About Catholic Saints

Who are Saints? How are Saints chosen? What does sainthood mean in the Catholic Church?

Author: Jobi Varghese   Date: April 18, 2004

Who are saints?

Saints are ordinary human beings who lived extraordinary lives by spiritually answering God's call to be a saint, the same divine invitation each one of us has received from God.

When Christians were persecuted in the early centuries AD, those who suffered for Christ and died as martyrs were declared saints. It was believed that they were taken directly into Heaven and could also intercede for the living people.

Saints are characterized by their unconditional response to Christ's call and total abstinence from everything that is self-centered. They become venerable by their distinguished and exemplary lives demonstrated by faith, love, hope, and missionary work.

The Catholic Church has canonized nearly 800 saints. Those who are "Blesseds" following their beatification number nearly 2000.

As we remember, (Blessed) Mother Teresa of Calcutta was beatified on October 19, 2003.

Steps to Sainthood

The Catholic Church follows stringent steps towards the beatification or canonization of any person. The first of the stages in the build up to sainthood starts about 5 years after the death of the person.

1. Servant of God (Venerable): A Servant of God or Venerable person is one who has responded to God's call and lived a life filled with faith, ethics, and morals with "heroic virtue".
2. Beatification (Blessed): A Venerable person becomes a 'Blessed' one by beatification after there occurs a miraculous event attributable to the person and recognized by the Church as a miracle, and granted by God through the intercession of the Venerable person.
3. Canonization (Saint): A Blessed person becomes a Saint by canonization. The process of canonization requires that there be a second miracle recognized by the Church and attributed to the Blessed person, and through the Blessed person's intercession.

The Church examines and verifies several evidences, conducts systematic studies and discussions, and holds meetings of bishops, cardinals, and the Pope, before finally recognizing an event as a miracle or a life as sacred.

Where do saints stand?

The Roman Catholic Church considers the saints venerable or worthy of respect. In other words, the Catholic saints are respected, not worshipped. The saints are also deemed as powerful intercessors for us human beings.

Copyright © 2003-2005, SyroMalabar.com.  All rights reserved.