ABSTRACT
Patrons have been anointed to watch over guilds, professions, or special intentions. St. Valentine watches over lovers and florists. Hippocrates looks after physicians and their patients, and Her Majesty the Queen is the Patron of the Royal Society for the Arts. Having a patron appears to be particularly useful under conditions where a field and its adherents are under scrutiny or even under fire, or when the results of an undertaking can go either way. The patron is either expected to extend some measure of protection or provide that special “nudge” from above that hopefully tilts the eventual outcome in the right direction.
