Portal:Saints
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A saint is a particularly good or holy person, whose life and actions are considered inspirational. The term is used within Christianity, with definitions varying by denomination. English-language publications will sometimes use saint to describe a revered person from another religion. The word itself means “holy” and is derived from the Latin sanctus. During periods of Christianity, many people have prayed to saints as intercessors, and communities developed strong rituals around particular saints, adopting one or more as patron saints of a locale or occupation.
In Christianity, the concept arose in early Greek Christian literature with the use of the word hagios (Greek άγιος meaning “holy” or "holy one") and in the New Testament, where it was used to describe the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. (In the Old Testament, the cognate is the Hebrew word qodesh, קדש)
Other religions also recognize certain individuals as having particular holiness (or enlightenment.) For instance, the figures of bodhissatvas in Buddhism occupy a space between people in daily life and the Buddha they work to emulate. In traditional Sephardic Judaism in North Africa, revered rabbis were honored locally in rituals at their graves. In each religious tradition, there has been an official position about the role of saints and similar figures, for instance, in theology, and there have been popular traditions that are created organically by the people.
In the New Testament, the only reference to Pilate’s wife exists in a single sentence by Matthew. According to the Gospel of Matthew 27:19, she sent a message to her husband asking him not to condemn Jesus Christ to death: ‘While Pilate was sitting in the judgment hall, his wife sent him a message: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, because in a dream last night, I suffered much on account of him.”[1] Pilate did not heed his wife’s warning.
The name "Claudia" only appears once in the New Testament, in 2 Timothy 4:21: ‘Eubulus, Pudens, Linus and Claudia send their greetings, and so all the other Christians’. However, there is nothing to suggest that this Claudia was Pilate's wife.
Apparitions sometimes recur at the same site over an extended period of time. In the majority of Marian apparitions only a few people can see Mary. An exception to this is at Zeitoun, where thousands claimed to have seen her over a period of three years.
According to the doctrine of the Catholic Church, the era of public revelation ended with the death of the last living Apostle. A Marian apparition, if deemed genuine by Church authority, is treated as private revelation that may emphasize some facet of the received public revelation for a specific purpose, but it can never add anything new to the deposit of faith. At most, the Church will confirm an apparition as worthy of belief, but belief is never required by divine faith. The Holy See has officially confirmed the apparitions at Guadalupe, Saint-Étienne-le-Laus, Paris (Rue du Bac, Miraculous Medal), La Salette, Lourdes, Fátima, Portugal, Pontmain, Beauraing, Banneux, La Vang Vietnam and Knock (Ireland). An authentic apparition is believed not to be a subjective experience, but a real and objective intervention of divine power. The purpose of such apparitions is to recall and emphasize some aspect of the Christian message. The church states that cures and other miraculous events are not the purpose of Marian apparitions, but exist primarily to validate and draw attention to the message. Apparitions of Mary are held to be evidence of her continuing active presence in the life of the church, through which she "cares for the brethren of her son who still journey on earth."
- ... that the spring and village Águas Santas are believed to be named for the spring where Marina of Aguas Santas was beheaded?
- ......that Dominican Anthony Neyrot renounced Christianity after being captured by Moorish pirates, but publicly reconverted and was stoned to death at Tunis?
- ...that the seal of Baruch ben Neriah, a legendary 6th century BCE scribe and disciple of the Biblical prophet Jeremiah, was found imprinted on two clay bullae excavated in 1975 and 1996?
"From the saints I must take the substance, not the accidents of their virtues. I am not St. Aloysius, nor must I seek holiness in his particular way, but according to the requirements of my own nature, my own character and the different conditions of my life. I must not be the dry, bloodless reproduction of a model, however perfect. God desires us to follow the examples of the saints by absorbing the vital sap of their virtues and turning it into our own life-blood, adapting it to our own individual capacities and particular circumstances. If St. Aloysius had been as I am, he would have become holy in a different way." Journal of a Soul, Pope John XXIII.
The Saints Wikiproject aims primarily at standardizing the articles about people venerated by some Christians as saints or the blessed and ensuring quality articles.
Non-Christian Saints If there is an interest in including saints from religions other than Christianity, please propose those changes on our talk page and we can integrate them into the wikiproject.
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Portal:Saints/news/June 2008
