St. Homobonus

Who they were

Homobonus, a name that means good man and that Cremona meant, was a cloth merchant who inherited his father's business and ran it his whole life on a thesis the Middle Ages found remarkable enough to canonize: that commerce itself, conducted honestly, is a vocation from God.

There was no order, no cloister, and no dramatic conversion. There were accurate scales, fair prices, debts honoured, and profits treated as a trust. He gave systematically to Cremona's poor, to the point of household friction the old accounts mention with a smile, and the city's destitute knew his door. On 13 November 1197, at morning Mass, during the Gloria, he stretched out his arms in the form of a cross and died on the spot. Cremona's demand was immediate and unanimous, and Innocent III canonized him in 1199: two years, one of the fastest canonizations ever recorded, and for centuries the only one of a lay merchant. The medieval guilds of tailors and clothworkers across Europe took him as patron.

Why people turn to St. Homobonus

Business owners, and family businesses in particular. He is the patron whose entire sanctity was how he ran the shop.

How to ask their intercession

Before the pricing decision, the vendor negotiation, or the hire, for his single grace: the deal you would be glad to have witnessed.