Sainthood

[Alias]

Does anyone know the criteria for becoming a saint? I know you have to perform miracles, but how many? Also, are there other things you have to do?

[BobT]

There are FAQs for everything.

http://saints.catholic.org/faq.html

[Lance Turbo]

Of course, if you want to be a patron saint, contact Swimming Riddles of the SDMB.

[jb_farley]

what I don't get is the recent relaxation of the rules regarding miracles. You don't need as many anymore! Seriously, if god is going to work one bit of magic for you, why wouldn't he do it three times?

[astorian]

Now, I'm a fairly devout Catholic, but I have my peeves with the Church, and traditional sainthood is one of them.

I happen to think of sainthood as a high honor the CHurch chooses to bestow on someone, NOT as a divine mandate (and don't get me started on possible canonization of Pius 12th... no, he wasn't responsible for the Holocaust, but he was DEFINITELY no hero).

But beyond that, the "miracle" requirement makes me wonder: IF I were terminally ill and in need of a miracle to cure me, why the heck would I pray to... say, Thomas Merton or some other saint-wannabe who's got NO miracles to his credit, when I COULD be praying to an ESTABLISHED saint with a "proven" track record of miracles?

[jb_farley]

or even better, why not just pray to god himself? I get this picture of the mechanism of saintly intervention


me: c'mon

God: no.

me: come ooonnnn

God: no

me: please?

God: nuh-uh

me: Hey, anthony?

Anthony: puh-leeeeeze?

God: fine. let the baby have his way.