What’s in a name?
Confirmandi seek Spirit-filled guidance when choosing names

By Andrew Junker,The Catholic Sun
May 3, 2007

Abram and Sarai became Abraham and Sarah. Jacob became Israel. Simon and Saul became Peter and Paul.

A new name in the Bible signifies a great change for that person. It’s a new calling, a new life.

Thousands of schoolchildren throughout the local Church are entering into this tradition by choosing a name to go along with their newly received sacrament of confirmation.

“It symbolizes a new beginning in their lives,” said Sr. Loretto Downing, IBVM. She’s the director of catechetical formation at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral.

“We stress the importance of a name. It’s something that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives,” she said.

Confirmation Schedule for the Phoenix Diocese

The process of selecting a saint’s name for confirmation is one of the most popular parts of the process, said Erin Campbell, director of confirmation at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish. And it’s something that’s distinctly Catholic.

“Of course, Jesus is our helper, and the Holy Spirit is the specific helper that we get in confirmation. But God, in His generosity, has given us each other to help out,” Campbell said. “And that’s a great gift.”

Choosing a confirmation name introduces the children to the communion of saints, the fact that as Christians they are members of the one mystical body of Christ along with those in Purgatory and in Heaven.

The children can pray for the intercession of their saints, and try to imitate the lives they led on earth.

Hannah Clark, a third-grader at Ss. Simon and Jude Catholic School, chose St. Rose of Lima as her confirmation name because of that saint’s concern for the poor.

“She was friends with the poor,” Clark said. “She spent her spare time picking apples for them and donating money.”

Sr. Loretto said that the personality of the children often comes out when they’re choosing a confirmation name.

“Some of them are really helpful kids, and they want to choose a saint who maybe devoted their life to others, or saints who gave their lives for others,” she said.

Others might choose a name that has special significance in their own family. Sr. Loretto supports this option, because it highlights the fact that “we have living saints in the family, too.”

Annie Wilson, a classmate of Clark’s, chose St. Elizabeth, because that is the name her grandmother, mother and sister all chose when they were confirmed.

She hopes in some way to imitate the good example they’ve given her.

Building virtue

Campbell said St. Thomas the Apostle’s confirmation program asked the confirmandi to learn about three saints on their own to choose from.

“We asked them to do research, to watch videos or read about the saints to find a person that they identify with, and that they felt could be a role model to them,” she said.

For example, quite a few students with athletic ambitions chose St. Sebastian because he is the patron saint of athletes. The idea is to find a saint whose example will help the child to grow as a Christian.

“We know about the saints’ lives,” Campbell said. “We can read about them and their struggles.”

Sometimes the children pick saints who showed great holiness in their childhood or adolescence. Campbell mentioned St. Therese of Lisieux or St. Maria Goretti as young women who can teach the confirmandi that they don’t have to wait until they get older to work on their sanctity.

“It builds the notion of virtue in children. It gives them concrete examples,” she said.

Many times, a child’s choice of a name will surprise the teachers and give them pause to reflect on the insights children often bring to the faith.

St. Thomas the Apostle third-grader Megan Donahey chose Mary Magdalene as her confirmation name.

“I picked her because she noticed she was a sinner, but her faith saved her,” Donahey said. “We all need to notice that we’re sinners, but if you repent and have faith, you can be saved.”

She learned about her saint via the Internet, where she found out “how strong her faith was and how much she wanted to be forgiven.”

Mary Magdalene’s firm faith in Christ assured Donahey that “she’d be a good fit for me.”

Finding a good fit is what Campbell tries to emphasize in choosing a confirmation name.

“There are so many saints in our communion of saints,” she said. “We try to make it a personal process.”