Saint Raymond of Peñafort Medal Necklace – Patron Saint of Lawyers & Canon Lawyers

Saint Raymond of Peñafort, Patron Saint of Lawyers and Canon Lawyers

Raymond was born around 1175 near Barcelona to a noble family connected to the royal house of Aragon. He earned doctorates in both civil and canon law at the University of Bologna, taught there in his twenties and thirties, and by forty-one had entered the Dominican Order, setting aside a life of privilege for one of scholarship and service. In 1230, Pope Gregory IX summoned him to Rome and gave him an enormous task: organizing eighty years of scattered, often contradictory Church decrees into a single, coherent body of law. Three years and five volumes later, Raymond's Decretals were complete, and the pope decreed they alone would be taught in the schools of Paris and Bologna. The work remained the foundation of Church law until 1917, nearly seven centuries later. Raymond went on to serve briefly as Master of the Dominican Order, helped found the Mercedarians, a religious order dedicated to ransoming Christians held captive in Islamic lands, and spent his final decades, well into his nineties, preaching and hearing confessions. He died in 1275 at nearly one hundred years old and was canonized in 1601. Devotional art traditionally shows him with a wand and key, symbols of his authority as a Dominican Master General, alongside the book that represents his legal writings.

A Gift For...

• A lawyer, canon lawyer, or law student, especially one studying Church or canon law
• A medical records professional or health information manager, one of his lesser-known but genuine patronages
• A confirmation candidate drawn to order, justice, and painstaking scholarship
• A Saint Raymond's Day gift on January 7, for any lawyer or legal professional in your life

A Confirmation Gift for Raymond

For a confirmation candidate headed toward law, especially canon or Church law, few saints offer as direct or historically significant a match. Engrave a name and confirmation date, and let nearly seven centuries of his own legal work speak for itself.

The Saint Raymond of Peñafort Medal

This medal depicts him in the black and white habit of the Dominican Order, a wand and key held in one hand, a book of canon law tucked under the other arm, his halo radiating outward against an ornate patterned border. The natural gold or silver of the metal forms the illustration itself. Black ink is applied to the pendant surface and the metal shows through as the image. A shatterproof liquid glass coating seals the surface. The result has a depth and precision that printed medals don't achieve.

Personalization and Engraving

The optional engraving on the reverse is rendered in Tangerine cursive, two lines, up to 20 characters each. Many choose a name and a bar exam or graduation date, while others engrave "justice" or simply his name alone.

Saint Raymond's feast day is January 7, and his compiled Decretals remained the operative law of the Catholic Church for nearly seven hundred years, longer than almost any other single legal text in Western history has ever stayed in force.

Related Devotions for Lawyers and Legal Professionals

• For Lawyers Generally: Pair with the Saint Ivo of Kermartin Medal, the medieval "advocate, not a thief," patron of lawyers and the poor's defenders.
• A Secondary Patron for the Courtroom: Saint Genesius is also invoked by those in legal professions, though he's better known as patron of actors, explore the Saint Genesius Medal.