SAINTS and
SAINTHOOD
SAINTS
Saints are signs of God
❖ They are important men / women who have
lived a life dedicated to God and helped others.
❖ They are signs of God’s grace at work in our
world. They are committed to God and their
holiness shows they have been blessed in a special
way by God.
❖ Such people were held in special regard in the
Church and were eventually given the title of
‘Sainthood’ through a long process called
CANONISATION.
❖ How did this happen?
1. Someone would tell the Church all about the person and
their good works.
The Process
2. The Church would begin a long investigation into the
of Becoming
person’s life and look for certain signs, they must have
performed two miracles or more. These could have been
performed when the person was living or dead. They have
a Saint in
led a very strict life completely dedicated to God!
the Church
3. The investigation is completely finished and all the
evidence suggests they are worthy so the Pope and
Cardinals have a service of Canonisation & they become
Saints!
How Does the
Catholic
Church
Declare
Official Saints?
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SAINTS
❖ When a Saint dies, they are with God in heaven. They
now have a special task of INTERCEDING (praying for) for
people on earth.
❖ Some Christian groups believe that this means
worshiping false idols. This is a misconception. Saints
are not worshipped; they are praised for what they did or
do for us and for God.
❖ Each Saint has a specific feast Day. A feast day is a day
when the Church remembers a particular saint. For
example St. Patrick’s feast day is March 17th.
❖ The 1st November is set aside as ‘All Saints’ day. On this
day the Church celebrates and remembers the millions of
saints, including unnamed, unknown and uncanonised
men and women who have loved God and been faithful
to his commandments.
What is
a Patron
Saint?
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What is a Patron Saint?
❖ Patron Saint is the name given to a
specific Saint who will be a good example
for an organization, charity, hospital or even
country.
❖ For example; St. Jude is the Patron of Lost
Causes. St. Joseph is the Patron Saint of
Canada.
❖ The Patron Saint of students is St. Thomas
Aquinas, St. Gregory the Great is the Patron
Saint of Teachers and Our Lady (Mary) of
Mount Carmel is the Patron Saint of this
School.
What does the
Church mean when
she says ‘Communion
of Saints’?
The Roman Catholic Church
believes in the Communion of
Saints. This means all the
members of the Church, everyone
together, God’s holy people, those
alive and those dead. They are
special and united for a number of
reasons:
1. Faith in God, He gave us life
2. Belief of the Holy Spirit and
the gifts brought through Him
3. The gift of love in response to
‘Love one another’
The Role of
Saints
⮚ There are many different views
about the role of Saints among
the different Christian
denominations.
⮚ Generally many of the
denominations reject the idea of
Saints while others accept their
importance as role models for
Christian life but may not
necessarily accept miracles.
⮚For Roman Catholics Saints are
very important to the faith.
