Wow,the catholics sure have a lot of saints to pray to,who makes all this up?

Question

http://www.catholic.org/saints/stindex.php
Is it Popes or someone else with a funny hat?.

Answer 1

Saints are people in heaven or on their way to heaven. All Christians dead and alive are saints.

The Catholic Church selects some of the most extraordinary examples, does in-depth research, and canonizes them.

Canonization is the solemn declaration by the Pope that a deceased member of the faithful may be proposed as a model and intercessor (not mediator) to the Christian faithful on the basis of the fact that the person lived a life of heroic virtue or remained faithful to God through martyrdom.

Here is the modern method of canonization:

In order to allow greater objectivity and less emotion, no petition for sainthood can be made until at least 5 years after the candidate’s death.

+ Diocesan Investigation +

A diocese, parish, religious congregation, or association asks the bishop of the diocese in which the candidate died to open the investigation. After Vatican approval, the bishop forms a diocesan tribunal.

Witnesses are called before the tribunal to recount the candidate’s heroic exercise of Christian virtues. All documents regarding the candidate must be gathered.

At this point he is entitled to the title of Servant of God.

+ Vatican Investigation +

All documentation is passed on to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican.

The cause undergoes an examination by nine theologians.

If passed, the cause is for examined by the Congregation.

If passed, the cause is presented to the Pope for approval. A decree is published and read publicly.

+ Beatification +

A miracle attributed to the Servant of God is necessary.

The miracle must be proven through an appropriate investigation and another decree is issued.

Then the Pope decides on beatification.

With beatification, the candidate receives the title of Blessed.

+ Canonization +

Another miracle occurring after beatification is needed for canonization (sainthood), attributed to the Blessed’s intercession.

This miracle must again be proven through an appropriate investigation.

Papal infallibility is involved with canonization.

The Blessed acquires the title of Saint.

http://www.usccb.org/comm/SaintsFinal.pdf

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 2

The process begins 5 years after the candidate's death.
The candidate's life is investigated by local bishops and the findings are sent to the Vatican.
The pope will proclaim the candidate as "Venerable" if the findings are approved by a panel of theologians and cardinals. Venerable means a role model of Roman
Catholic virtues.
If the candidate is responsible for one miracle after his or her death, they are then beatified; they become known as "Blessed."
The final step is to be declared a saint. In order for this to happen a second miracle must take place.

Answer 3

I certainly don't know who makes them up... but there was a house cleaning about 30-35 years ago and several saints were demoted to ordinary people status... LOL ... Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers (until the shake-down), was one who got the axe and he became Mr. Christopher over night. Plastic statues and necklaces were tossed out by the fist-fulls. Oh well... It's wasn't like he was looking shamefully down from heaven anyhow, was it?

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb62/Randall_Fleck/Monkey_signs_GIF.gif

[][][] r u randy? [][][]
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Answer 4

The bible tells us we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. The saints are only Christians who have gone on to heaven before us and continue to pray for us, just like you might ask your friend to pray for you now.

Do you believe that Christians who die are dead or alive in Christ? If they are alive in Christ and we are all part of Christ's body then why can't they intercede for us.

Answer 5

Hell, we got more muslim martyrs just in iraq than the church has saints.

Answer 6

we pray with them. they know the glories of heaven, they know how hard it is to live christ-like, so they want to help us and we believe they are able to.