Saints and Saints of the Catholic Church
In the minds of the population, the figures of the saints are people who had a life of charity, virtue and faith, and who throughout their lives were people who considered themselves exemplary Christians and dedicated their lives and works at the service of God, either by seclusion or by the self-sacrifice they earned and the ascent of their spirits to the altars of heaven.
For theologians, any person can be considered a saint, if only they have done good deeds in their society. Those who are Catholic have the belief that the saints are good mediators between them and Jesus Christ, that is, they serve as a means to get good wishes or thanks, to cure illnesses, get a job, a partner, etc.
How the Catholic Saints arise
For the first years of Christianity or primitive Christianity, the saints were known as martyrs, since they were Christians who were executed by the Romans, since they expressed not wanting to abandon their Christian faith. From there arises the veneration of these people, their clothes and any relic that belonged to them. In addition, it was believed that they somehow shared the suffering of Jesus, and therefore had easy access to reach God.
Already in the XNUMXth century, in the midst of a time of great reforms in the Catholic Church, it gave its reaffirmation that it was of the utmost importance to worship those people considered saints, and therefore new movements arose that considered that the only one with the power to intercede with God was Jesus.
How is the proclamation of a Saint made?
For the Catholic Church, any person can be chosen for a canonization process, but the name of this person must first be proposed by the Diocese that is present in the place where he or she has died, so that the initiation process can begin. . In ancient times, the saints were proclaimed by the acclamation of the people, but in order to avoid excesses or mistakes, the Church decided to establish a three-phase process that is used today to determine who should be considered a Saint.
Steps to determine who is a Saint
In the first place, the candidate must be considered a Servant of God, then he is named blessed and finally he is named a saint or canonized. The Bishops are in charge of making all the investigations and investigations of the postulate's life. For this to happen, there must be a popular proclamation of the candidate, where a collection of testimonies and the actions carried out by the candidate is made, in addition to all the evidence that has been documented of what the person has done in the community in question. where he lived, always in the name of God.
Then, in order to be beatified, it must be verified that the candidate has performed a miracle of God, through the intercession of a postulate. Finally, for him to be canonized, a second miracle must be verified, after he has been beatified. Now when a person dies for the faith, no check is made for him to reach sainthood.
Best known and popular saints of the Catholic Church
As we said before, the Catholic Church has a very long list of saints, some of them with a very religious life while they lived, and others who were men and women who knew how to fight before they were considered saints. Many of them have stories that will surprise you.
Taking into account that a saintly person is one who has had a life of virtue, others were only proclaimed by people, since they were considered heroes in their time. In the early years of Christianity, the only person authorized to name a saint was the Pope, and if the martyr was from a locality, the local bishop could do so.
Literally, a saint is a person who has reached heaven and not only includes those that the church has named as such, today they are known as Catholic Saints.
St. Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi is known as the saint who could talk to animals and also the one who could calm wild animals. Many testimonies are known of his ability to speak with animals, but in the Catholic Church he is revered more for his life of extreme poverty, the stigmas that appeared on him and for all the courageous actions he did to solve problems in the church at times of strong crises.
Saint Francis went to the extreme of going to the Arab countries in the year 12019 to achieve the conversion of Muslims and thus be a martyr, since his beliefs and faith were very great. In his hope of achieving many conversions and then being assassinated, an event that almost happened, he was received by Sultan Malek-el-Kamel, in an attempt to make him convert to Catholic, he told him to test his Muslim scholars, to verify which of the two religions was the true one.
This was a trial by fire, and the Sultan's scholars refused to be part of it. So if Saint Francis wanted to enter a burning pit and emerge unscathed, they had to accept that their God had given him the grace of protection, and that this was the one true religion. The Sultan was so impressed by Saint Francis's words and conviction that he allowed him to preach his Christian religion in his country without any restrictions.
The incredible thing is that at that time this country was in a war with the Western Crusaders, which would last for many years, so ultimately this saint was a true man full of protection. Before he died, he asked to be taken to a cabin near the chapel of the Porziuncola, where he died at only 44 years of age on October 3, 1226.
Saint Louis IX
King of France from 1226 to 1270, he is the only French king to have been canonized to date. He was crowned at the age of 12, after the death of his father, King Louis VIII. His Mother was Blanche of Castile, who was under the direction of the kingdom while the child grew to come of age. He participated in two crusades, one at 30 years of age and the other at 50.
The first of his crusades began through the capture of Port Damietta in the year 1249, which later led him to the Battle of Fariskur, where unfortunately his entire army died and he was captured by the Egyptians. He was released when the French crown paid the amount of 400 libres tournois, the currency of France at the time, an amount that in his time was double what France had in income per year and also that the city of Damietta.
During the time he was in battle, this King kept a hair shirt around his legs or waist, this was a kind of chain with many sharp spikes that tightened and caused pain and bleeding. In this way when his soldiers were suffering from being wounded in the bloody battles of the crusade he also suffered pain. He died in the second crusade in which he participated, in the middle of a very bloody battle, after he died the crusades came to an end.
San Jorge
He is a well-known saint, a soldier of Rome in the third century and also a priest of Diocletian's guard, and who is considered a Christian martyr. He is the best-known military saint in the entire West. His upbringing was that of a Christian and at a very young age he wanted to be a Roman soldier. He joins Diocletian's army and came to be considered one of the best. But there came a time when Emperor Diocletian demanded that all his soldiers who were Christians should renounce their faith and follow the pagan religion of Rome.
Jorge refused to do it, they tried to convince him in many ways since he was a good soldier, but his answer was always negative. Faced with so much negativity, Diocletian gave the order to be executed. All the wealth that Jorge had in his lifetime asked that it be given to the poorest people, and it was given to him when he died.
He was tortured several times, lacerated in the wheel of swords, from which he rose three times, to finally be beheaded on the walls of the city of Nicomedia on April 23, 303 after Christ. According to one of his legends, which is what gave him the most fame, was that he killed a dragon, this legend indicates that there was a dragon, some historians believe that it was a crocodile, it was found in a water source in Silene, today the City of Cyrene in Libya, or perhaps the city of Lida.
The people of the city had to make the dragon come out of the nest to be able to drink water from the fountain, every day they did so they gave the dragon a sheep, and if they did not get one then they gave him a young damsel. To choose the latter, a kind of draw was made, until one day she played the lucky number for the princess of the city.
The king asked that his daughter's life be spared, but the people told him no, so they offered her to the dragon, and it was there that Saint George appeared on a journey. He confronted the dragon and made the protection of it with the sign of the cross, kills the dragon and rescues the princess. All the people in the city leave paganism and convert to Christianity.
His usual representation is mounted on a white horse, with medieval-style clothes, carrying a palm, his spear and sword and a shield, which was the standard bearer of the victors, the knight called champion of dragons, which was the symbol of evil. , stepped on with their feet.
St. Ignatius of Loyola
Iñigo de Loyola, was a gentleman from Spain, coming from a Basque family full of nobles, he became a hermit and a priest in the year 1537, he became a theologian and founded the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits where he was named as his first Superior General. As a knight he was in a great number of battles and was not injured until May 20, 1521, when a cannonball struck him in the legs, wounding one and splitting the other.
He was not perturbed, but got up and skipped to the castle. They did surgery without anesthesia, since at that time there was none. A part of his leg bone was cut off and the whole operation was disastrous. One leg was shorter than the other, but he remained alive, in his time of convalescence he read many religious documents, converted to Christianity, founded his Order and from 1537 began to sign all his letters as Ignatius.
Simon the Stylite
This saint born in Sisan, in the north of present-day Syria, was a shepherd from a young age. At the age of 15, he decided to enter a monastery and memorized the 150 psalms of the Bible, and he prayed them in batches of 21 each day. all days. He spent 40 days in a hut without eating or drinking, when he left the hut all the people thought it was a miracle that he was alive.
Many pilgrims went to where he lived to see San Simón, for whom they created pillars to climb on them, higher and higher, the last one he climbed was about 15 meters from the ground, and he lived on that for 37 years without getting off it.
His diet was based on drinking goat's milk and eating bread that the children gave him, he did not let any woman approach him, and in this order he included his mother, and for people to reach him they had to use stairs, to talk to him and listen to their advice and help. With the passing of time, an ulcer formed on his leg, which became infected and festered, which caused his death while standing.
Saint Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc is known as the virgin who came to command the French army in many of the most important battles that occurred in the 100 Years' War, looking for a way to pave the way for the ascent to the throne of King Charles VII. Her cry to go into battle and her soldiers to follow her was "Go ahead, they are ours." In one of these battles she was wounded in the neck with an arrow, but she did not lie down in the hospital for the wounded, but she got up, took out the arrow and continued in the direction of her army.
In another of the battles she was climbing a wall to attack the English army and they hit her in the head with a cannonball, but she did not fall but shook her head and continued climbing the wall. His fighting style was to be 100% on the attack where he managed to destroy the English army wherever he faced him.
The Burgundians took her prisoner, and sold her to the English, a church court tried her and sentenced her to death at the stake at the age of 19. After 25 years of her mother Isabella Romee's death, she asked Pope Calixtus III to do a new investigation of her daughter's case, where the inquisitor declared a mistrial and assured that the poor young woman died like a martyr.
She was canonized 500 years after her death, but not because of the popular belief that she was a saint, since she never dressed like a man in life, but always wore a dress and armor on top of it.
Saint Vladimir of kyiv
Although this man who was considered a saint may not believe it, he came to have several wives, hundreds of concubines and so many children that he never knew how many they were, in addition to having a large army of pagans. He was the prince of kyiv, and he became a Christian in 988, but you should also know that before his conversion he was a very bad man.
In the year 980 he began to conquer lands, murdering people, partying and having children with as many women as he wanted. Being a pagan he came to participate in human sacrifice, just as he did in the year 983 when he offered many human lives to his gods.
They took a young man named Loann, son of a Christian named Fyodor, his father did not accept that his son was sacrificed and tried to teach them that their faith was not useful, since their gods were only wood, which at that time were there, but that later they were going to rot.
He told them that their gods did not eat or drink, did not speak and that they had been made by themselves, and that the only truth is that there was only one true God. Worshiped by the Greeks and the sole creator of heaven and earth, he also told them that his gods had not created anything and therefore would not give his son to his demons.
His fervent speech caused a sensation in Vladimir, who for several years considered converting to Christianity, until he finally decided. After converting, he became a very kind man and a great leader. They began to call him Vladimir the Great, a man with a new life that was nothing like what he had lived years before. He finally died in Berestovo, very close to kyiv, and since he had managed to found many sacred foundations, he ordered that his body be dismembered and divided among them to be venerated as relics.
Saint Moses the Black
This was a slave of a high Egyptian official, who got rid of him for theft and suspicion of being a murderer. Once out of his master he came to lead a band of robbers who roamed the entire Nile Valley, they were greatly feared for their violence. He was a very tall and imposing man. In one of the robberies he did he was seen by a person, which bothered him, and the next day he swam across the Nile to look for the man and kill him, but when he got home he had left since they had told him what bad that Moses was.
Since he did not find it, he then killed four sheep that were there, put the knife in his mouth and swam back across the Nile. The guards began to chase him but he hides in a monastery. The local monks began to talk to him, until he decided to convert to Christianity and became a monk.
A few years later a group of thieves tried to rob the monastery, but he found them and finished them off, he dragged the bodies, covered in blood, to the Superior monk and asked him what he should do, but the latter told him to forgive them and let them go far away, the thieves were surprised, asked for forgiveness, and also decided to convert and become monks.
Moses died when he was attacked by warriors in the monastery when he was 75 years old, but before he died he helped 70 monks to escape with their lives. He made the decision to stay with other monks to fight and get the others to safety. His relics are found in the Paromeos Monastery in northern Egypt.
Saint Longinus
He was a Roman soldier in the city of Caesarea. He was fighting with Roman friends and ended up coming to Jerusalem, helping with various tasks that he could participate in, since he was a bit blind. A task that helped him change his life happened when he was sent to help the soldiers at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. Like all Roman soldiers, his work was always done seriously and correctly, in order to secure a promotion, so they entrusted him with his spear to pierce the chest of Jesus who was on the cross.
In other words, he was the one who stabbed God, from this wound water and blood gushed out which fell on Longinus' face, especially in his eyes, he immediately recovered his vision and it was he who said, "Truly this was the son of God." God”, this phrase is in the Gospel of Saint Mark 15:39. Unexpectedly he left the Roman army and decided to convert and follow the new Christian faith, and become another of his disciples.
Shortly after he was arrested for being one of the followers of Christ, his teeth were pulled out and his tongue was cut out, but he continued to speak very clearly and destroyed some images of Roman idols in front of the governor of the area, who finally ordered him to to behead His relics were kept and today are in the Church of St. Augustine in Rome.
The alleged spear said to have been used to pierce Jesus's chest is found in Rome, on one of the pillars at the altar of St. Peter's Basilica. This spear was the subject of much interest in the Middle Ages and was associated with the legend of the Holy Grail. It was said to hold great power, to the point of being nicknamed the Spear of Destiny.
Santa Quiteria
Saint Quiteria is said to have been one of nine sisters born at the same time. Her mother was a woman from high society, who was overwhelmed that she had 9 daughters in a single birth, and that she had not had a son who were more valuable for marriages. She was so upset that she sent a nurse to take them and throw them into the river to drown.
The nurse not only ignored her but took them all to another town so they could grow up together, but as they grew they ended up becoming a band of warriors. They were all raised in the Christian religion, they were good and helped the Christians who were imprisoned, they did this work for years, in addition to destroying Roman idols.
They were captured and taken to their father, who recognized them. He told them they should marry good pagan Romans, but they all refused and eventually ran away. At this point, a real war against the Roman Empire began. Little by little, they were murdered. When Quiteria was captured, she was with her sisters Marina and Liberata; Quiteria was beheaded. All were declared saints. In their prints and images, they appear with a cut throat, chains, and a sword or knife, to refer to their martyrdom, in addition to holding a palm branch. In others, a lily has been placed on her as a symbol of her virginity.
Main Saints of Latin America
Latin America does not escape having a great faith and devotion in Catholic saints, since its population is approximately 65% in this religion, most of these saints came through the Spanish colonization, and among the most revered Catholic saints in Latin America. we have the following:
San Juan Bautista
He was the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, the cousin of the Virgin Mary, whom she visited when she was pregnant. When he became an adult, John began to apply baptism in the Jordan River to all those who wanted to convert and have their sins forgiven. Through his message he paved the way for the life of Jesus as the Messiah announced by God, and in fact it was he himself who baptized Jesus in the waters of the Jordan, his feast date is June 24, every year.
Santo Domingo
His name was Domingo de Guzmán, and he was the one who founded the order of Preachers or Dominicans. According to his story, it is said that he was able to witness an apparition of the Virgin in which she taught him how to pray her rosary, spreading it throughout his life, his saint is celebrated on August 8, every year.
St. Rose of Lima
She is the first Catholic saint born in America, she is the patron saint of Peru, its capital Lima and many other regions of Latin America, she integrates the various social classes that existed in her time, her holiday is August 23.
San Antonio
He is called the saint of purity, of lost things and objects and of marriages, his feast is held every June 13. One of the strongest devotions that is done is to turn it upside down and pray for it to find a boyfriend or partner. Saint Anthony is born in Lisbon in the year 1195. He was ordained as a Franciscan father, and began to preach in France and Italy, he died at the age of 36 years. His remains were exhumed years after his death and his tongue remained uncorrupted, and to this day he has been preserved and venerated within a reliquary, in the city of Padua.
Our Lady of Fatima
His party is held on May 13. In 1917, Pope Benedict XV called for a chain of prayer to the Virgin Mary to be an intercessor in the First World War. Eight days after her convocation, the Virgin appears to the children Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia, in the city of Fátima in Portugal. She asked the children to go to that place for six months in a row, on the 8th at the same time and that she would be there, to later tell her who she was and what she wanted and that later she would return a seventh time.
On the third occasion that he appears, he told Lucia a great secret that consisted of three parts and that a chapel for her should be built on that site. The secrets were revealed little by little. Francisco and Jacinta, who were brothers, died a short time later due to a plague, and Lucia joined an order of nuns and died very old. Her devotion came to Latin America through the Portuguese migration, which came from Europe due to the events of the world wars.
Saint Jude Thaddeus
His party is held on October 28 and he is considered the patron saint of lost and desperate causes, he was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus of Nazareth. It is believed that he died being martyred at the point of blows from spears, axes and stones in the year 70 after Christ.
Nuestra Señora del Rosario
She is patron saint in Colombia and Guatemala whose holidays are July 9 and October 7, respectively. In Colombia she became her patron saint since her image miraculously appeared on a canvas, which over the years faded until it became a blur, the story says that a woman prayed desperately for the canvas to recover its color, which which happened In Guatemala, the devotion came from Bishop Francisco Marroquín.
San Benito
The feast of this saint is on April 4 of each year. This was a monk of Sicilian origin, who is called the patron saint of American Afro-descendants, his body after being exhumed was found completely incorrupt for which he was canonized.
Our Lady of Guadalupe
This virgin is celebrated on December 12, whose main center of devotion is in Mexico, but from there it spread to various Latin American countries. The Virgin appeared in this Marian invocation on four occasions to the Mexican Indian Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, and on all those occasions she asked him to take her before the Bishop of Mexico. The Indian agreed to take her and her image was embodied in the ruana, which he took to the bishop, today she is known as the Brown Virgin and her features, unlike other invocations of hers, are completely mestizo.
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