Saints

The church gradually came to honor persons for heroic virtues during their lives. Vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and the expression of the love of Christ. Eventually the church had to make certain that the saints people invoked were truly saints and had to try and stop some of the abuses of worship of the faithful to Saints and praying to them that rival the worship of God. When the church started to officially decide who was and was not a Saint. Early Martyrs were not a problem; people had seen their witness and their death. But all other people, hermits, Monks, and pious lay people etc…had to be proven that they were faithful to the end and had heroic virtues. This is where the miracles came into play.

By the fifth century three elements existed which would eventually be codified in the churches formal decision making for the causes for saints.
1. Their reputations among the people
2. The stories which proved their lives portrayed heroic virtues
3. Their Ability to produce miracles, especially those after death worked at the shrines or through relics.

Continue to next page for more information on how saints are canonized.