I don't know if there is a patron saint of. PhD students but I guess it should be Bede. He was certainly one of the first English academics. His. Eclesiastical History of the English Speaking Peoples was properly researched, sources referenced not plagiarized, and provenance verified; I have colleagues who could learn from him. Not bad for a monk from the 7th/8th centuries. And like modern researchers, he had his run-ins with the Establishment. He was, amongst other things, a mathematician (it's his formula that calculates Easter) and came up with a date for the creation of earth based on the bible. Sadly for Bede that didn't agree with church doctrine and he was forced to recant. I think I kind of know how he felt.