Are there any Turkish saints in the Catholic Church?

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Aydan

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I’m learning Turkish as a second language and I wondered if we had any ethnically Turkish saints in the Catholic Church? Not in a modern day Republic of Turkey since but saints who come from historically Turkish lands Thanks.
 
Aydan said:
I’m learning Turkish as a second language and I wondered if we had any ethnically Turkish saints in the Catholic Church? Not in a modern day Republic of Turkey since but saints who come from historically Turkish lands Thanks.
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I think there are lots of them.

For example, Saint Polycarp who was Bishop of Smyrna and a disciple of Saint John.
 
Paul was from Tarsus in what is now Turkey, I believe, and since much of the early missionary activity was in this area, I would gather many early bishops and martyrs were from there. in fact if you go on the Pauline year threads here one of the main links given is to a church and pilgrimage site in Turkey dedicated to Paul.
 
Smyrna and Tarsus were Graeco-Roman cities at the time of these saints, not Turkish ones.

However, there are some ethnically Turkish Orthodox saints listed in NEW MARTYRS OF THE TURKISH YOKE. St. Ahmet the Calligrapher comes to mind.
 
Saint Nicholas of Myra, AKA Santa Claus.

Myra was in what is now S. Turkey.

Jim
 
The Turks themselves came from Central Asia. Most of what people seem to be mentioning are ethnic Greeks, Romans, and Semites.
 
actually thanks to the people here I found quite a few Turkish Saints there was even a bishop that was executed near the time of the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923 in fact Atatük ordered his execution but it was carried out two days prior to when the authorization from Atatürk was received. As was mentioned here the eastern Orthodox Church even has a day dedicated to the new martyrs of the Turkish yoke which remembers all Orthodox Christians including some Turks were martyred under the Ottoman Empire such as the Armenians. So you’re right most did come from other ethnic background but there are some Turkish Saints as well.
bpbasilphx said:
The Turks themselves came from Central Asia. Most of what people seem to be mentioning are ethnic Greeks, Romans, and Semites.
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on another thread I brought up the subject because I was curious whether or not the Catholic Church acknowledged the Turkish Saints because I was curious why we didn’t have a feast day for them in the Latin Church and I said I wish they were acknowledged and it started a whole contentious debate and we end up having to drop the subject. Anyway at that time because I’m a fairly new Catholic still I did not realize that the Orthodox Church is not the Catholic Orthodox Church now that I know they’re different I understand why we don’t celebrate any feast days because they are obviously separate from the Catholic Church so now make sense. AnywayI was at mass the other night and I remembered that we invoked the Saints prior to the Eucharist and I got to thinking about the meaning of all Saints day as well. My question is this when we invoke the Saints before the Eucharist and celebrate them on all saintsday does that pertain to only the Saints in the Catholic churches or does it include Saints from other traditions as well such as St. Ahmed who was an Orthodox Christian?
 
My question is this when we invoke the Saints before the Eucharist and celebrate them on all saintsday does that pertain to only the Saints in the Catholic churches or does it include Saints from other traditions as well such as St. Ahmed who was an Orthodox Christian?

Well, John Paul II once referred to St. Seraphim of Sarov by his honorific–and he was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1909.

I think the Catholic Church recognizes those officially glorified by the Orthodox and other Eastern Churches, and if I’m wrong I’m willing to be corrected.
 
I think the Catholic Church recognizes those officially glorified by the Orthodox and other Eastern Churches, and if I’m wrong I’m willing to be corrected.
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I have nothing to contribute to the conversation, but wanted to ask a question really quick. Is ‘glorified’ the Eastern way of saying ‘Canonized’? Are they the same thing?
 
Really any saint that’s from Constantinople/Istanbul’s area you could count, so lots of Church doctors.

Good luck on your Turkish quest! It’s a unique language. I’m studying Arabic, so they’re distant cousins 😃
 
thanks yeah a lot of Arabic words translate into Turkish as well. Good luck to you as well I’m thinking about studying Arabic myself after I learn Trkish.
scapularkid8 said:
Really any saint that’s from Constantinople/Istanbul’s area you could count, so lots of Church doctors.

Good luck on your Turkish quest! It’s a unique language. I’m studying Arabic, so they’re distant cousins 😃
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I have nothing to contribute to the conversation, but wanted to ask a question really quick. Is ‘glorified’ the Eastern way of saying ‘Canonized’? Are they the same thing?

Yes. Orthodox use the term “glorified”.
 
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