Hagiography is the study of saints; hagios comes from Greek meaning saint. The word saint comes from the Latin word santus, which translates to consecrated or holy. The term hagiology refers to the study of saints collectively, without focusing on the life of an individual saint.
Canonisation of a saint is an ecclesial process. Firstly, a candidate is selected because of their noteworthy service to God and their reputation for holiness. Canonization is a posthumous exercise, to canonise means to declare that a person is worthy of a public cult. It is a formal admission by the Holy See that a person is with God. The journey to canonization is lengthy and phased. The earliest stage is referred to as 'Servant of God’, followed by being 'Venerable' the final term being ‘Blessed’ before being recognised by the Church as a saint. The person's name is inscribed in the church's list of saints and he or she is 'raised to the altars' which means they are assigned a feast day for liturgical veneration. Since the beginning of Christianity the stories of saints have been handed down through generations. The existence of saints is celebrated in icons, paintings and statues.
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