In the Christian faith who is a saint? The English dictionary defines a ‘saint’ as ‘a holy person, one eminent for virtue’. To our lay minds who is a holy person, a person of virtue? Anyone who lives the teachings of his religion, who professes love for God and his fellowmen and lives it is a holy or virtuous person.
As children we used to read short narrations of the lives of Christian saints. Some of them came from affluent or royal families but showed great love for the poor. Some even from a very early age dedicated their lives to God. Some underwent persecution. Some were even killed and martyred for their faith. Some became Saints by doing just the ordinary everyday things in an extraordinary way. These stories were inspirational. They also made you want to emulate the lives of these saints. We would end up asking ourselves, “If they could do it, why can we not do likewise?”
Father Jose Vaz, Father Agnelo and Mother Teresa are preached about, written about and venerated not only by the Christians, but by people of other faiths as well. People pray to them in their times of need and distress. People also give witness when their prayers are answered.
The purpose of the canonization for sainthood to my mind serves two basic purposes. One is official recognition and reward to people who have lived saintly lives. God has already rewarded them with a place in Heaven after their death. The second, and more important to my mind, is that the saint may be widely known and emulated by others. A lot of this already takes place even while the person is still alive on this earth. This is because people who are in contact with them, have read about them or heard about them are attracted to them by their saintly behavior.
Very few people receive the honor of canonization. If we can emulate even one of their good qualities, it will be a worthy way of paying our respects to them and venerating them.
