Patronage

Patron Saint of Shoemakers

2 saints are venerated as patrons of Shoemakers, led by Bartholomew the Apostle (feast day August 24).

Bartholomew the Apostle

1st century AD — ca. 70–80 AD · Feast day: August 24

Bartholomew the Apostle carried the Gospel to Armenia, where he converted a king before being flayed alive for his faith. Tradition identifies him with Nathaniel, the skeptic who asked 'Can anything good come from Nazareth?' — only to be stunned into belief when Jesus revealed: 'Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.' In Michelangelo's Last Judgment, Bartholomew stands holding his own skin, the artist's own face staring back from it.

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Hugh of Lincoln

c. 1140 AD — November 16, 1200 AD · Feast day: November 16

A Burgundian Carthusian monk who became Bishop of Lincoln — England's largest diocese — Hugh shielded Jews from mob violence under Richard I, excommunicated royal foresters on his first days in office, refused military levies even at financial penalty, and rebuilt Lincoln Cathedral in Gothic stone after earthquake damage. He was the first Carthusian ever canonized.

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Related Patronages

Bookbinders Butchers Leather workers Tanners Cobblers Armenia Nervous diseases Neurological diseases Sick children Sick people Swans