. Martin de Porres, patron of public education, public schools, and state schools, pray for us.
St. Joseph, patron of educators, teachers, fathers, and families, pray for us.
St. Adelaide of Burgundy, patroness of parenthood, pray for us.
St. Clotilde, patroness of parenthood, pray for us.
St. Ferdinand III of Castille, patron of parenthood, pray for us.

St. Louis IX, patron of parenthood, pray for us.

St. Rita of Cascia, patroness of parenthood and desperate and impossible causes, pray for us.

St. Anne, patroness of mothers, grandmothers, and grandparents, pray for us.

St. Gerard Majella, patron of mothers, pray for us.
St. Gianna Beretta Molla, patroness of mothers, pray for us.
St. Hilary of Poitiers, patron of mothers, pray for us.

St. Monica, patroness of mothers, pray for us.
St. Joachim, patron of fathers, grandfathers, and grandparents, pray for us.
All patron saints of Catholic schools, pray for us.
All you holy men and women, pray for us.

Download and print this novena and pray it with your family.

Resources:

I gathered this list of patrons of students, teachers, parents, and schools from:

“Ten Patron Saints for Catholic Classrooms” by our own Barb Szyszkiewicz at Today’s Catholic Teacher

“17 Saints Every Student Needs to Begin the School Year” by Theresa Zoe Williams at Epic Pew

CatholicSaints.info

Copyright 2020 Kate Towne