Are there any old testament saints?

[Jovian90]

Has the church ever declared an old testament figure to be a saint such as Moses, Elijah, or David? If the church hasn’t why not didn’t these people live holy lives, did God’s will and performed many miracles in God’s name?

 

[stpurl]

Depends on how you define the word 'saint". In Roman Catholic tradition, ‘saint’ was most commonly used to refer to people who lived after Christ, i.e. New Testament and later. In the Orthodox tradition, the word ‘saint’ was used to refer to Old and New Testament figures. In the Roman Martyrology, both Old and New Testament figures are found.

But I’ll leave you with two words, “St Michael”.

And I’m sure you are aware of where HE is found in the Bible.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

See the Catechism.

1. The patriarchs, prophets, and certain other Old Testament figures have been and always will be honored as saints in all the Church 's liturgical traditions.

 

[TK421]

The heroes of the Old Testament are acknowledged to be in Heaven and can be prayed to. Somebody like Solomon is questionable but you can definitely pray to Moses or Elijah or David, or for that matter, St Joseph or St John the Baptist, who both preceded the Resurrection.

“Sainthood” became more widely recognized after the Resurrection of Christ even if you can see some beginnings of it among the ancient Jews. Even in the A.D. era, it wasn’t until the Middle Ages that the process became more formalized.

 

[Wm777]

Also, it’s perhaps a bit removed from your point, which seems to be aimed more at humans… but the heavenly angels are saints too!

 

[bobperk]

I have run across more than one parish named “St. Daniel the Prophet.”

 

[Tis_Bearself]

We can generally venerate any person from the OT who lived a life pleasing to God.
Moses and Elijah are the two who get the most attention in this regard because they also appear in the New Testament conversing with Jesus at the Transfiguration.
But other figures such as King David, Abraham, Jacob, and all the prophets (Daniel, Isaiah, Samuel etc.) are all considered okay to venerate.

They may or may not be called “saints”. I’ve seen Elijah for example referred to as “St. Elijah” but they are also sometimes just called prophets (there are prayers to God referring to “Your prophet David”) or heroes.

The OT also contains a lot of figures such as kings about which it states the Lord was not pleased with them or that they did evil in the sight of the Lord. Obviously you don’t want to venerate those people.

 

[Canvas]

I have heard the Litany of the Saints sung during Mass and and I seem to remember several of the Old Testament Prophets were included as Saints.

 

[ziapueblo]

In the East, bot Catholic and Orthodox, we recognize the prophets as saints. For example, May 1st we commemorate the Prophet Jeremiah.

ZP

 

[Mary888]

The four great prophets of the Old Testament (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel), the twelve minor prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi).
Prophet Elli (probably the most known saint of the OT), Prophet Moses and sometimes King David is called a saint but usually he is referred to as just prophet.

 

[midori]

Saints are going to be people who enjoy the beatific vision— so whether or not the Church goes through the process of formally canonizing someone, or is in the habit of addressing them with a specific title (“Saint” vs “Prophet”, for example) doesn’t necessarily mean that we don’t think they’re in heaven, enjoying the presence of God.

If you ever look at a nice iconostasis, you’ll see one or more rows of Prophets-- here’s one that depicts two rows of Prophets (look for the guys with scrolls) (eeep, too big to be depicted in the thread, but you can click the link)—

and here’s one that just has one top row of Prophets—

So even if we think of someone as “Holy Prophet Moses” rather than “St. Moses”, they’re still honored and respected and treated as saints, because of what the nature of a saint is, even if they don’t bear that specific title in common parlance.

 

[pulchraesamicamea]

You can see from the Litany of the Saints, that in most cases, Abraham comes first out of all saints beside Virgin Mary in the order- so yes.