Saint

Saint (Lat., sanctus, ‘holy’). The title is given to exemplary Christians who are venerated and invoked in prayer—as also to the angels Raphael, Gabriel, and Michael. (For individual saints, see under name.) In the New Testament the word ‘saint’ is synonymous with ‘Christian’. The first Christians to receive special veneration were martyrs, beginning with Polycarp whose followers treasured his relics and celebrated the ‘birthday’ of his martyrdom. From the 4th cent., devotion to the saints increased and included ‘confessors’ (those who suffered but did not die in persecutions) and ascetics. From the 6th cent. onward, diptychs of martyrs and confessors began to have a place in the liturgy, and from the 8th cent. the lives of saints were read at matins. At an early date saints were also believed to effect miracles after their death. At the Reformation the cult of saints was rejected.

The modern cult of the saints in the Roman Catholic Church is regulated by canon law, which recommends the veneration of the saints and especially of Mary. The attitude of Eastern churches is akin to that of Rome. See also CANONIZATION; PATRON SAINT. Major saints are commemorated on particular feast days; the commemoration of All Saints occurs on 1 Nov.

In Islam, there is a veneration of holy people who are often referred to in English as ‘saints’. The ‘friends of God’ (walī) are important (cf. Qurʾān 10. 63), as are the pure and blessed ones (ṭāhir) and many Sūfī teachers. The veneration of saints and of their tombs, while widely popular, is resisted by conservative Muslims. For a remote resemblance in Judaism, see ZADDIK. ‘Saint’ is then used widely of holy and revered persons in all religions: see e.g. NĀYAṆMĀRS; SANT TRADITION.