how many saints are their? and why do we only celebrate st Patrick's day,st Georges and st Davids day?

Question

i only know two others, st parian and st andrew.

Answer 1

The Church's teaching on the invocation of the saints is thus defined by the Council of Trent. "The saints, who reign together with Christ, offer up their own prayers to God for men. It is good and useful suppliantly to invoke them, and to have recourse to their prayers, aid and help for obtaining benefits from God, through His Son Jesus Christ, who alone is our Redeemer and Savior. Those persons think impiously who deny that the saints, who enjoy eternal happiness in heaven, are to be invoked; who assert that they do not pray for men; who declare that asking them to pray for each of us in particular is idolatry, repugnant to the word of God, and opposed to the honor of the One Mediator of God and men, Christ Jesus'' (Sess. xxv.).

The Old and New Testament plainly teach the principle and the practice of asking the prayers of our brethren, especially of the just (James v. 16-18). God commanded Abimelech to ask Abraham's prayers: "He shall pray for thee and thou shalt live" (Gen. xx. 7, 17). God had mercy on the sinful children of Israel in the desert because Moses interceded for them (Ps. xv. 23). God said to the friends of Job: "My servant Job shall pray for you; his face I will accept" (Job xliii. 8). St. Paul in his letters continually asked the brethren to pray for him (Rom. xv. 30; Eph. vi. 18, 19; 1 Thess. v. 25).

Is it reasonable to suppose that the Christian, who prayed for his brethren while upon earth, will lose all interest in them, once he reaches the kingdom of heaven? The Christian tradition from the beginning declares that the interest of the Saints in heaven will be increased a hundredfold, because they will realize then more fully our needs and necessities, and God's willingness to hearken to their intercession. St. Jerome (340-420) is a striking witness to this fact. He writes: "If Apostles and martyrs, whilst still in the flesh and still needing to care for themselves, can pray for others, how much more will they pray for others after they have won their crowns, their victories, their triumphs. Moses, one man, obtains God's pardon for six hundred thousand armed men, and Stephen prays for his persecutors. When they are with Christ will they be less powerful? St. Paul says that two hundred and seventy-six souls were granted to his prayers, whilst they were in the ship with him. Shall he close his lips after death, and not mutter a syllable for those who throughout the world have believed in his gospel? (Adv. Vigil)

That the angels pray for men we learn from the vision of Zacharias (i. 12, 13), and from the words of the angel Raphael tc Tobias: "When thou didst pray with tears ... I offered thy prayer to the Lord" (Tob. xii. 12). Christ Himself tells us that they have an interest in us, for He says: "There shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance" (Luke xv. 10). In another place He warns men not to scandalize little children, for they have angels to intercede for them in heaven (Matt, xviii. 10). If the angels make intercession for us, certainly the saints, who are united to us by the bond of a common human nature, and by the supernatural bond of the Communion of Saints, have the same power and the same privilege.

The early Fathers unanimously teach the doctrine of the intercession of the saints.

St. Hilary (366) writes: "To those who would fain stand, neither the guardianship of the saints, nor the protection of the angels is wanting" {In Ps., cxxiv.).

St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386) writes: "We then commemorate those who have fallen asleep before us, patriarchs, prophets, Apostles, and martyrs, in order that God, by their prayers and intercessions, may receive our petitions" (Myst., v., 9).

St. John Chrysostom (344-407) writes: "When thou per-ceivest that God is chastening thee, fly not to His enemies . . . but to His friends, the martyrs, the saints, and those who were pleasing to Him, and who have great power" (Orat., viii., Adv. Jus., 6).

Catholics firmly believe in the unique mediatorship of Jesus Christ (1 Tim. ii. 5), and the Council of Trent emphasizes this very doctrine when declaring her teaching on the invocation of saints. Catholics believe that Jesus Christ alone redeemed us by His Death upon the Cross, thus reconciling us to God, and making us partakers of His grace here and His glory hereafter. No divine gift can reach us except through Christ and the merits of His Sacred Passion. Therefore, every prayer we pray, and every prayer in heaven of the Blessed Virgin, the angels and the saints, have their efficacy only through Jesus Christ our Lord. The saints simply add their prayers to ours, and, although specially pleasing to God because of their greater holiness, they aid us only through the merits of the One Mediator.

Answer 2

I would love to be able to celebrate St Georges day and become a proud country again. Just the way the Irish do! But unfortunately we are not allowed to because we have enough bank holidays and and other celebrations in the year - and we wouldn't want to offend anyone - would we? Even though St George is the Saint of England that doesn't seem to matter any more.

Answer 3

In the uk we have 4 saints days, Patrick, Andrew, David and George. Then we have St Valentine which has become a commercial enterprise. The others, hundreds of them, are celebrated in the countries they are national saints for. In many european countries saints days are more important than birthdays.

Answer 4

There are lots and lots of Saints - the ones you mention are 3 of the four Patron Saints of Great Britain & Ireland:

England - St George (23rd April)
Wales - St David (1st March)
Ireland - St Patrick (17th March)
Scotland - St Andrew (30th November)

As they are the Patron Saints these are more known in Britain and have their saints days celebrated (although the one most celebrated all across Britain is St Patrick's day).

There are many many other Saints and many are patron saints of something in particular:

For example, a couple of well known ones:
St Christopher = mostly known as the patron saint of travellers
St Jude = lost causes

There are thousands and I found this exhaustive list of saints online, enjoy!
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/patron02.htm

And a couple of other sites on a similar theme:
http://www.miscellanies.info/pages/original/saints.html
http://www.request.org.uk/main/dowhat/saints/saints01.htm

Hope this is of interest.

Answer 5

I think saints are a mainly Catholic tradition, which may explain why we don't really celebrate saints' days anymore. I don't know all of them, but I can add a few to your list:

St Christopher - patron saint of travellers
St Nicholas - patron saint of children
St Cecilia - patron saint of musicians
St Valentine's day 14th February
St Stephen's day is 26th December (as mentioned in Good King Wenceslas)
St David - Patron saint of Wales (1st March)
St Patrick - Patron saint of Ireland (17th March)
St George - Patron saint of England (23rd April)
St Andrew - Patron saint of Scotland (30th November)


In the sources I've put a link to Wikipedia's list of Christian saints, the Catholic calendar of saints & 'saint' article.

Answer 6

There are literally hundreds maybe even thousands of saints. People generally only celebrate the saints of their own country although most countries seem to celebrate St. Patrick's and St. Valentines Day. (Ireland is NOT part of great Britain, I saw it there in someone else's answer, that really pi**es me off!)

Answer 7

Get a hagiography, lives of the saints etc.
St. Alban was first British Saint & martyr. brave chap, took the place of a priest who was being chased by the Romans so the priest escaped & Alban got the chop.
Last Pope made a lot of new Saints- Mother Theresa for example, so you never know who you're sitting next to, they may be a saint, so treat 'em good!
Anyway what about St Valentine- you haven't forgotten him, have you? And
St. Nicholas=Santa Claus=Father Christmas

Answer 8

hundreds.. there is a saint for everyday of the week
today is st. timothy's day...
saints are a catholic tradition so they were dumped in the reformation in the middle ages.. the pope makes people saints.. and you have to be dead to become one..
the only saints known in britain are the patron saints of the countries and st. valentine.. personally i used to like st. david's day when i lived in wales as the pubs stayed open an extra half an hour...
to find saints and their days see the site below

Answer 9

The 4 national Patron Saints are David, Andrew, Patrick & George, that is why we celebrate them (or not)
A RC website will give you a great list.
The Bible refers to all Christians as saints....so there are lots of them....but room for more!

Answer 10

Most Saints are not in this country, we only celebrate the ones which are of great britain.
Paddy - Ireland
George - England
Dave - Wales
Andy - Scotland
We Celebrate them cos They're Part of britain and are British holidays..

Answer 11

We celebrate St. Valentine's Day, too. There are way too many saints to count.