Roman Catholics: Just wondering how was the Universal Calendar of Saints created, the new one (1969)?

Question

I know some early martyrs were taken off the calendar due to not knowing enough historical information about them, but there are some early church martyrs who stayed on the calendar (St. John and Paul the martyrs, St. Nerus and Achilles the martyrs, St. Peter and Marcellus the martyrs) even though there's barley any historical information about their lives, while some saints whose historical acts are know (St. Cassian of Imola, St. Apollonius, St. Victor the Moor) have been taken off the calendar. So how did they decide which saints to put on, and howcome some saints that we barley know nothing about stayed on while others which we know a lot about have stayed on?

Answer 1

Although I do not have all of the specifics of the saints you mentioned, I do know a bit about the general process.

Before the formal canonization process began in the fifteenth century, many saints were proclaimed by popular approval. This was a much faster process but unfortunately many of the saints so named were based on legends, pagan mythology, or even other religions -- for example, the story of the Buddha traveled west to Europe and he was "converted" into a Catholic saint!

In 1969, the Church took a long look at all the saints on its calendar to see if there was historical evidence that that saint existed AND lived a life of holiness. In taking that long look, the Church discovered that there was little proof that many "saints", including some very popular ones, ever lived. Christopher was one of the names that was determined to have a basis mostly in legend. Therefore Christopher (and others) were dropped from the universal calendar.

This action did not kick Christopher out of heaven. Remember everyone in heaven are saints whether the Church canonizes them or not. The Church, once again, was just trying to clean up its act.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 2354: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2chpt2art6.htm

With love in Christ.