Saints and Martyrs

1. Saints are Christians who show extroardinary faith, love and loyalty towards Jesus, the church and fellow Christians. Being a saint can refer to anyone that is a Christian or anyone in heaven. The Roman Catholic Church sets apart saints by a process called canonization, where they declare someone a saint based on their devotion to Jesus, loyalty etc. They are then added to the list among people who are saints already. Some of the saints of the past are questionable by the Roman Catholics such as St. Christopher and St. Lucy because they are not sure of their existance. They believe that the saints have a role to take care of or be patrons of certain things, they have a certain duty. Such as how St. Christopher looked out for travelers. The Roman Catholics view saints in this sort of way and ask them for thier prayers. The Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that a saint is anyone who is in heaven, which includes Adam and Eve, Moses and other prophets. The Anglicans believe that saints are people who have a certain level of holiness and are elevated by popular opinion based on it.

2. One of the reasons Francis of Assisi was quickly canonized because he followed Jesus and his teachings very closely and radically, which inspired many people and he was declared a saint. Another reason is because Francis did so many things under the teachings of Christ, such as helping out the poor to a great extent, praise God to a profound level by leaving his family and set off to be part of a spiritual army for Christ.