Saints and Mental illness?

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How does one defend the holiness of the saints on a more mental compatibility when they have their own stories of visions, stances, prophecy and methods of aseptic?
 
I’m not sure what you mean by compatibility in this case, and “aseptic” means “sterile”, like the way a surgeon would do surgery.

But I think your question is—can a person be holy and suffer from mental illness.

Okay. Mental illness covers a wide range of conditions, from depression to full-on psychosis. Many people have mental illness, such as anxiety disorders or depression but are still functioning on a day to day basis, with spouses and houses and children and careers.

The answer is “yes”, holiness and mental illness can co-exist, just like heart disease or kidney failure or the heartbreak of psoriasis can co-exist with holiness.

God is fully able to judge the state of a person’s soul to the best of their ability at the time they made their choices.

ATM, St Therese of Lisieux’s sister Leonie is being investigated for sainthood, and she had a disorder—possibly autism spectrum, possibly ADHD. But she did the best she could with what she had to work with and worked out her salvation and relationship to Jesus.

Peace!
 
thank you. I was asking really about how do we defend when people object to people hearing the voice of God or when They receive more spiritual matters when more people consider such matters as mental illness. You are right, I notice that people despite there illness still can be a child of God.
 
On a case by case basis—which saint are they all upset about and why, for instance.
 
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No need to trust you. It is clear that many saints who experienced God first-hand were (and are) considered nut cases. Consolingly, even Jesus was considered crazy during his ministry by some, as the Gospels tell us. Some saints certainly had mental issues, some had depression, some were completely healthy mentally.
 
We don’t need to defend at all. It’s really a cross when we are doubted for the faith.
 
Limoncello4021 said:
No need to trust you. It is clear that many saints who experienced God first-hand were (and are) considered nut cases. Consolingly, even Jesus was considered crazy during his ministry by some, as the Gospels tell us. Some saints certainly had mental issues, some had depression, some were completely healthy mentally.
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In her book The Hidden Face: A study of St Therese of Lisieux, Ida Gorres does an outstanding job of considering both the mental struggles and the extreme holiness of St Therese, who is not only one of the most popular Saints of modern times, but is also a Doctor of the Church.

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The book has the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, just FYI.

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Yes, St. Therese is one of my patrons, and I’ve read that book (along with nearly everything about Therese). She certainly suffered in her young life from a variety of emotional problems. I hesitate to call them "mental illnesses because of course they weren’t diagnosed in the modern understanding of the phrase. But she was clearly deeply affected by her mother’s early death, her sisters leaving her one by one, her father’s mental illness, and the general atmosphere of Carmel which was pretty bad due to rivalries and pettiness between some of the nuns. Not to mention the French Jansenism of the times that her whole spirituality opposed. She’s a good saint for anyone suffering from emotional trauma.
 
We have the church (that Jesus appointed Peter to be the first pope of the one holy, “catholic” and apostolic church, etc.) that gives us guidance into what is correct and worthy of belief. The church is governed by Scripture,
Tradition and the Magesterium. Look for an imprimatur (an approval from a bishop), in any literature or Rosary booklet signified by a cross +.

In reality any soul in Heaven is a saint, e.g. my great, great grandmother could be a saint. Hence, why we celebrate “All Soul’s Day”’.

My country, South Africa, recently got its first saint canonised, St Benedict Daswa. He was a holy and brave man.

Do you know about the miracle of the sun that happened at Fatima? Even atheists whitnessed this and believed.

There are many metaphysical things that even a priest cannot understand. I know an elderly priest who said that he doesn’t understand the mystery of the transubstantiation, when Christ instituted at the last supper.

It is in the Bible, we just need to have FAITH.
  1. I suggest that you read the basics of the faith on the USCCB website.
 
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When an angel told Joseph in a dream that he was “not to be afraid to take Mary into his home, for it was by the Holy Spirit that she had conceived…” was that just a dream, or was it a manifestation of some mental illness.

The question needs be asked, does that which comes to us in dreams and other such spiritual avenues, constitute some perfectly healthy inner consciousness, or are we all just “sick?” Ever heard of deja vu? Happens to me often. Whether saints were suffering from some form of mental illness, cannot be confirmed or denied.
 
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