When an American church is named for a saint rather than a denomination, which saints get the honor? We searched 212,260 U.S. church names for their patrons. The result is a quiet popularity contest among apostles, evangelists, and the Virgin Mary — running for two thousand years and still being decided.
Key findings
- St. John is America's most honored patron, lending his name to about 3,014 churches, just ahead of St. Paul (2,652).
- The Virgin Mary ranks third (around 1,815 churches named St. Mary), followed by St. Joseph and St. Peter.
- The four evangelists and the twelve apostles dominate the list — the New Testament, mapped onto the American landscape.
Apostles, evangelists, and the Virgin
The top of the list reads like the table of contents of the New Testament. St. John — claimed by both the apostle and the evangelist — leads, with St. Paul close behind, the two great pillars of the early church. The Virgin Mary follows, and then the apostles Peter, James, and Andrew interleave with the evangelists Mark and Luke. These are overwhelmingly Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox dedications; Protestant congregations more often choose the “First Baptist” convention or a biblical place-name instead.
America's most popular patron saints
| Patron saint | Churches |
|---|---|
| St. John | 3,014 |
| St. Paul | 2,652 |
| St. Mary (the Virgin) | 1,815 |
| St. Joseph | 1,079 |
| St. Peter | 1,065 |
| St. James | 931 |
| St. Mark | 882 |
| St. Luke | 858 |
| St. Andrew | 663 |
| St. Michael | 548 |
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