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Saints are often used as a way to denigrate the Catholic
faith with claims that we worship statues and images. This is of course, not
true. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches this here:
As Catholics we venerate the lives of Saints, and pray
asking for their intercessory prayer, as we would ask a friend to pray for us.
The only difference is one is alive, and the prayer request can be made
directly via word, letter, or email or other type of message, and a Saint has been dead for some time and is believed to be in
Heaven with God and our Lord Jesus, and the prayer is the method of making the
request.
Saints are not just created or selected randomly. These Saints are
people who lived their lives and died in their faith. Their lives were examples
for us of piety, purity, humility, love, loyalty, devotion, charity, faith, and
hope. Many, I’d dare say most,
were martyred for their faith.
Current methods for Sainthood require the person’s name be presented as a candidate for
Sainthood and a cause is opened for examination. Many steps are required and it
sometimes takes years, decades even, for the person to be Beatified, now they
are called Blessed, which is required before final Sainthood. There must be a
verified miracle (see Lk 10:8-9, Acts 5:12, 2 Cor. 12:12) attributed to the person’s intersession before Beatification,
and then another verified miracle to be elevated to Sainthood. There is an
investigation that some could say is more detailed than that required to convict a
murderer.
When I was confirmed in the Catholic Church, I chose a name of a Saint to be my
Patron Saint throughout my life. When I chose St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, I was
not truly familiar with her, I chose her, because her name was close to my best
friend and sponsor’s name. Little did I know, the Holy Spirit was involved, as
this Saint is truly a spiritual example of how I have wanted to live my life.
My name means “one close to God”. I always wanted to live a
life that was close to God, despite times when it was hard to do.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first American born person to
attain Sainthood. Her early life was spent in caring for the poor and sick in
New York City. After losing her husband to tuberculosis in Italy, where they
had gone for his health, she an Episcopalian became interested in the Catholic
faith and spent time with her husbands’ Catholic relatives and began her faith
formation. Upon returning to America, she converted to the Catholic faith and
established the first FREE Catholic school for poor children. She also formed
the first Sisterhood in America.
When I was a child, I wanted to become a teacher and would
have “play” school with the neighbor kids that I baby-sat for on occasion. My
adult life I have worked in fields dedicated to helping people with various
consumer needs. But most recently, I have answered the call to Evangelize and
am part of the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) team at my
church. It occurred to me recently that I chose the Saint most relevant to my
life without even knowing it!
Do you have a Saint to show you how to live? , one that you
can “identify” with?
You can learn about lives of the Saints, the popular Saints,
and the less known Saints, on this website: http://catholic.org/saints/
Some of my favorites are St. Polycarp, St. Ignatius of
Loyola, St. Bernadette of Lourdes, and hopefully soon to be Saints, Blessed Padre Pio, Blessed Mother
Teresa, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassatti, and Blessed John Paul the Great.
There are many books dedicated to many of the Saints
available from Lighthouse Catholic Media Store, and many other sites, some listed in the links on my home page.
I highly recommend reading about the Saints, for historical
reasons, and faith reasons. Perhaps you’ll find someone that inspires you?
Blessings,
The Catholic Lady ©
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