# Sainthood

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sainthood/29383>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 15, 2000, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sainthood/29383 "2000-08-15T01:20:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sainthood/29383/1 "2000-08-15T01:20:13Z")

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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?

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sainthood/29383/2 "2000-08-15T01:32:37Z")

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There are FAQs for everything.

[http://saints.catholic.org/faq.html](http://saints.catholic.org/faq.html)

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**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sainthood/29383/3 "2000-08-15T05:20:12Z")

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

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**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sainthood/29383/4 "2000-08-15T06:51:07Z")

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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?

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sainthood/29383/5 "2000-08-15T13:03:51Z")

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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?

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**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sainthood/29383/6 "2000-08-15T18:14:51Z")

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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.