Protestants: Why are many of your churches named after saints?

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The_Reginator

The_Reginator

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Here’s a thought that’s been on the back of my mind for a while.
Many protestant churches are named after (or dedicated to) saints. But the only saints we know of are Catholic. It seems odd to me that protestants worship in buildings named for Catholics.
Any thoughts?
 
The_Reginator said:
Here’s a thought that’s been on the back of my mind for a while.
Many protestant churches are named after (or dedicated to) saints. But the only saints we know of are Catholic. It seems odd to me that protestants worship in buildings named for Catholics.
Any thoughts?
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We have the same saints you do. We just don’t pray to them.
 
Nominefili said:
We have the same saints you do. We just don’t pray to them.
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All of them or some of them?

I recall little about saints from my LCMS catechism days…seems to me they were taught somewhat like Mary; Historical figures, not terribly important regarding salvation.
 
Nominefili said:
We have the same saints you do. We just don’t pray to them.
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Help me here then.
How do you know who is a saint? There is no such thing as a protestant saint. If you don’t accept Catholic teaching what reasons, do you suppose, are used in naming a church after a Catholic.
Please note: I’m not trying to start an argument. I’d just like to hear thoughts and opinions about something that has puzzled me.
 
The_Reginator said:
Here’s a thought that’s been on the back of my mind for a while.
Many protestant churches are named after (or dedicated to) saints. But the only saints we know of are Catholic. It seems odd to me that protestants worship in buildings named for Catholics.
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
I think your logic is severely flawed here. Saints are cannonized by Rome in a very complex manner. Other churches such as mine (Anglican) and the Orthodox recognize saints as well. Some of them we share in common and some we do not. I don’t recall Roman Catholics recogizing St. George as we do in Anglicanism. St. Patrick was a Celltic, not a praciticng Roman Catholic. Sainthood is not exclusive to Roman Catholics.
 
Justy90 said:
I think your logic is severely flawed here. Saints are cannonized by Rome in a very complex manner. Other churches such as mine (Anglican) and the Orthodox recognize saints as well. Some of them we share in common and some we do not. I don’t recall Roman Catholics recogizing St. George as we do in Anglicanism. St. Patrick was a Celltic, not a praciticng Roman Catholic. Sainthood is not exclusive to Roman Catholics.
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OK. That helps.
But it brings up another question.
The Catholic Church has a mechanism for declairing someone a saint. What happens in, say, the Anglican church?
 
Nominefili said:
We have the same saints you do. We just don’t pray to them.
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If I may, why would you name a church after them then?:confused: If there is no love, respect or admiration for them, what is the point?

In Christ,
Andrew
 
The_Reginator said:
OK. That helps.
But it brings up another question.
The Catholic Church has a mechanism for declairing someone a saint. What happens in, say, the Anglican church?
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Much less of a formal process. We tend to look at sainthood in a different light as do Catholics. We believe that the Communion of Saints runs from past to present and into the future in an unbroken chain from our deceased loved ones through us into the yet to be born children. All Saints Day Holy Eucharist will be coming up this Sunday and its one of my favorite services in the Liturgical Kalender.
 
The_Reginator said:
Here’s a thought that’s been on the back of my mind for a while.
Many protestant churches are named after (or dedicated to) saints. But the only saints we know of are Catholic. It seems odd to me that protestants worship in buildings named for Catholics.
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
I would suggest that there is no inconsistency in naming churches after people who were giants of the faith. Among Lutheran congregations, many are named for Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, and Paul, among others. Here in the States, there are also some named for the patron saints of the countries from which Lutherans emigrated – Saint Olaf of Norway, Saint Eric of Sweden, etc. And, then, there are are St. Mary and St. Mary Magdalene who also appear as names for Lutheran congregations, although rather rarely.

Rather than characterizing these saints as Catholic, in the sense of belonging only to the Catholic Church, I see them as part of the heritage of all Christians. Our religious heritage extends back to the saints of old just as does the heritage of the Catholic Church.
 
Harpazo said:
If I may, why would you name a church after them then?:confused: If there is no love, respect or admiration for them, what is the point?

In Christ,
Andrew
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I never said there was no love, respect or admiration for them. But it’s possible to admire someone without praying to them for intercession. I admire Martin Luther King, Jr. a great deal, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to pray to him.
 
Justy90 said:
I think your logic is severely flawed here. Saints are cannonized by Rome in a very complex manner. Other churches such as mine (Anglican) and the Orthodox recognize saints as well. Some of them we share in common and some we do not. I don’t recall Roman Catholics recogizing St. George as we do in Anglicanism. St. Patrick was a Celltic, not a praciticng Roman Catholic. Sainthood is not exclusive to Roman Catholics.
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Catholics have, historically, been more devoted to St. George, particularly in the medieval period. The Anglican Church inherited this and, unlike Catholics, never lost it.
St. Patrick was very much a Catholic. Due to distances and difficulties with contact, however, the converts he made (or rather, God used him to make) ended up being unwillingly seperated from Rome, and came to be known as the ‘Celtic Church’, which was really never actually an entity at all.
 
Theologically, the significance of “the communion of saints” means that both Church Triumphant (those already in the other world) and Church Militant (those still here), are one Ekklesia, we intercede for each other, as we do today and as the primitive Church did according to the new testament.
Praying for each other is simply part of what Christians do. As we saw, in 1 Timothy 2:1–4, Paul strongly encouraged Christians to intercede for many different things, and that passage is by no means unique in his writings. Elsewhere Paul directly asks others to pray for him (Rom. 15:30–32, Eph. 6:18–20, Col. 4:3, 1 Thess. 5:25, 2 Thess. 3:1), and he assured them that he was praying for them as well (2 Thess. 1:11). Most fundamentally, Jesus himself required us to pray for others, and not only for those who asked us to do so (Matt. 5:44).
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In the book of Revelation, we read: “[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God” (Rev. 8:3-4).
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And those in heaven who offer to God our prayers aren’t just angels, but humans as well. John sees that “the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Rev. 5:8). The simple fact is, as this passage shows: The saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.
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catholic.com/library/Praying_to_the_Saints.asp

This is biblical.

And just as my prayers can be dedicated to St Jude or St John Bosco for their intercession, likewise a temple can be dedicated to their intercession. As simple as that.
 
The_Reginator said:
Here’s a thought that’s been on the back of my mind for a while.
Many protestant churches are named after (or dedicated to) saints. But the only saints we know of are Catholic. It seems odd to me that protestants worship in buildings named for Catholics.
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
  1. There are a number of “saints” who have been recognized by Protestant churches after the Reformation.
  2. Some Protestants believe in veneration of saints by not intercession by them (this was the view of Martin Luther).
  3. Whether certain figures before periods of schism were Anglican, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, etc. is up for debate. Don’t just assume it is appropriate to refer to them as necessarily “Catholic”.
 
Harpazo said:
If I may, why would you name a church after them then?:confused: If there is no love, respect or admiration for them, what is the point?

In Christ,
Andrew
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As I pointed out, veneration without intercession exists.
 
I think you will find the vast majority, if not all, protestant churches that are named after saints are named after the apostles. St. Mark, St. Matthew, St. Luke, St. John, St. Paul, St. Peter. You are not likely to find a St. Bernadette or a St. Clare Lutheran or Methodist Church
 
Lutheranteach said:
I think you will find the vast majority, if not all, protestant churches that are named after saints are named after the apostles. St. Mark, St. Matthew, St. Luke, St. John, St. Paul, St. Peter. You are not likely to find a St. Bernadette or a St. Clare Lutheran or Methodist Church
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Or a Saint Mary for that matter. 😛
 
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