April 28, 2007

someone tagged me again...

Beth tagged me. And this is the perfect meme for a post-modern, post-colonial, and it would seem, post-protestant Baptist. Thanks, Beth.

Name your four favorite saints, your favorite blessed saint, and the person you think should be canonized.

The two faves: St. George (my given name, dragons, legends, not a pacifist) and St. Pachomius (monastics arise!)

The four:
1. St. Brendan (the voyage guy)
2. St. Patrick (c'mon, like I have a choice there)
3. St. Mary of Egypt
4. St. Francis Xavier (There is a room at Richmond Hill assigned this saint and the virtue of "victory over self.")

The runner-up: Thomas Merton (Heck, I dunno. Mother Theresa would be good, too. But Harry Emerson Fosdick would make a great Dominican saint!)

This was harder than I thought. I have several saints that I pray with through icons. But, yeah, none of the above except George. So, I tag Jorge, Kate K., Mark, and Jane Ellen.

Posted by tripp at April 28, 2007 06:46 AM
Comments

Quick terminology question: what's the difference between a saint and a blessed saint?

Posted by: Megan at April 28, 2007 01:32 PM

I have no idea.

Posted by: Tripp at April 28, 2007 08:10 PM

Harry Emerson Fosdick a Dominican? (crosses self with a pained expression)

Roman Catholic tradition distinguishes “saints” (whose fully honorable sanctity has been affirmed by the church = “canonized”) and “blesseds” (people of exemplary holiness, who have not yet been recognized as saints = “beatified”). Teresa of Calcutta is blessed, though she will eventually be canonized and recognized as “Saint Teresa of Calucutta” (or whatever).

Posted by: AKMA at April 28, 2007 11:28 PM

'Blessed' can mean what Beth understands it to mean: a beatus, in the Roman Catholic system somebody the Pope declares is in heaven (beatification); to go to the next step, canonisation (being declared a saint), there have to be miracles (such as healings) associated with the person's intercession.

There's also an Eastern Orthodox meaning: some full-fledged saints are called that for some reason (simply custom?) so they're literally 'blessed saints'. Just like 'Venerable' means something different: in the Roman system it's the level below beatification (Servant of God, Venerable, Blessed, Saint) but in Orthodoxy it means a monk or nun saint.

Posted by: The young fogey at April 29, 2007 02:23 AM

Thanks, Fogey, the first sentence of that last paragraph was what I was looking for. As a recovering Roman Catholic, I already knew all about beatification and canonization.

Thanks to others as well, for what you offered!

Posted by: Megan at April 29, 2007 10:06 AM

Okay... saints duly posted, bro.

Posted by: Jane Ellen+ at April 30, 2007 11:40 PM