Where to find Church-approved information on saints?

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EIF5A

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Is there a database for information on saints? (e.g., their lives, theological interpretation of writings, miracles attributed to them, etc)

Where does one do research on a saint without being forced to Google them and potentially finding false information?

For instance, I do not want to find New Agers reflecting on Hildegard von Bingen.
 
EIF5A said:
Is there a database for information on saints? (e.g., their lives, theological interpretation of writings, miracles attributed to them, etc)

Where does one do research on a saint without being forced to Google them and potentially finding false information?

For instance, I do not want to find New Agers reflecting on Hildegard von Bingen.
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You can start here - newadvent.org/cathen/11562a.htm
and search by each saint’s name.

Peace!!!
 
There is no sort of dogmatically official compendium of the lives of the saints. But there are good resources out there.

As adf417 said, the Old Catholic Encyclopedia is a great source. They won’t have info on the newer saints, but it’s great for info on the older saints.

saints.SQPN.com is a fairly good online storehouse of info on the saints. Some of their info is rather sparse, though, depending on the saint (but that’s largely because some of history’s info on certain saints is pretty sparse).

Of course, if you want to go with print resources, Butler’s Lives of the Saints is usually put forth as the gold standard. I just looked and it appears they do have this work online as well: sacred-texts.com/chr/lots/. But as it’s the 1894 edition, they don’t have any of the more recent saints either. There are more recent editions in print that include the more recent canonizations.
 
I am not sure what you mean by “Church-approved”. Butler’s Lives of Saints is a book with an Imprimatur. It is very extensive (over 1000 pages).
 
Yes, I would also recommend Butler’s "Lives of the Saints’, solid documentation. Also you can begin to see a consistency of tradition of faith and practice that is provided with apostolic succession through different eras of faith.

True spirituality is based on the spirit of self-renunciation, the Cross, and almsgiving, living simply, trusting in God alone.

The saints provide us many charisms, where we have our own favorites we can relate to, that manifest God in a most personal way to us. I got more out of understanding my Catholic faith in parochial school by the love Christ has for us and the living testimony of Christ’s death and resurrection in the saints.
 
Thank you for those links.

I was specifically interested in St. Catherine of Siena and her “The Dialogue”. I have yet to find an authoritative opinion as to whether God actually spoke directly to her and she wrote those dialogues down or she used a conversation with God as a literary device to transmit theological points.

Sometime back, I read a speech(?) by a pope talking about her, but no mention as to whether the Church believes that she directly communicated with God in a trance-like state.

I ask because I’ve been enriched by her writing and I’d like to know the Church’s official stance. There are some theological expositions about certain Bible verses and various metaphors (can’t think of a better word) that aren’t new per se, but hey, if God spoke to her and she wrote those down, then I’d feel inclined to believe what she wrote.

Since she’s a doctor of the Church, I thought perhaps somewhere out there in the past, a theologian or someone with authority would determine her “canonicity” (again, can’t think of a better word).
 
EIF5A said:
Thank you for those links.

I was specifically interested in St. Catherine of Siena and her “The Dialogue”. I have yet to find an authoritative opinion as to whether God actually spoke directly to her and she wrote those dialogues down or she used a conversation with God as a literary device to transmit theological points.

Sometime back, I read a speech(?) by a pope talking about her, but no mention as to whether the Church believes that she directly communicated with God in a trance-like state.

I ask because I’ve been enriched by her writing and I’d like to know the Church’s official stance. There are some theological expositions about certain Bible verses and various metaphors (can’t think of a better word) that aren’t new per se, but hey, if God spoke to her and she wrote those down, then I’d feel inclined to believe what she wrote.

Since she’s a doctor of the Church, I thought perhaps somewhere out there in the past, a theologian or someone with authority would determine her “canonicity” (again, can’t think of a better word).
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As that would fall under “private revelation”, those rules would apply. The Church never adds such things to the “canon” because public revelation ceased with the death of the last apostle.

See the Catechism:

CCC 67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called “private” revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.

Christian faith cannot accept “revelations” that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such “revelations”.

So the strongest affirmation you’re going to find is that it does not contradict revelation and is worthy of belief.

Whether she was dictating a vision verbatim or using the conversation with God as a literary device doesn’t change a thing for me. 🤷 Her writing wouldn’t somehow be more authoritative if it was dictated to her. It would still rank below Scripture and magisterial teaching.
 
Joe_5859 said:
Whether she was dictating a vision verbatim or using the conversation with God as a literary device doesn’t change a thing for me. 🤷 Her writing wouldn’t somehow be more authoritative if it was dictated to her. It would still rank below Scripture and magisterial teaching.
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In this particular case, I’m interested to know if the Magisterium has concluded whether she directly received revelations from God because if she did, then God appears to be affirming the papacy, almsgiving, purgatory, and etc. There are also sections about different types of tears, how the soul progresses from slavish fear to love, etc. Again, nothing that appears to contradict Scripture, but some Scriptural verses are expounded upon (e.g., “when two or three are gathered”).

In my search for whether I should join the Catholic Church or Orthodox Church, if I believe that what she writes has divine origin, then that’s something to consider…especially the part about the Pope.
 
EIF5A said:
In this particular case, I’m interested to know if the Magisterium has concluded whether she directly received revelations from God because if she did, then God appears to be affirming the papacy, almsgiving, purgatory, and etc. There are also sections about different types of tears, how the soul progresses from slavish fear to love, etc. Again, nothing that appears to contradict Scripture, but some Scriptural verses are expounded upon (e.g., “when two or three are gathered”).

In my search for whether I should join the Catholic Church or Orthodox Church, if I believe that what she writes has divine origin, then that’s something to consider…especially the part about the Pope.
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Pope Paul VI did give Catherine the title of Doctor of the Church in 1970… Just sayin
 
Hi EIF5A,

I deeply appreciate your concern for objective, documented, authentic teachings that draw us deeper into the mystery of Christ.

Yes, there are degrees of truth. That is why we need our bishop and theologians in communion with the bishop and pope to affirm that shared theological reflections actually reflect the authentic faith – in Church – as part of true religion, “religio” means in Latin to bind, and Christ’s authentic teachings are binding in the Church.

The first degree of truth is found in the interpreter, and that is the Church herself speaking through the Councils. Now there was misinterpretations of Vatican II that are not completely resolved in the liturgy. Pope Benedict wanted the work defining liturgy to be done, as well as American cardinals commenting on this concern just prior to the election of Pope Francis.

The second degree of truth is found in the universal Catholic catechism.

The third degree of truth is found in papal decrees – in union with the bishops – whose construct of thought, belief, practice is the same continuity since the beginning of the Church…this is our communion of faith, our Christian brotherhood.

We then have the papal encyclicals and all these do not carry the same weight of truth, so we depend on our local bishop to provide us the context of various encyclicals.

When a theologian is made a doctor of the Church, his/her contributions carry alot of weight…but — they are not complete on their own. Many who have an adversarial perspective of the Catholic Church either pick out comments of St. Augustine they think affirm their division, or use the same to keep themselves out of the Church.

We never look at one person, only Jesus Christ, but defined by those who knew Him – the apostles, and their chosen successors and approved teachers.

St. Catherine of Siena is a doctor of the Church and her great work was addressing the schism of the Church in regards to which ecclesiastic was truly called to be pope. And she gives us mystical understanding of the integrity of the priesthood and sacraments. She provides much understanding of the sacred anointing of the priesthood – inspite of individual or ecclesial corruption – we must always respect the sacrament of Holy Orders because Jesus ministers through it. It helped me understand the Church’s great hesitation in turning over criminal priests to civil authorities.

In times past, the Vatican had its own prison for priests who committed crimes, and they were very severe places of punishment. The encroachment of the world into the Church, along with the crimes of priests who probably did not have an authentic calling to the priesthod, caused alot of confusion and upset among Catholics.

In her ‘Dialogues’, you will find a most profound personal relationship with Jesus. You will study the walk of perfection – purgative, illuminative, unitive, and how all these different levels of grace can exist in one single soul, in her walk to the Heavenly Father through the Crucified Lord. In it, you will also see the grace of embracing the Cross, and help you deal with the sorrows of life, to bring you into greater union with Christ, where suffering becomes sweet and you hunger more and more for the conversion of souls to Our Blessed Savior.

So her great work is helping the Church come into proper communion with the right pope, and personal communion with our Lord, and greater understanding of Him and ourselves.

You can be at peace that when someone is declared a doctor of the Church, you can go forward in their reflections. Just remember that each one, each saint, has a particular charism to share with the Church, but that the true fruit must always be the True Jesus, True God and True Man Who is calling us to communion with Him, and not pride, division, and self-righteousness.
 
Hi KathleenGee,

Thanks for the response.

I thought “The Dialogue” was in a unique category because of her claim that she received revelations directly from God (written and quoted as if God Himself spoke).

Just curious if the Church believes God literally, directly spoke to her.

She writes that God says He loves her unspeakably much. If God did not speak to her, then that would seem kind of presumptuous to write, no?

I realize her book is not above Scripture, but there was nothing that contradicted Scripture. Jesus and God the Father are one, God being the sea of peace and Jesus being the door, with the door and the sea being in continuum.

The book also mentions in some parts the Desert Fathers, which I tend to associate with the Orthodox Church, although they were before the schism. I found that interesting as well.

If nothing else, I felt convicted of my sins and increased my desire to love my neighbors and act charitably (which is quite difficult).

Another part I found interesting was that (and I’m paraphrasing) God (appears to have) said those who show devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary will not be taken by the demons. I think it was one of the few places where Mary was actually mentioned, although nothing about queen of heaven or anything like that.
 
=EIF5A;10908044]Is there a database for information on saints? (e.g., their lives, theological interpretation of writings, miracles attributed to them, etc)
Click to expand...
Where does one do research on a saint without being forced to Google them and potentially finding false information?
Click to expand...
For instance, I do not want to find New Agers reflecting on Hildegard von Bingen.
Click to expand...
GO to:
www.newadvent.com

under “S” and also under the names of the Saint your looking for:)
 
Catherine was a most special union with our Lord, that He would speak through her.

She was chosen by Him when she was very young and became learned through the Holy Spirit. She was the youngest of 22 children, and often times in those days in Europe, the youngest was consecrated to God. St Hildegard of Bingen was the youngest of 10 and was sent to live with an anchoress at an early age.

Catherine’s bio reveals she was quite extraordinary, and was learning early on the walk in the Lord.

You should go ahead and read her as ‘The Dialogues’ are quite sober and very illuminating and instructive, and if I recall properly, she does come through with her own humanity and observations. It will be clear to you when she is speaking through the Holy Spirit and when she is speaking from herself.

St. Theresa of Avila was brought before the Inquisition representatives, and was always apologizing herself about being a woman, and always careful to point out these were her observations and the Church most welcomed to review them.
 
KathleenGee said:
Catherine was a most special union with our Lord, that He would speak through her.

She was chosen by Him when she was very young and became learned through the Holy Spirit. She was the youngest of 22 children, and often times in those days in Europe, the youngest was consecrated to God. St Hildegard of Bingen was the youngest of 10 and was sent to live with an anchoress at an early age.

Catherine’s bio reveals she was quite extraordinary, and was learning early on the walk in the Lord.

You should go ahead and read her as ‘The Dialogues’ are quite sober and very illuminating and instructive, and if I recall properly, she does come through with her own humanity and observations. It will be clear to you when she is speaking through the Holy Spirit and when she is speaking from herself.

St. Theresa of Avila was brought before the Inquisition representatives, and was always apologizing herself about being a woman, and always careful to point out these were her observations and the Church most welcomed to review them.
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St. Hildegard’s letters were the first Catholic writings I’ve read…I think. (Found it at a local bookstore)

Then I bought “The Dialogue” after reading a user comment on Amazon.

Last night, I found an article by an Orthodox person about how (some in) the Orthodox Church doesn’t view St. Catherine as a saint but that she was under some sort of delusion or prelast. I think they said the same thing about Sts. Theresa of Avila and Therese of Liseux as well. Apparently they weren’t humble enough about them being unworthy or something like that. 😊:confused:
 
EIF5A said:
St. Hildegard’s letters were the first Catholic writings I’ve read…I think. (Found it at a local bookstore)

Then I bought “The Dialogue” after reading a user comment on Amazon.

Last night, I found an article by an Orthodox person about how (some in) the Orthodox Church doesn’t view St. Catherine as a saint but that she was under some sort of delusion or prelast. I think they said the same thing about Sts. Theresa of Avila and Therese of Liseux as well. Apparently they weren’t humble enough about them being unworthy or something like that. 😊:confused:
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For the life of me, I have not come across any in the CC say something derogatory about any Orthodox saint.

What is the purpose of some of these OC who come up with criticisms like this…“Apparently they weren’t humble enough about them being unworthy or something like tha”?

Who are they to make such a judgement? Can they say they are more humble, more holy, more saintly than St. Catherine? or Teresa of Avila? of Francis of Assisi? of St. Claire?
 
pablope said:
For the life of me, I have not come across any in the CC say something derogatory about any Orthodox saint.

What is the purpose of some of these OC who come up with criticisms like this…“Apparently they weren’t humble enough about them being unworthy or something like tha”?

Who are they to make such a judgement? Can they say they are more humble, more holy, more saintly than St. Catherine? or Teresa of Avila? of Francis of Assisi? of St. Claire?
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One of the claims was that Francis of Assisi displayed humility in public to be seen by people. And that his preaching to animals was…abnormal.

It seems that in the East, one is not allowed to have even an iota of feeling of worth and dignity because that’s not true humility. Hence the great emphasis on the ideal of monasticism and always realizing that one is an unworthy sinner.

Which is true. We are all great sinners, but God loves/d us enough to redeem us…so insofar as we are tceated in the image of God, we have dignity in that regard…dignity we can lose by living in sin.

Below is the article I mentioned.

johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/12/delusions-of-catholic-mystics.html (Warning: not so positive about Catholic saints)

I have no idea whom to believe. :o
 
EIF5A said:
One of the claims was that Francis of Assisi displayed humility in public to be seen by people. And that his preaching to animals was…abnormal.

It seems that in the East, one is not allowed to have even an iota of feeling of worth and dignity because that’s not true humility. Hence the great emphasis on the ideal of monasticism and always realizing that one is an unworthy sinner.

Which is true. We are all great sinners, but God loves/d us enough to redeem us…so insofar as we are tceated in the image of God, we have dignity in that regard…dignity we can lose by living in sin.

Below is the article I mentioned.

johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/12/delusions-of-catholic-mystics.html (Warning: not so positive about Catholic saints)

I have no idea whom to believe. :o
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I checked the article…and really?( Seems like the author is a know it all and is an authority on saintliness)…One of the major pillars of Catholic sanctity is St. Francis of Assisi (thirteenth century). His spiritual self-awareness is sufficiently clearly revealed from the following facts. One day, St. Francis prayed very long (the subject of his prayer is extraordinarily telling) “about two mercies.” “The first is that I … could … experience all the sufferings that You, Sweetest Jesus, experienced in Your torturous passion. The second mercy … is that … I might feel … that boundless love with which You, the Son of God, burned.” As we see, St. Francis was not troubled by a feeling of his own sinfulness, as all saints are; clearly seen here is his open pretension to equality with Christ in His sufferings and His love! During this prayer, St. Francis “felt himself completely become Jesus,” and something happened to him that had never before happened in the history of the Church: painful, bleeding wounds (stigmata) appeared on him—the marks of “Jesus’ sufferings.”[1]

St. Francis prayed for the stigmata so that he himself could feel what Jesus suffered…so where did St. Francis say he is equal to Jesus?

And taking qoutes out of context?
I have no idea whom to believe
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Here is a book I would recommend…the Perfect Joy of St. Francis…and see for yourself.

amazon.com/Perfect-Joy-Saint-Francis/dp/0898706661

feastofsaints.com/perfectjoy.htm

And if later, suffering intensely from hunger and the painful cold, with night falling, we still knock and call, and crying loudly beg them to open for us and let us come in for the love of God, and he grows still more angry and says: ‘Those fellows are bold and shameless ruffians. I’ll give them what they deserve.’ And he comes out with a knotty club, and grasping us by the cowl throws us onto the ground, rolling us in the mud and snow, and beats us with that club so much that he covers our bodies with wounds–if we endure all those evils and insults and blows with joy and patience, reflecting that we must accept and bear the sufferings of the Blessed Christ patiently for love of Him, oh, Brother Leo, write: that is perfect joy!

'And now hear the conclusion, Brother Leo. Above all the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ gives to His friends is that of conquering oneself and willingly enduring sufferings, insults, humiliations, and hardships for the love of Christ. For we cannot glory in all those other marvelous gifts of God, as they are not ours but God’s, as the Apostle says: ‘What have you that you have not received?’ But we can glory in the cross of tribulations and afflictions, because that is ours, and so the Apostle says: ‘I will not glory save in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.’"
 
Techno2000 said:
angelfire.com/ca3/rafaelmarie/ThePieta/athepieta.html
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Hello,

In one of the links is a prayer to St. Joseph that is said to be 1900 years old. Is there a source for that and do you know who wrote the prayer?

I did read that St. Hildegard said prayers to St. Joseph were helpful for her and that we should pray to him for intercession.

On a related note, is there a reason why prayers are said to be repeated a certain number of times? Is this to inspire constancy and humility?

Also, do I need an icon for a saint to pray to them or can I just think/speak the saint’s name?

(Sorry, not at all familiar with praying to saints in heaven.)
 
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