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Thomas
Aumen
wrote:
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Hi guys,
Given that we honored saintly men and women
yesterday, November 1st:
- Why is it that holy men and women from
the Old Testament are not declared saints
of the Church? (e.g. Jeremiah, Judith, etc.)
Thanks.
Thomas
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Why
aren't holy men and women from the Old Testament
declared saints of the Church? }
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Mary
Ann replied:
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Hi, Thomas —
Canonized saints are saints who have
been acclaimed at the time of their
death by those who knew them; saints
whose lives the Church has been able
to examine through witnesses, documents,
and contemporary evidence.
The Old Testament holy men and women
are surely in Heaven, but the Church
cannot examine their lives. However,
their lives were found worthy of
inclusion in Scripture itself by
the People of God of their time,
and the Church honors them as holy
in her liturgical prayers.
They are
not examples of Christian virtue
as a canonized saint would be; they
are foretellings or types of Christ
Himself.
Mary Ann
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John
replied:
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Hi, Tom —
The Old Testament prophets are considered
Saints by the Church. That would
include Jeremiah.
Judith (as in the book of Judith)
probably never existed. The book
of Judith is not a historical book.
It is an inspired novel. One just
needs to read the first few paragraphs
to see that.
For instance, I believe in the book
of Judith, the King of Assyria is
actually the King of Babylon.
So you can think of Judith
like Gone with the Wind. It was
a historical novel with real people
in the background that was set against
a real, historical event (the Civil
war), but Rhett Butler and Scarlett
O'Hara, weren't real people.
The
only difference is that Judith is
inspired Scripture. It is in
the Bible for a reason.
John
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