Some Mental Musings

Among other things the pontificate of John Paul II was prominent for the number of beati and sancti he recognised, a result of the desire to place before the faithful more models of sanctity and procedural reforms which made it easier for candidates to be elevated to the company of saints. (This is not a criticism but a statement of fact which will be demonstrated by a comparison of the procedures before and after Divinus Perfectionis Magister.)

Now I am completely in favour of proposing for imitation, veneration and invocation, men and women whose outstanding practice of the Christian virtues and divine charisms commend themselves to the faithful. Yet it has often struck me whether there was really a need for such numbers of beati and sancti to be proposed to the faithful during John Paul II's pontificate. After all the Church already proposes to the faithful so many and while it is always good to have contemporary figures, does that merit having a whole legion. And what of those who already fill the annals of the Bollandists? As one writer has already pointed out, many of them are unknown to modern Catholics and this includes some of the greatest saints to whom the Church is indebted, such St. Augustine, St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Siena. Finally there remains the ultimate question of the relevance of the saints to the modern world. It seems to me that they don't seem to carry as much clout as they did in former times, except perhaps in the regions where there cultus is centred and even then it is only commemorating them with as much festivity that matters.