CHAT: Saints and souls (was: Latter-day)

Tristan McLeay scripsit:

> That's certainly how I always interpreted it; saints always seem to come
> from a long time in the past. When was the most recently born saint born?
It depends on the flavor of Christianity: some apply the term to all
who are saved, others only to a subset of them.  Of the latter, some
(like the R.C. Church and the Orthodox churches) have formal canonization
proceedings, but it is well recognized that there may be, and undoubtedly
are, innumerable saints unrecognized and uncanonized.  "Canonization is
not an earthly honor, but a human recognition of a divine fact."

As a result, there is a feast day for remembering all uncanonized
saints:  1 November, the Feast of All Saints, or of All Hallows in
older English usage.  The evening of this day, of course, is Hallowe'en.
Correspondingly, 2 November is the feast for all non-saints, the Feast
of All the Faithful Departed, traditionally called All Souls' Day or
Soulmas in England, and in Mexico and elsewhere the Day of the Dead.
(Not to be confused with the cheesy horror movie.)

--
John Cowan  jcowan@reutershealth.com  http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
O beautiful for patriot's dream that sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears!
America! America!  God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law!
        -- one of the verses not usually taught in U.S. schools