How did people become saints? I mean did someone decide that they will should be saints after they died or was it something certain they did that made them saints?
2007-07-20 07:38:15 · 25 answers · asked by Rainbow Vomit 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
. In the Bible, the saints are on earth. In Roman Catholic teaching, a person does not become a saint unless he/she is “beatified” or “canonized” by the Pope or prominent bishop. In the Bible, everyone who has received Jesus Christ by faith is a saint. In Roman Catholic practice, the saints are revered, prayed to, and in some instances, worshipped. In the Bible, saints are called to revere, worship, and pray to God alone.
Recommended Resource: Bible Answers for Almost all Your Questions by Elmer Towns.
2007-07-20 07:43:34 · answer #1 · answered by Freedom 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
In order to become a saint a person has to live an extraordinary life. They have to be almost totally sinless, pious, and help others to the grace of the Lord Jesus. They also had to have worked 3 miracles or have 3 miracles happen as a result of their prayer or intervention. When the said person dies and is considered for canonization, a panel is appointed by the pope, some on this panel act like defense attorneys. They say why this person should be made a saint. The burden of proof is on them. Then there others on the panel who act like prosecutors they try to find evidence why the person should not become a saint. After all deliberation, it is then decided, based on the evidence presented whether or not the person is canonized. The popular mainstream Protestant belief that Catholics pray to the saints, is TOTALLY ERRONEOUS!!! A Catholic asks the saint to pray for them. The catholic doesn't pray to the saint only to God!!! remember..Protestant -- to protest the catholic church. Not everything protestants say should be believed as truth. Remember the Catholic church was started by Jesus himself. St. Peter was the 1st pope.
2007-07-20 07:48:00 · answer #2 · answered by Deslok of Gammalon 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
From the Catholic point of view, there are two groups of people you are talking about when you are talking about saints - those who are on the official list ("canon" - hence canonized) and those who aren't.
The concept of sainthood was one that started with the people. When a respected person of the community who was considered to have lived a good and holy life died, people would still "look" to them for a model of how to live. In a nutshell, think WWJD but just someone people knew. Over the centuries, stories of miracles surfaced... some deemed true, some not. The Vatican finally started keeping an official list... probably because they liked beauracracy! *sassy wink*
Today, to be considered an official saint of the RCC, there is a huge process that takes years to complete. But that doesn't really make them any "better" than anyone else - it just means that they're on a list.
2007-07-20 07:49:53 · answer #3 · answered by Church Music Girl 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Saints are believers in Christ. Paul addressed his epistles to the "saints" (1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2, etc).
The Cahtolic and Orthodox Churches have a methodology for canonizing people as great examples of Christian virtues.
In the Catholic Church, the POope can declare a deceased person "Blessed" - the first step towards canonization. Afterwards, at least two miracles must be attributed to calling upon the deceased, or using relics of that person.
2007-07-20 08:29:26 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
A saint is someone through whom God works. Born agains believe all true followers are saints. When you hear about someone with that title (St. Paul, St. Peter, etc) you're generally talking about the Catholic definition. Catholics saints are saints because God worked through them. After their death, the church canonizes them. This acknowledges them as saints. It does NOT make them a saint. Canonization requires various things such as investigated miracles to prove that the candidate really was a saint. Thus, someone could have easily been a saint even if the church doesn't recognise them as such. For example, it took the Church 600 years to recognise Joan of Arc as a saint.
2007-07-20 07:53:31 · answer #5 · answered by Nightwind 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to the bible, all who believe in the Lord Jesus and are baptized showing that to the world are considered saints.
However, saints don't generaly call themselves saints because it does not show humility.
The catholic church decided a long time ago (not sure when) to honor individuals by permanently adding the title of "Saint" to their name after they die. This does not mean that there aren't other saints than what the catholic church recognizes. It just means that the catholic church wanted to honor these people because they acted in a way that showed their loyalty to their Lord Jesus Christ and love for those around them.
2007-07-20 07:47:22 · answer #6 · answered by Brian 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
God makes them saints. Sometimes, people on earth figure out that God has made somebody a saint, and then that person is a "canonized" saint after miracles are documented, etc.
2007-07-20 08:32:56 · answer #7 · answered by sparki777 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Christians were ALL originally called "saints". The making of separate saints as there are now, only in the Catholic Church,(the Catholic Church was the first to separate from what Jesus started, in 305/6 A.D.) were decided by men that wanted to not do all Jesus said Or that God commanded.
God ordered that no one is to pray to anyone but God. But is the Catholic church teaching that? Nope.
2007-07-20 07:47:52 · answer #8 · answered by geessewereabove 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Saints in the sense you mean are named by the Catholic church after an apostolic "process" which has several stages of investigation of their life. They are first declared Venerable, then a Saint if it can be proven that three miracles happened as a result of praying to them or during their life (which is harder to prove since the middle ages are over).
The apostolic process takes years, and often only culminates in Sainthood after centuries.
Protestants don't accept Saints in the Catholic sense since in the Biblical sense all those who have accepted Christ as Saviour are "saints"--made holy to God. They don't pray to saints, only to Jesus or to God in Jesus' name.
2007-07-20 07:45:32 · answer #9 · answered by anna 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if a person is recognized as having attained a certain level of holiness, they could be a candidate for being a saint..
Canonization is the act by which a Christian Church declares a deceased person to be a saint, inscribing that person in the canon, or list, of recognized saints.
2007-07-20 07:47:14 · answer #10 · answered by SchiEtka 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋