Saint

SAINT. - From the Latin sanctus (sancire), its etymological meaning is "inviolable." Before the word took on its present meaning — namely, of a person who in life practiced all the virtues to a heroic degree, recognized as such through a canonical process by the ecclesiastical authority — it had various significations both in classical and in Christian language.

Among the pagans the term was used to designate everything that was consecrated to the divinity or pertained to the worship of the gods and was in any way under their protection. Hence the gods themselves were s., as were their images, the temples, the priests, the walls of the city, etc. Still according to its etymology, the word was also used to designate everything that enjoyed the protection of the constituted authority, and in particular it was attributed to persons who by virtue of public offices enjoyed the personal privilege of inviolability: first among all, the emperor was s. By extension, moreover, he was called s. whose moral conduct, in public and private life, was irreproachable, above every suspicion, manifesting, that is, a moral perfection; hence s. was he who had lived in innocence, in chastity, in fidelity to family duties, in purity of morals. These moral qualities in fact derived from, and were the fruit of, piety toward the gods, and therefore ultimately the persons who possessed them enjoyed the protection of the gods. Because they were assimilated to the divinity, the souls of the departed, the "manes," were also s.

Among the early Christians too the word was used in its etymological sense, both by force of the common usage of the environment in which they lived and because it was so used by Sacred Scripture. The word in fact was indiscriminately attributed both to God and to his creatures, men and things, that had any relation whatsoever to God. This relation could be external and occasional for things (objects necessary for worship, liturgical books, etc.), or internal and it continues for persons consecrated to the worship of God. Thus one sees how in the New Testament and in the Apostolic Fathers all the faithful without distinction, without regard to their personal moral qualities, but only because they are baptized, are called s.: they belong to Christ, Son of God, by whom they have been redeemed and form the Mystical Body; they are the new chosen people, the heirs of the promises made to the Jewish people. Little by little, however, the word was more and more specifically attributed to designate those who truly were Catholic Christians, in order to distinguish them from the followers of the various heretical or schismatic sects: these are s. because they have the seal of God whom they serve in the purity of faith and doctrine. These after death enjoy eternal beatitude because in life they adhered to Christ and bore witness to his Gospel, and therefore they are s. But among these witnesses of Christ a special place is occupied by the martyrs who sealed with their blood their testimony and their attachment to Christ. In the first centuries of the Church, therefore, s. does not indicate a personal moral perfection, but is attributed collectively to persons who have special relations with God. As an individual qualifier the term s. was attributed at first to persons established in ecclesiastical dignity, in particular to bishops and then gradually to the lower clergy; this, however, indicates no moral quality, it is the etymological meaning of the word. Only around the 4th century is a sense of moral perfection also attached to the word, after however it had had a common laudatory sense. The first to be called s. in the new acceptation are the martyrs, whose memory and annual commemoration acquires what will later be called the cult of the saints.

Agostino Amore