This can’t be true- St Patrick wasn’t a Saint?!
March 16th, 2007Just heard someone say it on Newstalk, so took a quick look online.
Apparently, St Patrick was never officially canonised (or beatified) by the Pope, meaning he’s not a “saint” in the modern sense of the term.
From WikiPedia:
For most of Christianity’s first thousand years, canonisations were done on the diocesan or regional level. Relatively soon after the death of people considered to be very holy people, the local Church affirmed that they could be liturgically celebrated as saints. As a result, St. Patrick has never been formally canonised by a Pope, but he is still widely venerated in Ireland and elsewhere today.
Is this true? Surely our patron Saint must be a Saint?! Does this mean we’ll have to cancel the St Paddy’s Day festivities?! Or is this something people talk about in Ireland every year, and politicians don’t find out because we’re in the USA?
Given that Pope John Paul canonised more people than every previous Pope put together, is this not something they would have covered?!
I’m a bit confused for a Friday afternoon. Was St Patrick a Saint, or was he not?
This link is the source for the WikiPedia story.
Related Entries
7 Responses to “This can’t be true- St Patrick wasn’t a Saint?!”
Comments are not moderated before posting. Every effort will be made to keep these clean, but I ask your co-operation. Please do not post any offensive or defamatory content below. I am not responsible for the content of comments below.
March 16th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
[...] Via the Blakester. [...]
March 16th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Depends on your definition of what a saint is, but the Biblical usage covers anyone who is a follower of Christ…which includes “Saint” Patrick. Bu conversely anyone who is a follow of Jesus can also claim to be a Saint!
March 16th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
[...] day of the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick. Unfortunately it seems that St. Patrick was never canonised officially by a Pope, but that’s ok because according to Wikipedia, “for most of Christianity’s [...]
March 17th, 2007 at 10:51 am
[...] Saint Paddy isn’t a saint after all. [...]
March 17th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
[...] who? The first thing I read this morning was “St Patrick wasn’t a Saint”. This came as quite a shock to me, so I read on, and followed the link to the Wikipedia article: [...]
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:31 pm
I am amazed how few people know this. briget was not either
March 17th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Quick note to Ralph…there is really only one true definition of “Saint” and that is anyone in heaven. Based on that definition, I believe that we can all rest assured that our dear patron is, in fact, a Saint. The church canonizes those that they feel they can “prove” went to heaven…what life have the led, were miracles performed, etc. (by the way, the miracles can be posthumous).