Topic: Saints

Date originally posted: March 5, 2002

Source of this posting: Moderator response to emailed question

Moderator who originally posted this source: P. Leach

Question:  What or who exactly is a saint?  What makes them a saint and what is their significance?  Are they sinless?  Do Catholics pray to saints?

Answer:

"Exactly" is kind of hard when we're talking about saints.  As with most words in English, "saint" is used to describe several different categories.

 Most basically, the New Testament uses the word "saint" to refer to followers of Jesus.  In this sense, then, a saint is one who in response to God's call has chosen to model his or her life after Jesus Christ, be baptized, live according to the principles of the Gospel, and serve the neighbor in compassion.

 Saintliness is, colloguially, sometimes ascribed to people who have lived their lives in ways that are characterized by moral rectitude, dedication to her or his calling, service to one's fellow human-beings.  For example, we might say that a faithful Grandmother who taught Sunday School throughout her life and was always trying to help the poor was a 'saint.'  Or, some people might say that Gandhi was a 'saint' because of his life-long devotion to the principles of justice.

 More technically, in the Catholic tradition, saints usually fall into one (or more) of three categories. 

 First, 'saint'is usually thought to be an appropriate way to designate a person who has been martyred for his or her faith.  The 'crown' (after the Greek word, "stephanos," which was the name of the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen, and which means 'crown') of martyrdom makes a person a saint.  Many of the very earliest Christian saints are of this type because they died for their faith in Christ and are, therefore, saints.

 Second, some people are almost spontaneously and instantaneously acclaimed "saints" shortly after they die.  The holiness of these people is so well-known and so universally acknowledged that people begin to call them "saint" almost immediately upon their death.  Saint Francis of Assisi is probably the best known of this kind of saint.  The Catholic Church recognized his sainthood two years after he died in the 13th century.

 Third, a saint can be a person whose life and writings, if any exist, have been studied exhaustively by the Church and who is declared to be with God in the glory of heaven.  This process, called 'canonization,' can be relatively short, say 20 or 30 years -- as in the case of Saint Maria Goretti or Saint Maximillian Kolbe -- or it can take centuries -- as in the case of Saint Martin de Porres.  Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit of God is directing this process, and so we feel as if "time," from a human point-of-view, is not the primary factor.

 The canonization process is usually looking for evidence of a holy and faithful life.  That can come from the person's own writings or from the testimony of people who knew the prospective saint.  

 For a person to become a saint in this formal way, his or her "cause" is introduced to the office in Rome which handles these matters; it is called "The Sacred Congregation for the Saints."  After an initial review the person is declared to be a "Friend of God" which basically means that the person under consideration for sainthood has been accepted for the process.

 After careful review, if the person under consideration seems particularly worthy of further reflection, prayerful investigation, and possible saint-hood, she or he might be declared to be a "Venerable" Christian.  In this case, the Church is saying that person's 'cause' has moved through most of the initial stages; moreover, a "Venerable" is a person to whom a faithful Catholic might address requests for prayer to God.

(A Catholic, of course, is free to ask anybody to pray for him or her.  We are not limited to asking only "Venerables."  Catholic Christians believe that death does not end life.  We believe that death is a "door" through which we pass during the journey of life -- from this current "room" in which we live now into the "room" of life-after-death.  As one of our great prayers says, "life is not ended, it is changed" by death.  Since we are encouraged to ask people who are alive in this 'current' room of life to pray for us, Catholics see no reason why we shouldn't also ask people who are alive in "the next 'room' of life-after-death'" to pray with and for us as well.)

 If the cause of a person being considered for sainthood has, as a "Venerable," shown promise -- for example, if miracles seem to be attributed to the Venerable's intercession -- the Church may declare that she or he is "Blessed."  Being advanced to "Blessed" does not rely solely on attributable miracles, however.  A person could be made "Blessed" by the Church if, after careful, thoughtful, prayerful reflection, the officials in the Congregation for the Saints see that this particular person's writing or life example are filled with holy example and insight that might be good for our particular age.  When a person is declared to be "Blessed" the Church usually promulgates specific prayers which can be used at Masses or other Liturgies of the Church which promote the virtues of the person being considered for sainthood.

 The final stage in this process is being canonized.  When, after appropriate consideration, a person is deemed by the highest authorities in the Church, to be sharing the glory of God in heaven, the Church announces in a solemn declaration, very often proclaimed by the Pope in a special and very public Mass, that God has seen fit to bestow on this particular person the everlasting joy of being in heaven with God.  At that time, the person is referred to as "Saint."   

Usually, being declared a Saint by the Catholic Church is accompanied by the Church's assertion that through this person's intercession at least one, sometimes two or three, miracles have occurred.   

Saints are not, in response to your question, people who are without sin.  Only Jesus is utterly without sin, and we Catholics believe that because of His ineffable grace His Mother also shared in sinlessness.  But all other human beings are burdened with sinfulness -- even Saints.

 Saints are important to us for many reasons.  They give us hope.  Since they lived ordinary human lives but were able to follow God's call, we can see in them the possibility of our being able to do so.  Saints often serve as examples to and for us.  We can look at their lives and determine how to meet the challenges that confront us.  And saints frequently, through their writings or the writings about them, teach us about what authentic Christian and Catholic belief really is.

 Thanks for asking about Saints.  Hope this helps.