Question about martyrs and saints

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Question:
I am not Catholic but would like to know what the difference is in status between a martyr and a saint in Catholicism, and if all martyrs eventually become saints. If not, what distinguishes a martyr from a saint in terms of status with the Church. I know that not all saints were killed while martyrs died for their faith. Other than that, I am not sure what the differences are.

Background:
I listen to a local Catholic radio station that airs a combination of EWTN programming and a few local ones in Oklahoma. In between radio programs over the past year or so, the station has played an appeal for listeners to pray for the canonization of Father Stanley Rother, who was an Oklahoma priest killed in Guatemala in 1981 while serving as a priest there.

I am curious about this because I heard this morning that he was recently declared by Pope Francis as a martyr. Does that mean he is in line to be a saint?

nytimes.com/2016/12/02/world/americas/stanley-rother-priest-martyr.html?_r=0

Any help in clarifying this for me would be much appreciated. Thanks.
 
Tommy999 said:
Question:
I am not Catholic but would like to know what the difference is in status between a martyr and a saint in Catholicism, and if all martyrs eventually become saints. If not, what distinguishes a martyr from a saint in terms of status with the Church. I know that not all saints were killed while martyrs died for their faith. Other than that, I am not sure what the differences are.

Background:
I listen to a local Catholic radio station that airs a combination of EWTN programming and a few local ones in Oklahoma. In between radio programs over the past year or so, the station has played an appeal for listeners to pray for the canonization of Father Stanley Rother, who was an Oklahoma priest killed in Guatemala in 1981 while serving as a priest there.

I am curious about this because I heard this morning that he was recently declared by Pope Francis as a martyr. Does that mean he is in line to be a saint?

nytimes.com/2016/12/02/world/americas/stanley-rother-priest-martyr.html?_r=0

Any help in clarifying this for me would be much appreciated. Thanks.
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There are some general and specific definitions.

A martyr is one who is killed out of hatred for the faith (in odium fidei).

A saint is anyone who is in heaven.

A canonized saint is one who has been declared by the Church as being in heaven AND granted a “cultus”, i.e. a feast day and is allowed popular devotion. Such persons are referred to as Saint N.

In order to canonize someone, he must first go through a process. Loosely, with without too much detail, first of all, the cause must be opened, and the person is called a Servant of God. This Servant of God must have been found to have lived his Christian virtues to a heroic degree. At this point the Church declares this person Venerable.

Here, the diocese who opened the case will have to receive proof of a miracle due to the intercession of the candidate. Once a miracle is confirmed by the diocese, the Congregation and the Pope (after thorough scientific analysis; the Church takes no chances here), the person can be beatified (with the title of Blessed), and local devotion is permitted.

Finally, a second miracle is required to be verified by the diocese, Congregation and Pope before the person can be canonized.

Here’s the key difference: for a martyr, the first miracle required for beatification can be waived. This is probably what’s happening here: by declaring this person a Martyr, the process for beatification will be allowed to proceed without the need for a miracle.
 
porthos11 said:
There are some general and specific definitions.

A martyr is one who is killed out of hatred for the faith (in odium fidei).

A saint is anyone who is in heaven.

A canonized saint is one who has been declared by the Church as being in heaven AND granted a “cultus”, i.e. a feast day and is allowed popular devotion. Such persons are referred to as Saint N.

In order to canonize someone, he must first go through a process. Loosely, with without too much detail, first of all, the cause must be opened, and the person is called a Servant of God. This Servant of God must have been found to have lived his Christian virtues to a heroic degree. At this point the Church declares this person Venerable.

Here, the diocese who opened the case will have to receive proof of a miracle due to the intercession of the candidate. Once a miracle is confirmed by the diocese, the Congregation and the Pope (after thorough scientific analysis; the Church takes no chances here), the person can be beatified (with the title of Blessed), and local devotion is permitted.

Finally, a second miracle is required to be verified by the diocese, Congregation and Pope before the person can be canonized.

Here’s the key difference: for a martyr, the first miracle required for beatification can be waived. This is probably what’s happening here: by declaring this person a Martyr, the process for beatification will be allowed to proceed without the need for a miracle.
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That helps. Thanks for explaining in a very understandable way, porthos11.
It sounds like the Lord has heard and acted on the persistent prayers of the Oklahoma Catholic faithful At least that was my first impression when I heard that on EWTN this morning that he was declared a martyr.
 
Tommy999 said:
Question:
I am not Catholic but would like to know what the difference is in status between a martyr and a saint in Catholicism, and if all martyrs eventually become saints. If not, what distinguishes a martyr from a saint in terms of status with the Church. I know that not all saints were killed while martyrs died for their faith. Other than that, I am not sure what the differences are.
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LOTS of good questions here.

1st. The RCC defines saints in 2 ways

“saints” small “s” include everyone in heaven, and certainly would include all those who give their lives to Christ by a bloody-sacrificial -sacrifice

“Saints” large “S” are those whom the RCC has investigated for POSSIBLE Sainthood, a process that includes one or two [2 is the norm] miracles; so GOD has the final say:)
Background:
I listen to a local Catholic radio station that airs a combination of EWTN programming and a few local ones in Oklahoma. In between radio programs over the past year or so, the station has played an appeal for listeners to pray for the canonization of Father Stanley Rother, who was an Oklahoma priest killed in Guatemala in 1981 while serving as a priest there.
Click to expand...
I am curious about this because I heard this morning that he was recently declared by Pope Francis as a martyr. Does that mean he is in line to be a saint?
Click to expand...
nytimes.com/2016/12/02/world/americas/stanley-rother-priest-martyr.html?_r=0

Any help in clarifying this for me would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...
It would mean that Pope Francis THINKS that Father is in heaven [hence a “saint” undeclared

The next step would be that Father be declared “Servant of God”; which is the the Official 1st step in the canonization process, and someone would be appointed to “his cause” [the cause of canonization], and the process on investigation would begin. This CAN take many years.

A vetting of Fathers past life is the beginning, then proceeds to anything and everything he has authored, and so on. GOOGLE “Catholic Canonization Process”; its very involved and interesting.

Hope you find something useful in my reply?

GBY
 
Tommy999 said:
That helps. Thanks for explaining in a very understandable way, porthos11.
It sounds like the Lord has heard and acted on the persistent prayers of the Oklahoma Catholic faithful At least that was my first impression when I heard that on EWTN this morning that he was declared a martyr.
Click to expand...
I’m not certain at what point Fr. Rother’s canonization process is in, but even if his cause still needs to be opened, this declaration will likely speed up the Servant of God, and Venerable phases, bringing him to Blessed fairly quickly (as no investigation may be required for miracle for beatification). A miracle will still be required for the canonization stage.
 
porthos11 said:
I’m not certain at what point Fr. Rother’s canonization process is in, but even if his cause still needs to be opened, this declaration will likely speed up the Servant of God, and Venerable phases, bringing him to Blessed fairly quickly (as no investigation may be required for miracle for beatification). A miracle will still be required for the canonization stage.
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Thanks again, Porthos11 and PJM.

My hunch is that since Pope Francis is from Latin America, perhaps he was a little more sensitive to those priests who were killed for the Catholic faith down in Latin America over the years, but I may be wrong on that.
 
Tommy999 said:
I am curious about this because I heard this morning that he was recently declared by Pope Francis as a martyr. Does that mean he is in line to be a saint?
Click to expand...
The declaration of martyrdom means he is recognized as a saint in heaven. However, until he becomes a canonized saint, there are some restrictions on where and how he may be publicly honored.

For more info, see Wikipedia article on “Canonization” in the section on “Catholic Church” and sub-section on “Since 1983” and sub-sub-sections on “Blessed” and “Saint.”
 
I looked up Father Rother because I did not know the name. One of 10 priests killed in Guatemala that year. He went back to be with the poorest because of his love for them.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Rother

Father Rother please pray for us.
 
I heard his biography on a Catholic radio station, or read his story somewhere in the past year. Very inspiring.

If anyone here ever gets a chance to see the movie Don’t Cry for Me Sudan, don’t miss it. It’s about a Korean Catholic priest. Saw it on EWTN. Very moving film.
 
TheDoctor said:
I looked up Father Rother because I did not know the name. One of 10 priests killed in Guatemala that year. He went back to be with the poorest because of his love for them.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Rother

Father Rother please pray for us.
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Thanks to all for you responses to this.

One of Father Rother’s statements that was turned into a song was, “The Shepherd Cannot Run”. It is a song by Oklahoma singer Jamie Biller.

Father Rother reportedly made this statement when he was asked why he was returning to Guatemala even though he knew it was a very dangerous place for Catholic priests at the time.

This is the only portion of it I could find for free on the internet:
jamiebiller.com/the-shepherd-cannot-run/
 
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