This could be even more fun if there was other saints than persons, example saint kitts and nevis, saint lucia, more countries and sports teams, towns such as saint petersbourgh etc
St. Kitts is an informal name for St. Christopher. St. Lucia was a Christian martyr. St. Peter is already on the quiz. Pretty much any place name beginning with "saint" or "san" is named for a person.
It's not that they have been canonised. The Latin word "Sanctus" can mean Saint or Holy. Traditionally the Old Testament characters such as Moses would be Holy Moses(!) and the New Testament characters such as Peter would be Saint Peter. We say the Prayer to Saint Michael at the end of Mass but it begins "Holy Michael the Archangel..."
I don't think this is true. The Bible states that Jesus was the son of God, and even if you are not a believer, you should be able to answer it based on literature knowledge.
They weren't exactly married when Mary got pregnant. They were betrothed but living apart - they still had to go through the waiting period, ceremony, and consummation, but it was considered legal and if Joseph wanted to break it off he would have had to divorce her. If memory serves correctly they had the ceremony before Jesus was born, but not the consummation. Not sure where that leaves Joseph - the legal father but not the biological? I doubt that anything in Hebrew law at that time covered virgin birth.
Whatever happened to St. Christopher? Is he still a saint?
Before the 1969 reform of the Roman calendar, Christopher was listed as a martyr who died under Decius. Nothing else is known about him. There are several legends about him including the one in which he was crossing a river when a child asked to be carried across. When Christopher put the child on his shoulders he found the child was unbelievably heavy. The child, according to the legend, was Christ carrying the weight of the whole world. This was what made Christopher patron saint of travelers. His former feast day is July 25.
Before the formal canonization process began in the fifteenth century, many saints were proclaimed by popular approval. This was a much faster process but unfortunately many of the saints so named were based on legends, pagan mythology, or even other religions -- ...
... for example, the story of the Buddha traveled west to Europe and he was "converted" into a Catholic saint! In 1969, the Church took a long look at all the saints on its calendar to see if there was historical evidence that that saint existed and lived a life of holiness. In taking that long look, the Church discovered that there was little proof that many "saints", including some very popular ones, ever lived. Christopher was one of the names that was determined to have a basis mostly in legend. Therefore Christopher (and others) were dropped from the universal calendar.
Some saints were considered so legendary that their cult was completely repressed (including St. Ursula). Christopher's cult was not suppressed but it is confined to local calendars (those for a diocese, country, or so forth).
Sven1010, that is both insulting and plain ignorant. The Catholic Church is well aware of the meaning of the word saint which you describe and agrees with it. The point of canonisation is to indicate to the faithful a few especially holy people who the church declares are definitely in heaven. As we believe in the "communion of saints" it is thus appropriate for the faithful to ask such people to plead their cause. I should know, I'm a cardinal!
Thanks for that information. I was never clear on the Catholic belief about saints. Is there a difference between mediation and intercessory prayer? I'm a United Methodist and although we sometimes call some of the early followers saints and will name churches after them, as you said, we believe all Christians are saints, but we don't canonize or ask special saints to be a mediator. We believe Christ is our only mediator, although we offer intercessory prayer for each other. When we recite the Apostle's Creed it is our understanding we mean we are communing with the whole body of believers, past, present, and future. I don't always understand, but I still believe.
can judas be accepted for jude? They had the same name, and it's only for the purpose of clarification that *some* translations transliterate/transcribe their names differently
Whatever happened to St. Christopher? Is he still a saint?
Before the 1969 reform of the Roman calendar, Christopher was listed as a martyr who died under Decius. Nothing else is known about him. There are several legends about him including the one in which he was crossing a river when a child asked to be carried across. When Christopher put the child on his shoulders he found the child was unbelievably heavy. The child, according to the legend, was Christ carrying the weight of the whole world. This was what made Christopher patron saint of travelers. His former feast day is July 25.
Before the formal canonization process began in the fifteenth century, many saints were proclaimed by popular approval. This was a much faster process but unfortunately many of the saints so named were based on legends, pagan mythology, or even other religions -- ...
Some saints were considered so legendary that their cult was completely repressed (including St. Ursula). Christopher's cult was not suppressed but it is confined to local calendars (those for a diocese, country, or so forth).
(So is everyone else, I just have a special devotion to her.)
Double agent!