Saints

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revnash

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Can anyone tell me why there are only small proportion of Saints that are celebrated within the Roman Catholic church when there are so many Saints that have been given Saint status by the Roman Catholic church. To give an example, I have not seen any Holy pictures or churches named in England after St Paula St Zita St Flora St Hope, St Faith St Charity, there are many more I could mention.
Can anyone advise me please
God Bless
 
revnash said:
Can anyone tell me why there are only small proportion of Saints that are celebrated within the Roman Catholic church when there are so many Saints that have been given Saint status by the Roman Catholic church. To give an example, I have not seen any Holy pictures or churches named in England after St Paula St Zita St Flora St Hope, St Faith St Charity, there are many more I could mention.
Can anyone advise me please
God Bless
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EVERY saint - all 10,000 of them, is celebrated - they all have feast days, for one thing.

As for saints who have churches named after them - firstly, just because you haven’t seen them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. The old cathedral in Los Angeles, for example, was named after St Vibiana, who wouldn’t be a greatly known saint.

In my archdiocese we have a St Mel (Melcho), St Felix de Valois, St Fiacre and St Philip Howard, none of whom are high on the popularity scales as far as Saints go.

As for naming them - I don’t even know who it would be who would decide which saint a church is named after, so can’t help you I’m afraid.🤷
 
Lhhs said:
I don’t know that that premise is actually true. 🤷
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Hmm…the Patron Saints Index lists the feast days of each of the the saints listed there, but I haven’t seen an actual calendar that lists several saints for one day…perhaps there’s a closet hagiographer hanging around on this board who may have a resource…?
 
Saints are all celebrated by the Church with a feast day. But, the popular devotion is something that comes down to how the laity feels, and there’s really nothing wrong with that. Some saints are barely known - there may not be much written about them except that somebody by a certain name was martyred. Some saints are more important in some areas than in others. Many saints just happen to really, really appeal to people. St. Anthony, St. Francis, St. Therese of Liseaux, are very appealing saints for all sorts of reasons. Some saints are known for being particularly reliable for their intercessions, or they’re associated with a particular common situation like cancer or difficult marriages. The great thing about having so many saints is that you can read about them and discover them and make “new” friends all the time. 🙂
 
revnash said:
Can anyone tell me why there are only small proportion of Saints that are celebrated within the Roman Catholic church when there are so many Saints that have been given Saint status by the Roman Catholic church. To give an example, I have not seen any Holy pictures or churches named in England after St Paula St Zita St Flora St Hope, St Faith St Charity, there are many more I could mention.
Can anyone advise me please
God Bless
Click to expand...

Saints such as the canonised English & Welsh martyrs have a connection with English & Welsh history. So do many others, including Saints of foreign origin, such as Theodore of Tarsus, Augustine of Canterbury, Gregory the Great, & many others (including St. George).​

Many more have no connection to either country, & have no history of devotion - which is why many of them are honoured elsewhere: there is no more reason for Zita of Lucca to be important in England & Wales than for St. Constantine, King & Martyr to be honoured in England or Italy, as he is a 10th-century Scottish king; and is rather obscure compared to some other Saints.

Besides, the Universal Calendar has room only for about 200 feasts of Saints - many are honoured in various religious orders or similar societies. The UC of the Roman Rite has to avoid being overloaded with Saints, so that its shape won’t be obscured. So there are two overlapping cycles in the UC:
  • that based on the succession of the liturgical seasons, from Advent to Advent, which includes Ordinary Time
  • that based on the Sanctoral Cycle, which is the succession of feasts of various importance which recall the Saints (other than the BVM).
    Many Saints have no feast-day proper to them; they are commemorated with the rest on All Saints’ Day. Many Saints are known by name & nothing more.
Hope that helps
 
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