Saint Medals and Why We Wear Them

One of the things that caught me off-guard when I came to Belmont Abbey College was the number of people wearing saint medals.  I personally had never worn a saint medal or Catholic medal for that matter.  And many of the people I grew up with and around didn’t wear them either.  Naturally I was confused.  I began to wonder why people wore saint medals?  What was the purpose of these saints medals?  Why do so many Catholics wear them?  What do they do?  Well, I did some research and came to find out that people wear saint medals for all sorts of reasons.

Some people wear saint medals because that saint is their patron saint.  Some wear them as a sort of protection, that is, if the medal is blessed.  Some wear saint medals as a devotion or a reminder of a devotion.  I came to realize that most people took their saint medals very seriously and wear them all of the time, usually never or rarely taking them off.  Some people have had their saint medals since their Confirmation or Baptism.  The medal then reminded them of their naming as well as the sacrament.  Despite all of this research I was still confused as to why people wore saint medals with such affection and love.  I mean, it’s just a piece of medal, right?

Then it all finally made sense to me.  I decided to look online and that’s how I found saint-medals.us.  This site explained what I was witnessing perfectly.  People tend to wear saint medals like they would wear a locket of a loved one.  They wear it with devotion, commitment, affection, and love.  This was at first shocking to me, but after some reflection I think that it certainly makes sense.  These saints pray for us; through their invocation we receive many blessings from God, and for that we ought to be thankful and affectionate.  If I invoked Saint Christopher and my sister was protected in a time of danger, then I would be wearing a St. Christopher medal every day!  Do you wear saint medals?  Does your family?  If so, why?