I used to think only extremely few people could be Beatificated as saints.

-- Critian_Feng (marcus_feng@yahoo.com.cn), October 14, 2003

Answers

Well the goal is for all of us to be saints -- even Beatified or Cannonized saints -- right?

Remember the Church has been around for roughly 2000 years. Considering the number of saints in the typical "Lives of the Saints" even though that book may be incomplete, all the hundreds of saints in there are still relatively few in number compared to the number of Catholics there have ever been! They are, so to speak, the "select few" whom God uses to further His glory by working miracles through their intercession and so forth.

I don't know exactly how it's done today, but the Beatification and/or Cannonization process used to be very stringent. There had to be at least three documented miracles attributed to the possibl- saint after her or his death; there had to be someone called a Devil's Advocate that was arguing with might and main AGAINST the beatification/cannonization; usually the body was exumed to see whether or not it was incorrupt; and so on . . . like I said, I don't know how it happens today. Vatican II, and the popes of that council and afterwards, made things comparatively easy to be beatified. I noticed earliear that some on this forum are calling Mother Teresa a saint, and I believe she has not even been Beatified. Am I correct?

-- Psyche +AMDG+ (psychicquill@yahoo.com), October 14, 2003.

I believe that she is to be beatified this Sunday, October 19, 2003.

Carolyn

-- Carolyn (ck_sunshine@hotmail.com), October 14, 2003.

I am 11 years old. I always thought that a saint was anyone who was faithful in Christ. I don't understand this whole process called "beatification". Why would a Godly person need a process to prove whether or not they were a saint? Is it more for the people who remain on earth, or as an award to say nice work while you were here? Also, I was wondering why people pray to the saints, when it says in the bible that only God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are to be prayed to.

If Mother Teresa walked the path of God, she is a saint whether anyone votes her as one or not. I think there are many saints because there are many who believe in Jesus Christ, and it doesn't matter if only 10 people know about them or a million because God knows and that's what matters.

-- Tyler Kay (simgolfkid@earthlink.net), October 23, 2003.

Dear Tyler,

Everyone who is in heaven is a saint. Only a tiny percentage of these holy men and women have been canonized by the Church (beatification is a step on the way to canonization). This is not something the saint needs. Indeed, canonization doesn't change that person's life in any way. They are already in heaven with God! Nothing we do on earth could make their lives any better. Canonization does not "make" a person a saint. Rather, it officially acknowledges that a particular person is in heaven, is saved, is a saint. Such a declaration is for our benefit, not for the saint's benefit.

The Bible does not say that we are to pray only to God. It says that we are to WORSHIP God alone - and so does the Catholic Church! Everything that is in the Bible was taught by the Catholic Church even before the Bible existed. That's how it got into the Bible in the first place. The Bible was assembled by a Council of Catholic bishops at the end of the 4th century, and as you might expect, they didn't include any writings that were contrary to Catholic teaching. Therefore there cannot be any conflict between the teaching of the Catholic Church and the contents of the book it compiled. Praying simply means "asking". That is very different from worship! Surely you ask other people to pray for you? Is there some reason why we should stop asking people to pray for us once they are in heaven, seeing God face to face? Seems like they would be in an ideal position to pray for us then, don't you think? We worship God alone, but we can ask anyone to pray for us.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), October 23, 2003.

You're smart, Tyler.

Never become a Protestant (half-truth).

Always Stick with the Holy Catholic Church (Full Truth).

-- james (elgreco1541@hotmail.com), October 24, 2003.

I am 11 years old.

dear tyler, youre not really eleven years old. you spell better than most seventeen year olds, and your reading level is higher national average. if youre going to pretend to be eleven, you have to pretend to be uneducated.

-- paul h (dontSendMeMail@notAnAddress.com), October 24, 2003.