Secular saint

Secular saint

A secular saint is someone venerated and respected for contributions to a noble cause, but not recognized as a canonical saint by a religion. The ranks of secular saints, like those of religious ones, are often filled by martyrs.

George Orwell began his "Reflections on Gandhi": "Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent…" Orwell concluded his essay with attack on the idea of sainthood but praise for Gandhi: "One may feel, as I do, a sort of aesthetic distaste for Gandhi, one may reject the claims of sainthood made on his behalf (he never made any such claim himself, by the way), one may also reject sainthood as an ideal and therefore feel that Gandhi's basic aims were anti-human and reactionary: but regarded simply as a politician, and compared with the other leading political figures of our time, how clean a smell he has managed to leave behind!" ["Reflections on Gandhi"."Partisan Review", Volume XVI, No. 1, January 1949p 85 - 92.]

Notes

References and further reading

* "The Path of Brighteousness" by Cullen Murphy for the "Atlantic" (November 2003)

ee also

* Beatification
* Canonization
* Hagiography
* Saint


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • saint’s life — (saint’s legend, hagiography)    One of the most popular literary genres in medieval Europe was the saint’s life. These were short narrative biographies of holy men and women, most often martyrs, whose stories were intended to reveal the active… …   Encyclopedia of medieval literature

  • Saint Thomas of Mylapur — • Diocese. Suffragan to the primatial See of Goa in the East Indies Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Saint Thomas of Mylapur     Saint Thomas of Mylapur      …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Secular Jewish culture — embraces several related phenomena; above all, it is the culture of secular communities of Jewish people, but it can also include the cultural contributions of individuals who identify as secular Jews, or even those of religious Jews working in… …   Wikipedia

  • Saint Patrick Seminary, Menlo Park — Saint Patrick Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California is a Roman Catholic post graduate seminary whose primary mission is the formation of clergy for Western and Pacific Rim dioceses, orders, religious congregations and secular… …   Wikipedia

  • Saint Petersburg — • The imperial residence and second capital of Russia, lies at the mouth of the Neva on the Gulf of Finland Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Saint Petersburg     Saint Petersburg …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Saint Cloud — • A suffragan of the Archdiocese of St. Paul, Minn., comprises the counties of Stearns, Sherburne, Benton, Morrison, Mille Lacs, Kanabec, Grant, Pope, Stevens, Isanti, Traverse, Douglas, Wilkin, Otter Tail, Todd, Wadena, in the State of Minnesota …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Saint Gall (Sangallensis) —     Saint Gall     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Saint Gall     (The Diocese of Saint Gall; SANGALLENSIS)     A Swiss bishopric directly subject to the Holy See. It includes the Canton of St. Gall and, as a temporary arrangement, the two half cantons …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Saint Peter's Singers of Leeds — Saint Peter s Singers (SPS) is a chamber choir associated with Leeds Parish Church, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. BackgroundSaint Peter s Singers (SPS) is a chamber choir of approximately forty mixed voices. It forms a key component of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Saint Gregory of Nyssa —     St. Gregory of Nyssa     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► St. Gregory of Nyssa     Date of birth unknown; died after 385 or 386. He belongs to the group known as the Cappadocian Fathers , a title which reveals at once his birthplace in Asia Minor… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai — Saint Catherine Area * UNESCO World Heritage Site Country …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”