Saint is a holy person who becomes a religious hero by exemplifying a virtue or virtues of his or her religion. The word comes from the Latin word sanctus, meaning a holy one.
The followers of a religion regard its saints as unusually blessed. They believe these saints are able to give special blessings and to exercise certain superhuman powers. All the world’s major religions revere (deeply respect) saints, but in different ways. Some religions have formal procedures for officially granting sainthood to certain men and women. Other religions do not formally recognize saints, but they have religious practices that honor holy people.
Many people achieve sainthood because they played a major role in the history of their religion or because they symbolize a traditional feature of it. For example, Saint Paul converted to Christianity from another religion and became a great missionary who sought other converts. Some saints are martyrs who died for a holy cause. Many Christians who died rather than give up their faith during early Christianity are now considered saints.
A number of saints are considered especially close to God. Roman Catholics believe that the Virgin Mary is so loved by God that she rose bodily to heaven.
Some saints, such as Buddha, are believed to have gained superhuman or special knowledge about, or insight into, holy mysteries. Eastern Orthodox Christians revere Saint John Chrysostom for his wisdom.
Some people are revered as saints because they are believed to have performed miracles before or after death. Others are considered saints because before or after death they came to be regarded as a demigod (partly a god and partly human) with divine powers.
Non-Christian saints
Judaism forbids praying to any being other than God. But Jews honor saintly people as heroes. In Jewish worship, the heroic deeds of holy people may be recited as examples of faithfulness to God. Such early heroes as Jacob and David sometimes broke Jewish laws. But later Jewish saints were learned in the Torah (religious law) and firm in following its rules of behavior. Jewish saints have been called “toilers in the Torah.” The most famous Jewish saints include Hillel the Elder and Akiva ben Joseph.
Islam credits supernatural powers only to Allah (God). All Muslims acknowledge as saints such heroes as Muhammad and Alī ibn Abī Tālib. The Islamic holy book, the Qur’ān, does not provide for the worship of saints, but each locality cherishes a saint called wali (benefactor, companion, or friend). Muslim saints are considered to be close to God but not divine. The spiritual powers they exercised as living people increase when they die. Then, their influence centers on their tombs and relics, especially their robes. Muslims believe each saint can perform a special miracle. A visit to a saint’s tomb, with its holy objects and often its pool or fountain, is believed to provide advice, to cure a disease, or to grant children to a childless woman.
The Asian religions have a greater variety of practices and beliefs regarding saints than do the Western religions. Buddhism honors the buddhas and their close disciples, along with relics and sacred places associated with them. Buddhist monks and nuns recognize patron saints as special guardians, and Buddhist martyrs are honored as religious heroes. Hinduism has no official saints for all Hindus. There are many ranks of semidivine local or regional saints. A Hindu village, tribe, or religious order may raise its own heroes or protectors to sainthood (see Hinduism (Veneration of holy people) ). Confucianism has holy men who are sages (wise men) of intellectual and moral superiority. The most famous sage is Confucius. Shinto has no human saints or martyrs because its holy people are considered divine.
Christian saints
The more traditional Christian denominations emphasize the honoring of saints. The Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Roman Catholic Church, some Lutheran churches, and the churches of the Anglican Communion regard many of the same people as saints.
A canonized saint is a person whose name is included in a canon (official list). Christian saints were first considered saints by common agreement among people in a certain area, and later by regional bishops. Gradually, the authority to canonize saints for Latin Christians centered on the pope. See Canonization
The earliest Christian writings call all believers saints. This practice has been renewed by several modern denominations, including the Mormons (Latter-day Saints). During the 200’s, the term saint referred specifically to martyrs, and in the 300’s to bishops (see Martyr ). By the 500’s, the term referred to all departed heroes and heroines of Christianity who were honored in worship services. In the early forms of honoring martyrs, local believers gathered at their tombs on the anniversaries of their deaths. The fame of certain saints gradually spread to other congregations, and by the 500’s some famous saints were revered throughout the Christian world.
After many martyrs, bishops, monks, scholars, miracle-workers, and other heroes and heroines had entered the list of saints, their relics were considered able to give special blessings. Believers asked the saints to plead with God for special favors. The Christian saints were popularly regarded as holy before they became officially recognized as saints. During the Middle Ages, popular religious sentiment sometimes disregarded the difference between worshiping or adoring God and venerating (showing religious devotion to) saints. By the early 1500’s, many people prayed to the saints and their relics for special assurances of salvation. Certain practices developed around the veneration of some Christian saints, but were later considered superstitious. For example, many people thought St. Lazarus could cure measles if a person who had the disease prayed to him. See Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre .
During the Reformation, both Protestants and Catholics attacked abuses in the worship of saints. Most Protestants refused to revere any persons as saints except certain heroes mentioned in the New Testament. After the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church restated the manner in which followers could call on saints for help or protection. Catholic saints were clearly ranked lower than God, and superstitious or other impious (disrespectful) practices regarding them were outlawed. Roman Catholics, members of Eastern Orthodox Churches, and some Protestants still ask saints to plead with God in their behalf.
Roman Catholic saints
Present Roman Catholic procedures of canonization were officially established between the late 1500’s and the mid-1600’s. A commission appointed by the church strictly examines the subject’s life and works and any miracles associated with the person. If the investigation produces enough evidence, the person is eligible for beatification. That is, he or she may officially be declared “blessed.” If further investigation produces proof of two miracles associated with the person, he or she may be canonized as a saint. See Beatification .
Canonization consists of declaring that a person believed to be holy was indeed a saint during his or her lifetime and is in heaven with God. This official status does not approve all that the individual said, did, or wrote. Among Roman Catholics, only the pope can grant official recognition to a person nominated for beatification or canonization. In 1969, the Vatican announced a revision of the church’s liturgical calendar, which lists the feast days of saints celebrated by the church. The new calendar listed 58 saints. But many more saints could continue to be venerated locally. The Roman Catholic Church also made optional the celebration of the feast days of other saints.
Children of Catholic parents and many others are named after a saint, often the saint on whose day the child was born or baptized. That saint becomes the child’s special guardian or patron. A number of cities, especially in the Western Hemisphere, are named after saints. They include Saint Louis, Missouri, and São Paulo (Saint Paul), Brazil. In many denominations, parish churches or congregations take the names of saints. Many Christians, recognizing that many holy men and women have never been canonized, celebrate them on All Saints’ Day, November 1.
