Roman Catholic tradition has made saints the patrons or protectors of various aspects of human life, and they are invoked for particular reasons [1]. Sometimes this is a result of actual facts, e.g. St. Blaise is invoked for throat ailments because he saved a child from suffocation due to a fish bone stuck in his throat; sometimes it is based on a detail of martyrdom, e.g. St. Laurence is invoked for burns because he was put to death by being roasted on a gridiron, and some instances result from the figurative tradition, e.g. St. Bartholomew is invoked for skin diseases since images of his martyrdom depict him with his skin draped over his arm.
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