Canonized Saints

  • Thread starter Thread starter Augustine3
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Augustine3 said:
Are Catholics obligated to believe in canonized saints?
Click to expand...
This is the way I see it:
“Canonization by the pope is an infallible statement by the Church that a particular person definitely is in heaven and therefore is worthy to be given public honor by Catholics”.
We are, however, not obliged to venerate the saints.
I am open to correction 🙂
 
odhiambo said:
This is the way I see it:
“Canonization by the pope is an infallible statement by the Church that a particular person definitely is in heaven and therefore is worthy to be given public honor by Catholics”.
We are, however, not obliged to venerate the saints.
I am open to correction 🙂
Click to expand...
Not sure if you are saying yes we must believe it but no we don’t have to pray to that particular saint.
Is that what you are saying?
 
odhiambo said:
This is the way I see it:
“Canonization by the pope is an infallible statement by the Church that a particular person definitely is in heaven and therefore is worthy to be given public honor by Catholics”.
We are, however, not obliged to venerate the saints.
I am open to correction 🙂
Click to expand...
Exactly.
 
It seems agreed that a papal canonization is infallible. What of those canonized by popular acclaim in earlier times?
 
There is nothing in Church Law that states that the Canonization of a Saint is “infallible”.

Canonization is done, after the persons life is extensively studied to determine if they led a worthy life, and only after at least two miracles are determined to have been done because of the intercession of that person. the first miracle is necessary for their Beatification, the 2nd is necessary to be Canonized.

Canonization is recognition that the Church believes that this person’s soul is in heaven. and that they are worthy of veneration. There is nothing infallible about this process at all.

That’s exactly why many “Saints” were, in effect, decertified in the 1970’s. They were no longer determined to be Saints, in fact many of them were determined to be legends at best (such as St. Christopher). Yet I vividly remember Pius XII speaking about St. Christopher, and asking that the Church ask for his intercessions on several occasions.
 
The_Old_Medic said:
There is nothing in Church Law that states that the Canonization of a Saint is “infallible”.

Canonization is done, after the persons life is extensively studied to determine if they led a worthy life, and only after at least two miracles are determined to have been done because of the intercession of that person. the first miracle is necessary for their Beatification, the 2nd is necessary to be Canonized.

Canonization is recognition that the Church believes that this person’s soul is in heaven. and that they are worthy of veneration. There is nothing infallible about this process at all.

That’s exactly why many “Saints” were, in effect, decertified in the 1970’s. They were no longer determined to be Saints, in fact many of them were determined to be legends at best (such as St. Christopher). Yet I vividly remember Pius XII speaking about St. Christopher, and asking that the Church ask for his intercessions on several occasions.
Click to expand...
You are wrong on two counts.

First, the Pope is speaking to the whole world on a matter regarding faith, and he intends at canonizations to proclaim a truth without possibility of error. It is an infallible declaration.

Second, no saints have been “decertified”. That’s a ridiculous statement to make. Some (including St Christopher) were removed from the calendar feast days which is a totally different thing.
 
thistle said:
Not sure if you are saying yes we must believe it but no we don’t have to pray to that particular saint.
Is that what you are saying?
Click to expand...
Yes, that is what I am saying.
They are in heaven. That we believe because they have been canonized.
Whether or not you ask for their intercession in prayer, is up to you.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
It seems agreed that a papal canonization is infallible. What of those canonized by popular acclaim in earlier times?
Click to expand...
This article from the Rock Magazine will answer your question.

Here are some excerpts from it.

“In the first centuries the popular fame or the represented in practice the only criterion by which a person’s holiness was ascertained”.

“The first papal canonization of which there are positive documents was that of St. Udalricus in 973 . .”

“May the Church ever “uncanonize” a saint? Once completed, the act of canonization is irrevocable. In some cases a person has been popularly “canonized” without official solemnization by the Church . . . yet any act short of solemn canonization by the Roman pontiff is not an infallible declaration of sanctity.”

ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/CACANONI.htm
 
odhiambo said:
This article from the Rock Magazine will answer your question.

Here are some excerpts from it.

“In the first centuries the popular fame or the represented in practice the only criterion by which a person’s holiness was ascertained”.

“The first papal canonization of which there are positive documents was that of St. Udalricus in 973 . .”

“May the Church ever “uncanonize” a saint? Once completed, the act of canonization is irrevocable. In some cases a person has been popularly “canonized” without official solemnization by the Church . . . yet any act short of solemn canonization by the Roman pontiff is not an infallible declaration of sanctity.”

ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/CACANONI.htm
Click to expand...
Thanks - Joe K.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top