Saint. — From the Latin *sanctus* (sancte), its etymological meaning is “inviolable.” Before the word took on its current sense—namely, of a person who in life practiced all the virtues heroically and was so recognized through a canonical process by ecclesiastical authority—it had various meanings both in classical and in Christian usage.
Among pagans the term was used to designate everything consecrated to a deity or pertaining to the worship of the gods, and anything placed under their protection in any way. Thus the gods themselves, their images, temples, priests, city walls, etc., were *sancti*. In keeping with the etymology, the word was also applied to anything enjoying the protection of constituted authority, and in particular it was attributed to persons who, by virtue of public office, enjoyed the personal privilege of inviolability: foremost among these was the emperor. By extension, anyone whose moral conduct in public and private life was irreproachable, above all suspicion, manifesting a moral perfection, was called *sanctus*; hence the innocent, the chaste, the faithful in family duties, the pure in morals were *sancti*. These moral qualities indeed derived from and were the fruit of piety toward the gods, and thus those who possessed them enjoyed the protection of the gods. Because they were likened to divinity, the souls of the departed, the *Manes*, were also *sancti*.
Among early Christians, too, the word was used in its etymological sense, both because of the common usage of the environment in which they lived and because Scripture itself employed it thus. The word was promiscuously attributed both to God and to His creatures—men and things—that in any way had a relation to God. This relation could be external and occasional in the case of things (objects used in worship, liturgical books, etc.), or internal