How does a Saint get recognized as "the Great?"

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DavidFilmer

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Such as, in due course, St. John Paul the Great. How does that distinction come about?
 
So far, by popular acclamation. If enough people with enough influence choose to remember Blessed John Paul the Great as such, then it will stick. There’s no official process.
 
It is simply a common title. Enough people start to call a saint “the great”, and eventually it sticks.
 
In the case of St. Albert the Great, there was a good deal of punning involved.

His family name was “de Groot”, which meant “great” or “big.” But like the rest of his family, St. Albert was only a big guy if you were from Swabia, and Swabians were notoriously small folks at that time. (Having huge, tall, broad-shouldered St. Thomas Aquinas as a student probably made this even more noticeable.) But on the other hand, as a scholar he was clearly great, having amazing width and depth of knowledge and being good at teaching, as well as saintly.

So besides picking up nicknames like “Doctor Universalis”, people routinely referred to him as “Albertus Magnus” even while he was still alive; and it became the most common way to refer to him after he was dead, too.

Of course, secularly there are plenty of kings and queens named “the Great” by popular acclaim. Mostly by cutting a swath through their country’s history, but often not for being particularly nice.
 
Mintaka said:
St. Albert was only a big guy if you were from Swabia, and Swabians were notoriously small folks at that time.
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That’s interesting. I have known MANY Germans (I work for a Germany company, and have been to Germany three times), but I have known only one Swabian - a guy named Hartmunt. He was maybe 6-3, and his shoulders were BROAD and his waist was tight. I always thought of him as Goliath. He was easily the most imposing man among our 600 person office staff.

We once tricked him into watching a late-night rerun of Hogan’s Heroes, telling him it was a realistic and sympathetic depection of WW2 Germany. The following day was the only time I ever observed Hartmunt utterly at a loss for words.
 
DavidFilmer said:
Such as, in due course, St. John Paul the Great. How does that distinction come about?
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It is likewise my understanding that the title “the Great” is awarded to a saint due to public acclaim. Therefore, it is not a title that is officially proclaimed by a pope as is the case with the title “Doctor of the Church.”

It is interesting to note that so far only two popes are called “great”: Pope St. Leo the Great, and Pope St. Gregory the Great. Although there is no official checklist for what makes a saintly pope considered “great”, St. Leo and St. Gregory share some common traits which I think set the bar for future papal candidates for this consideration.

For example, both St. Leo and St. Gregory made great contributions to theology (as a matter-of-fact, they are both Doctors of the Church). I personally believe that Pope Blessed John Paul II was a great theologian and I would not be surprised if he is also awarded the title Doctor of the Church at some future point. I’m not suggesting that a pope has to actually be a Doctor of the Church in order to be called “great” (as a matter-of-fact, he may be called “great” before being called a doctor), but I think that the caliber of his theological contributions should be of “doctor quality.”

Both St. Leo and St. Gregory also made important contributions to the liturgy. For example, St. Leo wrote many Mass prayers which are still in use today. Gregorian Chant is named after St. Gregory, although it is debatable as to what sort of role (if any) he played in the development of chants. Nevertheless, he did a lot in terms of liturgical reform, and the same can be said of Pope Blessed John Paul II (who was responsible for implementing much of the Vatican II reforms).

Of course, both St. Leo and St. Gregory did a lot of great things aside from theology and the liturgy, as did Blessed John Paul II. For example, St. Leo talked Attila the Hun out of invading Rome, and Blessed John Paul II did a lot to end Communism in Europe. It is also worth noting that Blessed John Paul II is the most traveled pope in history, and his reign as pope is the second longest in history (and he was a hard-working pope until the day he died).

Based on what I have stated in this post, I think that Blessed John Paul II will one day be known as Pope St. John Paul the Great. He was certainly a pope who did many great things and completely gave his entire life in tireless service to God and the Church.
 
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