Why do some non-Catholic Christian religions call their churches “St. X,” as in St. John’s Church or even Calvary School in Springfield, as their nickname is the “Saints”? I thought Catholics were the only religion to recognize saints.

Rachel in Springfield

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              Your own observations confirm the fact that non-Catholic Christians do recognize the idea of sainthood. You may be interested in reading, on the website of Westminster Abbey (London, Church of England), about the 1998 inclusion of sculptures of ten “martyrs of the 20th century” above the west door of this church, where the funerals of Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth II took place. These martyrs include Catholic Saints Maximilian Kolbe and Oscar Romero, the Baptist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Lutheran Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and a number of Anglicans. From the beginning of Christianity, the martyrs — those who gave their lives in witness to Jesus — were the first to be recognized as saints. 

              There have been questions within non-Catholic Christian communities about the extent to which devotion to saints has been carried on. For instance, what if someone has a devotion to a particular saint, and this devotion seems to be stronger than their faith in Jesus? All Christians should be disturbed by such an excess of devotion, which distorts the essence of our faith. Many non-Catholic Christians are wary of too great an emphasis on devotion to saints. However, as our Catholic faith teaches, asking the saints in heaven to pray for you is akin to asking your loved ones on earth to pray for you, so seeking their intercession is a good thing. Also, imitating the virtues of a particular saint that you are drawn to can also be good practice.        

The word “saint” comes from the Latin word “sanctus,” which means “holy.” Most of the very early saints were “by acclamation,” which means that people knew of their holiness, and they were popularly known as saints. This is why some non-Catholic churches have saint names such as “St. John” or their school nickname is the “Saints,” as you pointed out in your question. These non-Catholic churches are recognizing the holiness of that person.

A difference is these non-Catholic churches may not recognize “recent” saints. For example, you won’t see a Lutheran Church named “St. Gianna Church” or “St. Maximilan Kolbe Church.” You instead see a lot of non-Catholic churches named after the earliest Christians such as St. John, St. Paul, St. James, etc.

What is unique about the Catholic tradition regarding saints is that we have a process for recognizing and then declaring candidates for sainthood, which is why we have recent saints. The Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints traces its history back to 1588. The Dicastery assesses whether a candidate lived a holy life, prepares a case for the pope, which includes approving two miracles attributable to the intercession of the candidate, and then the Dicastery presents the case to the pope, who decides whether to proceed with beatification or canonization of the candidate. When the pope declares someone a saint, we, like our non-Catholic Christians, recognize this person’s holiness, but going a step further, we as a Church are now declaring that person is in heaven.

This publication has reported regularly on the cause of the Venerable Father Augustine Tolton, who was born in slavery in Missouri in 1854, escaped to Quincy during the Civil War, and discerned a vocation to the priesthood with the help of priests in Quincy. Refused admission to U.S. seminaries, he studied for the priesthood for seven years at the worldwide mission seminary in Rome (Propagation of the Faith). The cardinal in charge of the Propagation surprised Father Tolton by sending him to his home diocese, then headquartered in Alton (he thought he was destined for Africa). He served three years in Quincy and was loved and hated.  Hatred drove him to accept work in Chicago, where he worked for eight years until his death in 1897 at the age of 43. His cause for sainthood is ongoing. We hope and pray two miracles attributable to his intercession will be forthcoming so one day, we can call him St. Augustine Tolton.  

              If we consider the various dimensions of the life of Father Tolton, we find many things which all Christians can appreciate. As we American Christians seek healing from our country’s “original sin” of racism, we take note of the cardinal’s decision to return Father Tolton to our “enlightened” (the cardinal’s word) shores, and we acknowledge our need to confront all which is far from enlightened.

              The bottom line? Let us all strive for holiness and to be in God’s company forever in heaven. In other words, let us strive to become saints.

Father Kevin Laughery is pastor of St. Jerome in Troy and St. James in St. Jacob and was the ecumenical officer of our diocese from 2002 to 2017 and interreligious officer from 2011 to 2017.