How/when do you recommend someone to be a saint?

[hausofferni]

How would you even begin to recommend someone to be a saint? And to who? A priest? A bishop? I am aware that this person must die and live a pious life style, but I know this woman who is like unbelieveable. Unbelievable In a sense that what she does is UNBELIEVABLE! She prays 24/7, she visits the sick in hospitals, she visits and prays for people in their homes, (she even came to pray for me when I would be sick in the hospital) she goes to any funeral she can and prays the rosary wth family, she doesn’t even own a house, and she rides her bike everywhere., I think she is a maid part time and she does so much. She comes to my grandmas house to have a small nap during the day and a snack and then she’s off again to go and pray and help others etc. I know she used to live a sinful past life in her teenage years and early twenties but her life has completely changed since then, she is now in her late forties early fifties I think, but She is so humble, so caring, kind, hopeful and she has suffered so much. But if one day God decides that her time has come, who would I talk to? Or what would I do?

 

[midori]

Emulate her.

Canonization is just a formal recognition of a reality that already exists. God will give someone their true reward.

If you really feel strongly about it, though, you have to wait at least five years after someone has died before their cause can be opened. (Mother Teresa, Sister Lucia, and John Paul II were examples of people who had this waiting period waived.) A guild that promotes the candidate is formed; their writings are examined; their biography is written.

So— copy her work. Emulate her good deeds. If you want to start a paper trail, you can ask her questions and record/write down conversations. But the important thing is, you have a great model for what it means to be Christian in front of you, so don’t just put her on a pedestal and admire her from a distance, but haul yourself up on that pedestal, too, and join your efforts with hers.

 

[Mintaka]

What you’re talking about is “starting a cause for sainthood.” (“Cause” and “case” are pretty much the same word, in Latin.)

Here’s a short article on EWTN’s website about the whole canonization process. The paperwork part, anyway.

The other part is that saintly people tend to impress other people with how Christlike they are, just by doing what they do. (You’re an example of this, presumably.) So when saints pass away, people feel a lot of devotion to them. Demonstrating that this exists is also part of the canonization process.

So… obviously your current step would be to send your bishop or pastor a nice letter about this lady, and to tell other people about her virtues. Since the bishop is the one who would start the official process, you probably would want to get him in on this early.

All that said, any sainthood cause is totally in God’s hands, and there are plenty of great saints in Heaven who will never make it onto any Church calendar of saints’ days, except for All Saints’ Day. So don’t be surprised or disappointed by anything that happens.

 

[ProVobis]

What you’re talking about is “starting a cause for sainthood.” (“Cause” and “case” are pretty much the same word, in Latin.)

As are “saint” and “holy.”