FAQ Library

Topic: Saint Christopher

Date originally posted: March 29, 2002

Source of this posting: Moderator response to emailed question

Moderator who originally posted this source: P. Leach

Question: A number of years ago a story was circulated that St. Christopher was no longer considered a Saint. I posed this question to my parish priest and he had no idea what I was talking about. Can you shed any light on this? Thank you.

Answer:

Thanks very much for your question about Saint Christopher. Many people have had that same question over the years. When things 'change' in our faith-life, it can be unnerving...my own experience is that God uses those changes to bring us closer to the Divine Love which is God...sometimes we go kicking and screaming, but God is always there, loving us, challenging us, taking care of us -- especially in the midst of change!

Anyway, a really useful tool for questions about saints is the following website: http://saints.catholic.org

Their 'parent' web site, which is also filled with fascinating stuff, is: http://www.catholic.org

Although I can't seem to find out who, exactly, sponsors this site, it has lots of interesting and very cool information.

I have taken the liberty of copying their page on Saint Christopher -- just for you! Have a holy day!

Blessings, Father Phillip

"Whatever happened to St. Christopher?

"Before the 1969 reform of the Roman calendar, Christopher was listed as a martyr who died under Decius. Nothing else is known about him. There are several legends about him including the one in which he was crossing a river when a child asked to be carried across. When Christopher put the child on his shoulders he found the child was unbelievably heavy. The child, according to the legend, was Christ carrying the weight of the whole world. This was what made Christopher patron saint of travelers and is invoked against storms, plagues, etc.. His former feast day is July 25.

"Before the formal canonization process began in the fifteenth century, many saints were proclaimed by popular approval. This was a much faster process but unfortunately many of the saints so named were based on legends, pagan mythology, or even other religions -- for example, the story of the Buddha traveled west to Europe and he was "converted" into a Catholic saint! In 1969, the Church took a long look at all the saints on its calendar to see if there was historical evidence that that saint existed and lived a life of holiness. In taking that long look, the Church discovered that there was little proof that many "saints", including some very popular ones, ever lived. Christopher was one of the names that was determined to have a basis mostly in legend. Therefore Christopher (and others) were dropped from the universal calendar.

"Some saints were considered so legendary that their cult was completely repressed (including St. Ursula). Christopher's cult was not suppressed but it is confined to local calendars (those for a diocese, country, or so forth). His name Christopher, means Christ-bearer. He died a martyr during the reign of Decius in the third century.