Saint

HISTORY

Many stories were recounted about the miraculous powers of the Christian Saints during the first few centuries of the church. One tale recounted by the Franks told of a blind beggar and a lame beggar who found themselves caught in a procession carrying the relics of Saint Martin of Tours (316 or 336 – November 8, 397). Concerned that they might be cured and therefore deprived of their alms they attempted to escape. The blind beggar fled with his lame friend on his shoulders but they were not quick enough and were cured.

St Martin leaves the life of chivalry and renounces the army 

From the fourth century the veneration of Saints grew in significance. For instance at the beginning of the century, a cathedral was built around the relics of St Emeterius and St Celedonius who died in Diocletian's persecution, at Calahorra in Spain.

The feast of All Hallows', was established by Pope Gregory IV in 835 to honor the saints. He chose the date of November 1, the same date as Samhain, as both Germanic and Celtic-speaking peoples commemorated the dead at the beginning of winter.

Walter of Pontoise was the last person in Western Europe to be canonized by an authority other than the Pope: Hugh de Boves, the Archbishop of Rouen, canonized him in 1153. Thenceforth a decree of Pope Alexander III in 1170 reserved the prerogative of canonization to the Pope, in so far as the Roman Church was concerned

Jacob de Voragine, an Italian Dominican Friar completed his collection of stories of the saints, Lombardica Historia (The Golden Legend) in 1266. His saw his series of saints' lives as a way of conveying church teaching in a memorable form.

FIRSTS 

Ulrich, the bishop of Augsburg from 923, died on July 4, 973. Many miracles were said to have been wrought at his grave and only 20 years after his death, Ulrich was canonized by Pope John XV on July 4, 993. He was the first saint to be canonized by a Pope, rather than by a local authority. Before that time, the popular "cults", or venerations, of saints had been local and spontaneous.

Statue of S. Ulrich in a church in Gora Oljka (Slovenia)

In 1899 the Italian Catholic missionary nun Francesca Xavier Cabrini was sent by the pope to America. Ten years later, she became a naturalized American. Battling money problems, she founded schools and charitable institutions to serve poor immigrants in New York and other cities. She also dispatching missionaries to other countries. In 1946 Francesca Xavier Cabrini, became the first American citizen to be canonized.

German nun Edith Stein (1891-1942) was the first Jewish-born person since biblical times to be made a saint when she was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1998. Saint Edith had appealed to Pope Pius XI to speak out against the Nazis, but he did not and she was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp where she was murdered at the age of 50.

In 2010 Mary MacKillop was canonized to become the first Australian to be recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as a saint.

Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII were both canonized on April 27, 2014.

RECORDS

The youngest saint canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in modern times is Maria Goretti, who died age eleven and was canonized in 1950 as "virgin and martyr." Goretti died July 6, 1902, after being stabbed 14 times in an attempted rape.

Painting of Maria Goretti

In 1954 Pope Pius XII canonized Dominic Savio who was 14 years old when he died. He was the youngest non-martyr saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

FUN FACTS 

The English word "saint" comes from the Latin "sanctus". The word translated the Greek "hagios" meaning "to set apart", "to sanctify", or "to make holy."

In the New Testament, "saint" did not denote the deceased who had been recognized as especially holy or emulable, but rather the living faithful who had dedicated themselves to God.

The term "devil's advocate" was originally the church official appointed to argue against a candidate for sainthood.