St. [Insert Name Here] the Great?

[Crystalvalen]

So, a week ago today was the feast day of St. Pope Leo the Great (Pray for us), and it got me thinking: What does it take for us to call a saint “the Great”?

I thought for a while it might just be bestowed on certain Doctors of the Church (Gregory the Great, Leo the Great, Basil the Great), but JPII - or more appropriately John Paul the Great - breaks that mold. It can’t just be a title for popes either; St. Basil was a bishop, but not the Bishop of Rome.

Does anyone have more information on this? Or even a list of saints that we call “the Great”? This one has me stumped.

 

[Joe_5859]

It’s not really an official designation but rather arises out of popular acclaim. I sometimes see Pope St. Nicholas I (not St. Nicholas of Myrna) referred to as St. Nicholas the Great. Otherwise, you have mentioned pretty much all of the other “Greats” that I have ever seen.

A lot of people were moved to refer to JPII as “John Paul the Great” after his death. There is even a Catholic university that adopted that as their name. As to whether or not the moniker “sticks”, that is something that only time will tell.

 

[theyoungmonk]

The only one in the list I think your missing would be St. Gertrude the Great who I believe is the only woman ever accorded the title.(We just had her feast on the 16th of this month if my memory serves). Just from memory I believe a saint would be declared the great principally by longstanding acclamation. If a saint has been generally referred to by that title for a long time then it would “become official” by the Holy Father either formally declaring it or by using the title in reference to the Saint.

 

[powerofk]

And then there’s St. Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus), teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas, and patron of the natural sciences. He was actually proclaimed “the great” while he was still in his mortal body! Seriously.

 

[Nelka]

Interesting.

 

[Joe_5859]

Ah yes, St. Gertrude and St. Albert. I forgot about them. I would add them to “the list” as well.

I just went to the Catholic encyclopedia over at New Advent and did a search for “St. Great” and found a few more.

So, for those keeping track, we have (in chronological order):

St. Basil the Great
St. Leo the Great
St. Gregory the Great
St. Nicholas the Great
St. Vladimir the Great
St. Hugh the Great
St. Albert the Great
St. Gertrude the Great
St. John Paul the Great

As you can see, there’s about a 700 year gap between St. Gertrude and St. John Paul II. So it may take a while before we will know if the popular acclaim remains.