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In the Catholic tradition, there are at least four possible applications of the word “saints”: (1) all those who have been sanctified, or made holy, by the grace of Christ, whether they are living or dead, Catholic or non-Catholic, Christian or non-Christian, people of explicit religious faith or none; (2) those who, having been sanctified by Christ on earth, have entered into the joy of eternal life; (3) biblical figures in the time before Christ who lived by the Spirit of God and who became luminous examples of holiness; and (4) those whom the Church, either through popular acclaim or formal canonization, has declared to be members of the Church triumphant (i.e., those already in the company of God, the angels, and the saints in heaven) and who are commemorated and invoked in the Church’s public worship and in private prayer.
The Church attests to that broadly inclusive tradition each year in its celebration of the feast of All Saints [November 1]. This so-called inclusiveness excludes everyone else, making the rest of us perceive ourselves as unworthy of God’s notice. It should also be noted that the number of ‘saints’ far exceeds the 365 days in a normal year, and therefore those ‘saints’ not deemed as sufficiently prominent are lumped together on one day (All Saints Day). The day prior, known as “All Hallows Eve” (now referred to as ‘halloween’), is supposedly the time when ungodly spirits attempt to capture the souls of those the Church has not yet accredited with ‘sainthood’. From our understanding that we are all saints, we can therefore say that November 1st is your day as well, and in fact every day is an All Saints Day, and as Jesus has said that none can pluck us from His hand, then the fears associated with ‘halloween’ are but another aspect of The Lie initiated by Satan in the Garden.
Types of Christian Saints
The first saints in a more restricted sense of the word were the martyrs, who had died for the faith and whose reward was believed to have been immediate transition to eternal life with Christ. The earliest mention of a memorial cult at the burial site of a martyr is in the Martyrdom of Polycarp (18:1-3), written in the middle of the second century. The cult involved veneration of the site, pilgrimages to it, adoption of the martyr as the patron saint of the local church or town, and a belief in the martyr’s power to perform miracles on behalf of the living. From the reign of Constantine in the early fourth century and with the end of the intermittent periods of persecution, the cult saints (the so-called red martyrs) was extended to confessors (the so-called white martyrs), namely, those who suffered imprisonment, torture, expropriation of property, hard labour, and/or exile for the faith but who did not directly suffer the martyrdom of death: to ascetics, especially those, such as monks, hermits, and holy women who lived a life of celibacy and virginity; to wise teachers, including theologians and spiritual writers; to pastorally effective church leaders, including bishops, outstanding members of the diocesan and religious clergy, and the founders and foundresses of religious orders; and to those who cared for the sick and the poor.
Although we do not desire to be overly critical, it is easy to note that whilst recognising the ‘saintliness’ of those that suffered for “His name’s sake”, it seems obvious that the acclaim was extended to include the Church’s ascetics, teachers and leaders as a public relations tool for bolstering the Church’s status. The final category, ‘those who cared for the sick and poor’, is where we can again see a recognition for those who followed the behests of Jesus, those one could attest to as ‘good and faithful servants’, displaying the ‘saintly’ virtue of ‘love thy neighbour’ to which we may show appreciation for their worthiness, and properly strive to emulate.
