Saint

Saint, name applied in the New Testament (Colossians 1:2) to the members of the Christian community generally, but restricted in ecclesiastical usage from very early times to those who have been virtuous to a heroic degree. Saints are traditionally distributed into several classes: apostles and evangelists; martyrs; confessors, originally those who had undergone imprisonment or pains without the final crown of martyrdom and later male saints in general who were eminent for sanctity; doctors, saints eminent for sacred learning; virgins; and matrons and widows.

By the 4th century ad, the practice of venerating the saints was widespread. During the Middle Ages, however, much superstition surrounded the practice. Even before the Reformation, the Bogomils and Waldenses objected to the veneration of saints; at the time of the Reformation, the practice was generally rejected as scripturally unfounded. The Roman Catholic Council of Trent (1545-1563) affirmed that it is a good and useful thing to invoke the saints on account of the benefits to be obtained from God through their intercession. The belief and practice of the Orthodox Church is basically the same as that of the Roman Catholic.

Of the many saints, almost all record has perished except their names. The fullest list is found in the general table in the 61st volume of the colossal Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists, which mentions about 20,000 saints. The catalogue that possesses the highest ecclesiastical authority is that of the Martyrologium Romanum. The martyrology numbers some 2,700 saints, including about 20 saints of the Old Testament, arranged according to the days of their celebration. Many of these saints were honoured annually with a special feast day; at one time their feast days filled about two-thirds of the Roman Catholic Church's liturgical calendar, although some of the saints had become little more than names. In 1964 the Second Vatican Council concluded that only saints “of truly universal significance should be extended to the universal Church” and the others “should be left to be celebrated by a particular church, or nation, or religious community”. Accordingly, in 1969, Pope Paul VI approved a reordering of the liturgical calendar to achieve the council's wish. In the revised calendar, which took effect on January 1, 1970, only 58 regular, or obligatory, and 92 optional feast days of saints were retained in addition to those of Christ, the Virgin Mary, St Joseph, and the apostles.

In Christian art representations of the saints, as well as of Christ, are often marked by a halo (also known as a nimbus, aureole, or glory), a ring or area of radiance about the head or entire figure, and many of the saints are pictured with emblems by which they could readily be recognized. A martyr who had a special interest in a place was called its patron as early as the 4th century. Trades and professions had their patrons, and for every disease a saint could be invoked to cure it. Among the widely known patron saints are Andrew of Scotland, Denis of France, George of England, Nicholas of Russia, Patrick of Ireland, James the Great of Spain, and Stephen of Hungary. The term hagiology or hagiography is used to denote the branch of literature that is concerned with the lives and legends of the saints.