Saint

A saint is a deceased person regarded as living an exemplary life of holiness while on Earth and is officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as being in heaven and worthy of veneration. In the early days of Christianity, the religion was often the target of persecution at the hands of the Romans. Christians began honoring those who had died for their faith, considering them as imitating the death of Christianity's founder, Jesus Christ. In time, the same respect was given to those who showed exceptional faith and virtue during life. The first saints were recognized by the will of the people, but eventually the pope assumed final authority as to who was named to sainthood. In the 13th century, the pope implemented a formal process for declaring saints. This process, called canonization, was originally a long and complicated system that included a hearing resembling a trial. Canonization was streamlined in the 20th century, although the modern process is still a multiyear procedure that requires the verification of several miracles.

Early History

According to the Bible, three days after Jesus Christ was executed on the Cross, he rose from the dead and appeared to his followers. He encouraged them to remain faithful and to spread his teachings around the world. These teachings led to a new religious movement, Christianity, which soon began gaining converts throughout the ancient Middle East. As Christianity grew, it encountered more established religions, resulting in occasional conflict. Some Jews were angry that Christians professed to be the "New Israel." Roman authorities viewed the religion as a superstition that might upset an ordered world ruled by their gods. In the wake of a great fire that swept through Rome in 64 CE, Emperor Nero placed the blame on Christians and began torturing and executing them. For most of the next two and a half centuries, Christianity continued to flourish despite repeated persecutions by Roman authorities.

Early Christians held great reverence for those who were killed during these persecutions. They referred to them as martyrs, from the Greek word for "witness." Christians believed those who had died defending their faith were immediately accepted into heaven and honored them by calling them saints. The word saint comes from the Latin term sanctus, a translation of the Greek hagios, which means "holy" or "sacred."

Christian tradition holds that the first martyr was Saint Stephen, a follower of Jesus who was stoned to death a year after the Crucifixion. The first recorded veneration of a martyr was Saint Polycarp, a bishop who was burned to death around 156 CE. A letter written at the time describes how his followers scoured the ashes for his bones and gathered them up because they were "more valuable than precious stones." They buried these remains, called relics, at a site where they could visit them in celebration of the anniversary of his death. To Christians, the date of a martyr's death held more importance than their birth, as that was the day the person was believed to have entered into heaven. The burial places of martyrs became important locations to Christians who built shrines and churches upon the sites. Christian communities also began compiling lists of martyrs called martyrologies. These lists could range from a simple roll call of names to a collection of biographies, feast days, and church ceremonies associated with a particular saint.

The early church had no official guidelines for making someone a saint. Martyrs were believed to immediately become saints after their deaths, and the decision to venerate a person as a saint was made by public consensus. Many Christians embraced martyrdom, believing they were following in the footsteps of Jesus who accepted his fate of death. In 313, the Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and made it the official faith of the empire. As the Roman persecutions ended, the mantle of sainthood began to be extended to people who defended the faith and displayed exceptional virtue during their lifetime.

With the decision on sainthood left to the vox populi, or "voice of the people," the number of saints swelled in the sixth and seventh centuries. Modern researchers believe that some of the figures made saints at this time where not even real people. They may have been elevated to sainthood as a case of mistaken identity, or the "saint" may have been nothing more than the subject of a popular local legend. In time, local bishops and church authorities began to become involved in the saint-making process. They examined such elements as how many pilgrims visited the candidate's tomb and any reports of miracles occurring in the deceased's name. If the candidate was deemed worthy, their remains were exhumed, transferred to a church, and placed under the altar. Because a saint's relics were considered holy items, churches that displayed them were visited by more pilgrims and received more offerings. As a result, there was great competition for relics among churches and cities, and thefts of saints' bones and other personal artifacts were commonplace.

Later History

Before the late 10th century, the pope was not part of the decision to declare someone a saint. The belief developed that papal approval would raise the prestige of saints—and with it the reputation of the churches that contained their relics—so it became customary to seek the pope's blessing on candidates for sainthood. The first recorded evidence of a saint being approved by papal decree was in 993 when Saint Ulrich of Augsburg was canonized by Pope John XV.

In 1173, Pope Alexander III became angry when Swedish officials began venerating a saint who was rumored to have been killed in a drunken brawl. Alexander decreed that no future canonizations could take place without the approval of the pope. By 1234, Pope Gregory IX established formal proceedings for declaring saints and decreed that only the pope had the power to do so. The new saint-making process was heavily influenced by the legal system, with canonizations resembling a trial where the saint played the role of "defendant." One of the first saints to be recognized under this format was Saint Dominic, whose canonization included depositions, presentation of evidence, and witness testimonies.

In the 16th century, the Vatican formally introduced the role of the promotor fidei into the canonization process. This position was also known as the advocatus diabolic, or devil's advocate, and required a church official to argue against a candidate as a test to uncover any weaknesses in the case for sainthood. In 1588, the canonization proceedings were entrusted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, a body that examined the evidence and presented its findings to the pope. In the 17th century, Pope Urban VIII established that four miracles would need to be confirmed by the church before a non-martyr was recognized as a saint. He also introduced the concept of beatification, a "stepping stone" toward sainthood in which the candidate was allowed to be venerated at the local level after confirmation of one miracle.

By the 20th century, the rules associated with the canonization process made attaining sainthood a slow and complicated procedure. From 1900 to 1978, ninety-eight people were canonized in the Roman Catholic Church. In 1983, Pope John Paul II reformed the process to eliminate the role of the devil's advocate and reduced the number of confirmed miracles to two. In his tenure as pope from 1978 to 2005, John Paul beatified more than one thousand people and canonized almost five hundred. In 2014, less than a decade after his death, John Paul was himself canonized a saint.

In 1969, the church decided to reform its liturgical calendar and dropped more than forty saints from the official canon. The church did not remove their designation as saints, but admitted that it could find little historical evidence of their existence. Some of those removed from the calendar were popular figures such as Saint Christopher, considered the patron saint of travelers. A patron saint is given special status as a protector of certain professions or areas of life. Tradition held that Christopher was a third-century martyr killed under the Roman emperor Decius. Modern scholars, however, believe the figure of Christopher was most likely compiled from several legends of the era.

Modern Process

The Roman Catholic Church maintains that the pope cannot "appoint" someone a saint. Since a saint is a person who has achieved heavenly grace by living a life of holiness, the church can only recognize sainthood, not assign it. Saints are also not considered figures of worship, but they can be venerated and asked to intercede with God on behalf of human affairs. When a person is canonized a saint, their her name is officially added to the list, or canon, of saints. The saint's name may be invoked in prayer, churches may be dedicated to their memory, mass can be offered in their name, and their feast day may be celebrated. The church officially recognizes more than ten thousand saints.

If a candidate for sainthood has been martyred, miracles are not needed in the canonization process. Church officials will examine the situation to determine if the person died for their faith, and if so, he or she will be elevated to sainthood. For others, the procedure usually begins within five to fifty years after their death. A formal request is made to a local bishop to consider the candidate for sainthood. If the bishop feels the evidence is compelling enough, he asks the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome to open a case for sainthood. Once approval is given, the bishop convenes a hearing wherein witnesses are called to testify about the virtuousness of the candidate's life. At this stage, recognition of miracles is not required, but if the evidence of holiness is compelling enough, the bishop forwards the case to the Vatican.

A summary of the case is presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and a panel of nine theologians examines the evidence. If a majority of the panel agrees in the merits for sainthood, the case is accepted by the full congregation and the candidate is referred to as venerable. To advance further along the process, a miracle must be credited to the person and verified by medical, scientific, and Vatican officials. To qualify, the miracle must be attributed to the intercession of the potential saint. The most common miracles are healings that occur after praying to the candidate or coming into contact with a relic of the person. For example, in the case of Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic nun canonized in 2016, the Vatican considered the 2002 healing of an Indian woman with a stomach tumor and the recovery of a Brazilian man from multiple brain tumors as qualifying miracles. In both cases, the healings were said to have occurred after prayers were offered to Mother Teresa. Other events that may qualify for miracles are the incorruptibility, or non-decay, of the person's corpse, the liquefaction of the person's dried blood, or the odor of sanctity—a sweet or floral scent around the body.

If a miracle is confirmed by the Vatican, the candidate is considered beatified and given the title blessed. At this point, the church allows the potential saint to be venerated by the local diocese, town, or region where the person lived. If a second miracle is verified, the pope confirms the person a saint and officiates a canonization mass in their honor. Candidates can be beatified for decades before reaching sainthood. The pope is considered infallible on the subject; therefore, once a saint is canonized by papal decree, the honor is permanent.

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