Saint (disambiguation)

So... what does a kid get told is a fun job to grow up to be? Doctor? Teacher? How about a saint?

Do YOU want to be a saint when you grow up? Why not?

Part of the Apostle's Creed says we believe in the communion of saints. That's not just the Saints that the Catholic Church has canonized. Anyone with sanctifying grace on Earth, everyone in Purgatory, and everyone in Heaven is part of the communion of saints. All of us on Earth have the name "the Church Militant" because we are the ones directly able to choose good over evil. Everyone in Purgatory has the name "the Church Suffering" because of the suffering those souls endure for purification before entering Heaven. Everyone in Heaven is part of "the Church Triumphant" because good has completely triumphed over evil there.

The Catholic Church, at the time of a person's death, teaches that no one can know where that person's soul has gone. If a Christian, we do not know whether the person has gone to Purgatory or to Heaven. We believe everyone who gets to heaven is a saint (little s) A person is declared (or canonized, which literally means "put into the calendar") a Saint (capital S) if he has lived an extremely virtuous life, has all his writings in communion with the Faith of the Church, and has had God show us that he is in Heaven, due to miracles done by requests to him.

Everything here is done for a reason. All research into a future Saint's life is done with the greatest skepticism. It was common practice for most Saints, that the investigation was not started until most everyone who had known the person had died, so that there would be no emotional attachment in the investigation. As for proof that the person Was Really in Heaven, the only "proof" possible is through miracles attributed to them. If someone asks for the prayers of the future Saint, and they are answered, then that means the future Saint is in a position to ask things of God, ie in Heaven.