Catholic saints
Church-recognized holy ones
Catholic saints are individuals officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as holy persons who have attained heaven and may intercede with God on behalf of the living.
Canonization—the formal process of declaring someone a saint—typically requires evidence of miracles and heroic virtue.
Saints are venerated, not worshipped, and many are associated with particular causes or groups: Saint Anthony is the patron saint of lost things.
The term distinguishes these officially recognized figures from the broader Christian sense of "saints" as all believers.
- conventsHouses for religious sisters
- holy ordersSacrament conferring clergy status
- stigmataWounds echoing crucifixion
- St. PeterHeaven's traditional gatekeeper
- sainthoodState of being canonized
St. Paul · incorruptibility · hagiography · canonization · martyrdom · beatification · Teresa of Avila · levitation · visions · prophecy · healing miracles · relics · holy relics · St. Francis of Assisi · Christianity · St. Augustine · St. Benedict · divine union
- Afro-Brazilian Religionaxe, syncretism, spirit possession, drumming, spirit guides
- Andean spiritualitycurandero, sun worship, mountain gods, coca leaves, earth goddess
- Mestizo Culturemixed race, race mixing, indigenous roots, ancestry, cultural pride
- Afro-Cuban Musicrumba, clave, conga, bongos, claves
- Caribbean SpiritualityRastafari, Rastafarianism, vodou, voodoo, Santeria
- Santeriaorisha, orishas, ache, toque, cowrie shells
Catholic saintsMartin Luther
Protestant Reformation founder
John Calvin · evangelical preachers · heretics · apostates · schismatics