Patron, in time, came to be a common designation of every protector or powerful promoter of the interests of another; thus also the saints, who were believed to watch over particular interests of persons, places, trades, etc., acquired in the Middle Ages the designation of patron saints. These patron saints of professions, trades, conditions, and callings were called, in Church language, Defensores. Several such are clearly connected by a sort of pun (as St. Clair, of lamplighters; St. Cloud, of the nailmakers; and St. Blanc, or Blanchard, of laundresses), or are derived from some incident in their life (as St. Peter, of fishmongers), or in their legends (as St. Dunstan, of goldsmiths; St. Sebastian, of archers; St. Blaise, of combmakers; St. Lawrence, of girdlers and cooks; SS. Hubert and Eustace, of huntsmen; St. Cecilia, of musicians; St. Catharine, of philosophers). Some preside over different trades, as St. Eloi, patron of hangmen, coachmen, tinmen, nail and shoeing smiths, and metalworkers; St. George, of soldiers, clothiers, and horsemen; St. Anne, of grooms, toymen, turners, and combmakers; St. Michael, of fencing-masters and pastrycooks; St. John at the Latin Gate, of printers, attorneys, and papermakers; IV Coronati, of masons and builders; SS. Cosmas and Damian, of physicians and surgeons; SS. Crispin and Crispinian, of cordwainers and embroiderers; St. Nicholas, of butchers, scholars, seamen, and thieves; St. Vincent, of vinedressers and vinegar- makers.
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