The Saints of the Church They have lived as hermits in the desert, denied themselves of food and sleep, and battled devils and demons. Others have experienced the stigmata, levitated, or even in one specific case, have flown. Some of these individuals were born into very wealthy families, while others were born into poor and modest homes. They have achieved all of this through the grace of God. So who are these individuals? They are the saints of the Catholic Church. They are the men and women who laid the foundation of stewardship and insight for the church to come. I have learned a great deal about the Saints of the Catholic Church. Coming from a Protestant background, I knew very little about any of these individuals, nor did I ever really care about their missions or what they endured. This class has given me incredible insight to the lives of these astonishing individuals. For example, I learned that St. Anthony never took a bath. St. Francis of Assisi talked to animals and is believed to be the first person to experience the stigmata. St. Joseph of Cupertino is believed to have been able to fly. There were two saints that struck me as being rather odd. The first of these is Simon Stylites. He lived and preached from a 60-foot pillar for 40 years. As a result, his skin was exposed to all types of weather. He developed sores in which flies would lay their eggs and thus he developed maggots. When these maggots would fall out, he would instruct someone to place them back within his sores. He would die on this pillar at the age of 69. Simon Stylites provides inspiration and devotion to my very own life. I will probably never live on a pillar or develop maggots within my sores, but by following his example, I may be taught how to persevere. The second of these saints that stuck me as being rather odd is Catherine of Sienna. She began having visions at age 6 and slept on a board, while using a stone for a pillow. She even wore a belt of nails.
A saint is a virtuous person that is honored by church after death who is considered to a degree of holiness and is blessed. In most Christian denominations think all people are saints in the Catholic Church the term saint is given to a person whom which the church has officially been canonized. Furthermore, the Catholic Church explains that they do not create or make a saint; however, they recognize saints. In fact, Frances Xavier Cabrini or as many people refer to her as Mother Cabrini is the first person to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church.
What or who is a Saint? In a very simple way to answer the question, we may say that a saint is any person who dies and who is now enjoying his/her external life before the eternal and divine presence of God in heavens. For people, well known or not, are celebrated on the very first day of the month of November; the All Saints Day. The origins of the religious feast in the Roman Catholic Church came from the early days of the church around the year 80 or 80 AC when sealed by the blood of Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross. By the martyrdoms of many Catholics, who are dedicated to Jesus’ teachings and the example of Saint Peter, pay with their lives to the Glory of belonging to the only church founded by Jesus Christ himself. The Catholics by the virtue of their martyrdom and their lives in all of the extinction of the Roman Empire, where they were persecuted and executed at the Circus Maximus, The Roman Coliseum at the Caracalla, and even inside of the Domus Aurea (Nero’s Palace). Those martyrs who lost their lives from th...
All of humanity, even the one reading this paper, has had thoughts of doing things that are far from that of a saint, and although most do not act upon these thoughts there are those who have; those who kill out of spite, those who commit unspeakable acts against men, women and children, those who to everyone else are frightening and fearful and thus locked away from
The dictionary says a saint is "a person officially recognized as being entitled to public ...
...spread their religion and did not stop until their death. It is interesting to find out that there were people like that , that dedicated so much of their lives for a cause. I am sure other saints accomplished as much as St. Boniface, but to my knowledge, he seemed like the most active and aggressive. He not only prayed for change, he went out and made it happen. He took journey’s that lasted years, traveled aimlessly at times, from one ship to another converting pagans and spreading the word as he went along. He even went on these missions in his elder years, though dangerous for his age, he continued until his death.
Contrary to common belief, saints are not perfect. Saints simply seek Christ more than anyone else. Saints understood the need for Christ in their own lives through their own experiences. St. Teresa of Avila did not live a perfect life, although she strived to after her conversion. St. Teresa, after living in the world, realized her desperate need for a personal relationship with God, but by no means was she perfect.
... then has become one of the most popular Saints in the Roman Catholic Church.
A key pillar to the Roman Catholic Church are its Saints. Saints are men and women who are recognized by the Church to have had an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness to God and or Christ in their lives. There are many hundreds of saints within both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. The writing of the history and great acts of these saints are called Hagiographies, literally meaning sacred writing. Of the many hundreds of saints, a few stand out in history as truly exceptional, saints like Saint Peter, Paul, Thomas Aquinas, Benedict, and Francis all stood out as truly inspiring Christian men. Among these influential saints is Saint Dominic of Osma, founder of the Dominican Order, a mendicant religious order founded in
When Saint Rose of Viterbo was about ten years old the Mother of God told her to join the Third Order of St. Francis. Then found out that the Lord was suffering. Saint Rose went through the town of Viterbo, which also was in the Papal States, to give speeches and many people would crowd around just to listen to her
By 1979, the roots of the CoC were firmly in place. It was then that Chuck
Lynn Malone, is currently the senior pastor at First United Methodist Church in Monroe, Louisiana. On June 13, 2008, Malone gave a homily that entailed a very key component of the Christian faith, the church. In this homily, the main concept of the homily is the church as being one whole entity. Throughout the homily, numerous examples are given that exemplify this concept. I will be discussing two themes more in depth throughout this paper, the Christian Church as one entity, and the universality of Christianity and Christ’s teachings.
Lives of the Saints is a story that examines the complexities and tribulations of everyday life in a small town. Throughout the novel, we discover that even the most trustworthy and caring individuals live secret lives behind closed doors, and that the surface appearance of minor communities can be very deceptive. Some people spend their entire adult-lives trying to knock down these doors and discover the truth, but perhaps they are overlooking the key to the lock… our children.
Thomas Merton first begins to identify his definition of sainthood by describing things other than humans act like saints in acting as they were intended by God. For example Merton describes how “the little yellow flowers that nobody notices on the edge of the road” (Merton 30) are saints simply for fulfilling their naturally intended role; not attempting to do something or be something that they are not. Merton soon after begins to elaborate on why this process of sainthood is a lot more complicated for humans than it is for anything else. For humans,
The Episcopal Church was founded in the 16th century during the Protestant Reformation on the belief to spread Christianity and worship . The Episcopal church originated from the Church of England that modeled much of it’s religious beliefs from the Roman Catholic Church. Episcopalians (followers of the Episcopal Church) refer to their religion as “Protestant, yet Catholic,” (Wikipedia). I had the privilege to interview one of my teachers from middle school, Erin Havens. She grew up as a conservative Episcopalian, and described that experience as being almost identical to, “The way the Roman Catholics hold their masses, holidays and how they practice their beliefs,” (Havens). Which is true, because most of the modeling of the faith is role modeled after the Catholic Church other than some key differences.
In 1491 Ignatius of Loyola was born into a noble Basque family in Guipuzcoa Spain. (Pavur, 217) His name was not originally Ignatius; at birth he was named Inigo of Loyola, until he changed it to Ignatius later in life. (Pollen, St. Ignatius) He later decided to become a soldier in the Spanish army and was fighting in the battle of Pamplona; the French were invading the Spanish castle there. (Muthleb) In the battle his leg was crushed by an enemy cannonball. (Caraman, 25-26) The French soldiers were so impressed by his courage that instead of taking him prisoner they took him to recover. (Muthleb) During his recovery he came extremely close to death. At one particular point ...