Go to Hindu mythology home page

Saint

A holy person believed to have a particular relationship to the sacred in addition to ethical perfection or distinctive teaching abilities. The phenomenon is widespread in the religions of the world, both historical and contemporary. Numerous sorts of spiritual personages have been acknowledged as saints, both by common acclaim and official pronouncement, and their affect on the spiritual masses (the broad spectrum of these holding various wide-ranging religious beliefs) has been, and is, of appreciable significance.


Nature and significance

Saints are persons believed to be linked in a special manner with what's viewed as sacred reality-gods, religious powers, mythical realms, and different elements of the sacred or holy. The existence of such individuals has been a widespread phenomenon all through the religions of the world. The religious particular person might have varied relationships with the sacred: as seer, prophet, saviour, monk, nun, priest, priestess, or other such personage. Within the case of each of those, nevertheless, a particular sort of relationship to the holy is involved. Seers, for instance, have an inspirational vision of the long run; prophets proclaim a revelation; saviours are entrusted with effecting redemption, liberation, or other salvatory situations; monks and nuns lead spiritual lives in accordance with ascetic laws that they typically observe so long as they live. Every one among these religious personages might concurrently be, or develop into, a saint, but there isn't a mandatory connection. Sainthood thus implies a special kind of relationship to the holy, a relationship that isn't routinely obtained by different spiritual personages by means of their efficiency of non secular duties or offices.

The significance of saintly personages is usually primarily based on real or alleged deeds and qualities that became obvious during their lifetimes and continue to exert affect after their deaths. The special character of their feats and qualities of living is believed to come up from an particularly close affiliation with a deity or sacred power. Along with such a relationship, sainthood additionally requires the existence of a sacral establishment that may grant such recognition, or of a preferred cult that acknowledges and posits a perception within the saint's special qualities. In institutionalized religions, resembling Roman Catholicism, there's a regularized course of (called canonization) by which saints are officially recognized. Canonization requires, among different things, proof that the individual in query wrought miracles throughout his or her lifetime. Then again, folks perception often recognizes the saintly powers of a dwelling or dead individual long before the institutional religion acknowledges him as a saint.