Veneration of saints

Altar of San Conrado de Piacenza in Noto, Italy.

The veneration of saints is a practice of the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church and other Eastern Churches in which some people who are very close and devoted to God are honored, who —have been taken to heaven (like the prophet Elijah, Enoch or Mary) or are considered to have died in grace - are recognized as saints through a process called canonization, which varies in each Church. The images of these saints are exhibited in different churches to show the faithful what they were like and to follow their example of "bringing the life of Jesus to your time".

The act of venerating saints is also practiced in other religions such as Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Jainism.

In different religions

Christianity

Examples of veneration of saints in the Catholic Church

Ark of Saint Anthony in Padua, Italy (veneration of the tomb of a saint).

Cave of the Holy Brother Peter in Tenerife, Spain (selling of a place associated with a saint).

Procession of the Lord of Miracles in Lima, Peru (veneration of the image of a saint).

Relics of Saint John the Baptist of La Salle in Rome, Italy (veneration of the relic of a saint).

In the field of theology of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, the veneration of saints, angels, relics and icons (called dulia and proskynesis) is different from worship that is reserved for God alone (called latria). Catholic theology also includes the term hyperdulia for the type of veneration specifically offered to the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. This distinction is clarified in the dogmatic conclusions of the VII Ecumenical Council (year 787), which also decreed that iconoclasm (the prohibition of icons and their veneration) is a heresy that is equivalent to the denial of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Veneration can be shown externally by respectfully bowing or by making the sign of the cross in front of the icon or image of a saint or the relics or statue of him. These objects are also often kissed. According to the American Mariologist Mark Miravalle, the veneration of saints and the adoration of God go back and have historically been traced to two modes of the same praise and divine worship.

In the liturgy of the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Hail Mary is the prayer that introduces the Our Father and is pronounced before the celebrating priest enters through the gate of the main altar. In the rite of sanctification of the altars, the name of the Virgin Mary is mentioned first among the names of all the other saints invoked.

In the Catholic Church there are many different forms of veneration for saints; such as a pilgrimage to a grave; such as those of Saint Peter (Vatican), Saint Anthony of Padua (Italy), Santiago de Compostela (Spain), or the Holy Sepulcher (Israel/Palestine). It is also common to go on a pilgrimage to places associated with the life of a saint; the Cave of Santo Hermano Pedro (Spain), the Grotto of the Apocalypse (Greece) or the Church of Santa Tecla (Turkey). Veneration of images and relics; Lord of Miracles (Peru), the Virgin of Guadalupe and San Judas Tadeo (Mexico), Santa right hand (Hungary), Reliquary of the Three Wise Men (Germany), etc.

In Protestant churches, veneration is sometimes considered to be tantamount to the heresy of idolatry, and the related practice of canonization to be tantamount to the heresy of apotheosis. Protestant theology generally denies that a real distinction can be made between veneration and worship, and claims that the practice of veneration distracts the Christian soul from its true object, the worship of God. The veneration is therefore considered a type of blasphemy by Martin Luther and some Protestants. However, some Protestant streams, particularly Anglicanism, allow the veneration of saints in a similar way to Catholicism.

The Catholic Church considers the veneration of saints as a practice based on the Bible, among other examples are:

No saint is dead, all are alive in heaven:

Have ye not read those words of God when he saith unto you, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? It is not a God of the dead, but of the living.

Matthew 22, 31-32.

Saints in heaven receive the prayers of those on earth and can present them before God:

And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb; all had harps, and golden cups full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Ap 5.8.

The apostles interceded to bring healing to the common people:

There was a man, turmoiled from his birth, to whom they carried and laid every day by the door of the Temple called Beautiful, that he might ask for alms to those who entered the Temple. When he saw Peter and John who were going to enter the Temple, he asked for a handful of alms. Peter set his gaze together with John, and said, "Look at us." He looked at them with a limp hope to receive some of them. Peter said to him, "I have neither silver nor gold; but what I have, I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, let you walk." And taking him from the right hand raised him. They instantly gained strength from their feet and ankles, and from a leap stood and walked. He entered with them in the Temple walking, jumping and praising God.”

Act 3.1-8.

Saint Paul of Tarsus prayed for a cripple, he did not send him to ask Jesus directly:

There, sitting there, a man crippled with feet, took birth and never walked. He heard Paul speaking. Paul set his gaze on him and seeing that he had faith to be healed, he said with a loud voice, "Right on your feet." And he jumped and walked.

Hech 14,8-10

Islamic

Yalalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi tomb in Konya, Turkey.

Tomb of a morabite (santon), southern Morocco.

In Islam, the veneration of saints is practiced by many of the followers of traditional Sunni Islam (Sunni Sufis, for example) and Shia Islam, and in many parts of places such as Turkey, Egypt, southern Asia and Southeast Asia. Other sects, such as the Wahhabists, abhor this practice.

Islam has had a rich history of veneration of saints (often called wali, literally meaning "friends of God"), which has declined in some parts of the Islamic world in the XX due to the influence of various currents of Salafism. In Sunni Islam, the veneration of saints became a very common form of religious celebration early on, and saints came to be defined in the VIII as a group of "special people chosen by God and endowed with exceptional gifts, such as the ability to perform miracles". Classical Sunni scholars came to recognize and honor these individuals as venerable persons who were "loved by God and developed a close love relationship with Him". "The belief in the miracles of saints (karāmāt al-awliyāʾ)... [ became a] requirement in Sunni Islam [during the classical period]", and even medieval critics of the ubiquitous practice of grave-visiting such as Ibn Taymiyyah emphatically stated: "The miracles of the saints are absolutely true and correct, and recognized by all Muslim scholars. The Qur'an has pointed it out in different places, and the sayings of the Prophet have mentioned it, and anyone who denies the miraculous power of saints is an innovator or a follower of innovators'. The vast majority of saints revered in the Qur'an The classical Sunni world were the Sufis, who were all Sunni mystics belonging to one of the four orthodox legal schools of Sunni law.

The veneration of saints eventually became one of the most widespread Sunni practices for over a millennium, before it was opposed by the Salafi movement in the 19th century XX, whose various currents consider it "non-Islamic and retrograde...rather than an integral part of Islam as they have been for over a millennium". As Christopher Taylor has noted: '[Throughout Islamic history] a vital dimension of Islamic piety was the veneration of Muslim saints...[due, however, to] certain currents of thought within Islamic tradition itself, particularly pronounced in the 19th and 20th centuries, [some Muslims in modern days] have either been reluctant to acknowledge the existence of Muslim saints altogether or have seen their presence and veneration as unacceptable deviations".

Judaism

Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Israel.

In Judaism, there is no classical or formal recognition of saints, but there is a long history of reverence for Biblical heroes and martyrs. Jews in some regions, for example Morocco, have a long and widespread tradition of venerating saints.

Today it is common for some Jews to visit the graves of many righteous Jewish leaders. The tradition is particularly strong among Moroccan Jews and Jews of Sephardic descent, though also among some Ashkenazi Jews. This is particularly true in Israel, where many holy Jewish leaders are buried. The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, and Maimonides' Tomb in Tiberias are examples of burial sites that attract large pilgrimages in Israel. In the United States, the only such example is the tomb of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in Ohel, Queens Cemetery, where he is buried next to his father-in-law. During his lifetime, Schneerson himself frequently visited his father-in-law's grave (Ohel), where he read letters and written prayers, and then placed them on the grave. Today, visitors to Schneerson's grave include Jews of Jewish origin. Orthodox, Reform and Conservative, as well as non-Jews. Visitors typically recite prayers from psalms and bring with them prayer requests written on pieces of paper which are then torn up and left at the grave.

Hinduism

Sai Baba statue of Shirdi venerated in India.

Hinduism has a long tradition of veneration of saints, expressed towards various gurus and holiness teachers, both living and dead. The veneration of sants (saints) and mahatmas (ascended masters), with the line often blurring between humanity and divinity in the cases of godmen and godwomen. Bhakti movements popularized devotion to saintly figures such as sadhus, babas, and gurus as role models showing the path to liberation.

Buddhism

The two main branches of Buddhism, Theravada and Mahayana, recognize as Arhats those who have achieved a high degree of enlightenment. Mahayana Buddhism particularly emphasizes the power of saints to help ordinary people on the path to enlightenment. Those who have attained enlightenment and have delayed their own full enlightenment to help others are called Bodhisattvas. Mahayana Buddhism has formal liturgical practices for venerating saints, along with very specific levels of holiness. Tibetan Buddhists especially revere lamas, such as the Dalai Lama, as saints.

Jainism

Jainism recognizes the tirthankaras, which are beings who achieved transcendence and liberation (moksha) and are, therefore, teachers who taught the Jain path. Away from the evolution of the cosmos and the cosmic event, they do not intervene in it in any way, they serve only as examples to follow. The latter is manifested in the offering ceremonies (Puja), which constitute more a renunciation by the believer than a surrender, since the tirthankaras are totally indifferent to the affairs of men and the Jainas assume that they are indifferent to them.