Today, when the Church recognizes the sainthood of a person, there are two criteria for canonization. The first is that the person have lived the virtues of faith, hope and charity in a heroic way. Secondly, the Church recognizes that the actions, words, and writings of this person are exemplary and that this person can be imitated as a model of Christian discipleship. Thirdly, that people can turn to these saints for intercession.<\/p>\n
For these reasons Eugene had a strong devotion to the saints, and he wanted his Oblates to do likewise. In 1821 he had written to Henri Tempier out dedicating each room in the house to a patron saint, whom he called a \u201cguest\u201d, as an inspiration to the person living in that room.<\/p>\n
\nI have drawn up right away the list of our rooms and have chosen the guardian saints that I wish to give to each dweller in them. Our patron saints would be already installed if we had found the pictures of all those whom we want to have as guests\u2026 I must not omit to say to you that I would have preferred that you had not given to individual common patrons such as the holy Angels, the Blessed Virgin, the Sacred Heart, the Child Jesus. It is the common rooms which should have such patrons.<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Letter to Henri Tempier, 9 January 1821, EO VI n 58<\/em><\/p>\n
Now during his convalescence in Grans he reflects on the patron saints of the villages they had evangelized so as to continue praying for those people through the intercession of their particular patron saints. He writes to Tempier, who is doing the canonical visitation of all the houses, and was in Nimes at that moment:<\/p>\n
\nI have never been able to get our people to give me the names of the holy patrons of the parishes where they have preached missions; this is the reason why our litanies are still incomplete. My intention would be, when finally we will have succeeded in finding out their names, if they are too numerous, to spread them throughout the months\u2026<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\u00a0Ask then, to begin with, the Fathers of Nimes to give you the list of the saints under the patronage of whom they have evangelized the people until now.<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Letter to Henri Tempier, 6 August 1829,\u00a0 EO VII n 334<\/em><\/p>\n
The saints are our \u201cguests\u201d and accompany us on our Kingdom journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today, when the Church recognizes the sainthood of a person, there are two criteria for canonization. The first is that the person have lived the virtues of faith, hope and charity in a heroic way. Secondly, the Church recognizes that … Continue reading