Two Questions About Saints

[Silvereel]

I’ve been doing some reading on saints recently, and it has led me to ask several questions.
The legend of Saint Nicholas mentions people praying to him for his intercession. Alright. The only odd thing was, that we discover later that he is not a saint at the time and is still alive? Once they meet him he seems to have no knowledge of them asking for his help, yet he appeared to them in a vision.
It also says that prior to the middle ages there was no actual process to sainthood. So what exactly happened, did people just begin praying to dead martyrs or people who had lived what we might say was a ‘saintly’ life?

 

[DavidFilmer]

The legend of Saint Nicholas mentions people praying to him for his intercession. Alright. The only odd thing was, that we discover later that he is not a saint at the time and is still alive? Once they meet him he seems to have no knowledge of them asking for his help, yet he appeared to them in a vision.

St. Nicholas is one of those very ancient Saints about whom very little reliable information has survived (and I’ve never heard the legend you cite). There are many legends about ancient saints - many surely not true (it is also said that, during a famine, a butcher killed three children, chopped them up and pickled them in a barrel, but St. Nicholas raised them to life by his prayers. hmmmm.)

But I have heard of people having visions of living saints.

It also says that prior to the middle ages there was no actual process to sainthood. So what exactly happened, did people just begin praying to dead martyrs or people who had lived what we might say was a ‘saintly’ life?

Yeah, pretty much. Saints were usually recognized and venerated only within their own Diocese (per the local Bishop). Different Bishops had different criteria and means of recognizing Saints, so there was not a uniform process. Saints were the “local heroes” and honored much in the same fashion as Americans honor George Washington or Abraham Lincoln (who are not widely revered outside the USA).