The World of Grandpa Don

Saints

I came across an article about the Catholic Church proposal to name a patron saint of the internet. Catholics have been criticized for "worshiping" saints and even among Catholics there are misconceptions about their roll in our lives and in the church. It has little to do with miracles! This article states, in a very understandable way, one of the functions of saints.

" ... saints are like the Lord's lobbyists. You can pray directly to God, but His plate is usually pretty full with war, famine and pestilence. So Catholics come up with patron saints to serve as middlemen. While they don't answer prayers, they sympathize with your problems and try to persuade God to spend a minute to solve them."

Joe Salkowski
Chicago Tribune 3/5/01

Well put. ... In naming saints, the Church looks for evidence, in the form of miracles, to determine if the proposed saint has this kind of influence with God.

Another aspect of naming saints it that they serve as "roll models". We look at their lives and see what they did in situations that resemble our own life situation. How did the saint handle a particular problem? Or, how did the saint live and respond to the world's problems and pressures? This is another necessary part of naming a saint. The Church must have evidence that the proposed saint is a roll model for its members.

A saint is designated as a patron saint because a roll model is needed for people involved in particular activity or occupation, even when the activity or occupation did not exist during the saint's lifetime. In the case of the internet, St Isidore of Spain (560-636) has been suggested because he spent most of his life trying to compile all the world's knowledge into a series of books. I'm sure you can see the connection to placing the world's knowledge on the internet. So, when you are on the internet and you lose your connection, or it is too slow, say a prayer to St Isidore. He will understand because of the times he was afflicted with writer's cramp, ran out of ink, or broke his quill and he will ask God (at least) to grant you patience.

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