The Three Biggest Myths About Catholic Saints

Myth #1: The saints exist on a distant pedestal

I know, I know. You were expecting this article to about objections to “praying for the saints.” But that’s not my main concern here. My main concern is the less obvious myths that Catholics believe about the saints that keep us from recognizing just how close the Family of God is to us. This first myth is the most common and most damaging myth about the saints that I see Catholics embrace. There is an assumption that the saints are on a distant pedestal. We think things like, “They are the holy ones. I’m not like that. I’m just a normal Joe. I could never be that holy.

This myth is damaging on two counts. First, it sets in our minds that holiness – and indeed sainthood – is not possible for us. This false belief can lead to lukewarm faith. Like my mom said (one of the many things she said that has stuck with me – thank, Mom!), “Shoot for heaven. If you shoot for Purgatory, you might miss, then where would you be?” Lukewarm faith shoots for Purgatory. Second, setting the saints on a pedestal separates them from us. We see them sort of like a sibling who is fully grown while we are still a child. They’re related to us, but we don’t really have much in common and we don’t share in each other’s life. This spiritual isolation means that even if we’re invoking the help of the saints, we aren’t experiencing the full potential of our relationship with them.

The reality is that God raises up Catholic saints precisely because they are like us. What we need to realize is that saints are not made by their own effort. Saints aren’t the same as the “great ones of the world” (to quote Pope Francis). That’s what people don’t understand who say that Ghandi or  Malcolm X should be considered saints. These may have been great men in their own right, but being great isn’t what makes a saint. A saint is someone in whom grace works in an extraordinary way, and how in turn cooperates with that grace. The greatness that shines through a saint is the greatness of the Lord. This holiness shines through the person, making the person attractive, good, and holy. But the only credit the person can really claim is their cooperation with the grace of Christ. And here’s the point for us. The grace of Jesus can work in any of us if we’re open to it. And if we’re not open to it, we’re in trouble!

In fact, sainthood is the goal of the Christian life! We shouldn’t see sainthood as an honor bestowed only on the “special” children of God. If you don’t become a saint, you end up in Hell. That doesn’t mean that you or I will be canonized by the Church (but who knows besides God?). Anyone who makes it to Heaven is a saint. The canonized saints are simply those whose eternal destiny has been verified by miracles and by the Magisterium of the Church. While it’s true that we do hold canonized saints up as models of faith and discipleship, they are not meant to be set apart as special. They are meant to be examples for us to follow!

The truth is that most saints struggle in their faith life in the same ways we do. They all had fallen human nature (with the exception of our Blessed Mother). They all needed grace (including our Blessed Mother, who was “full of grace” not full of herself). Most saints lived in sin and weakness and even error before God got hold of them. Most saints struggled even after God got hold of them. Think of Saint Augustine’s prayer after his conversion and Baptism, “God, make me chaste . . . but not yet.” And these struggles and even failures make the saints much closer to us. They know our struggle and our weakness because it was part of their story too! So they are our close brothers and sisters. When they cheer us on, it’s not from a distance. They cheer us over every obstacle and encumbrance in our race

And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us (Hebrews 12:1).

The earliest tradition of the Church tells us that the saints pray for us. Saint Paul tells us that they are supporting us as we strive for Heaven. Don’t put the saints on a pedestal. Embrace them as your brothers and sisters in Christ who are eager to help you join them in paradise!

Myth #2: We have to follow a specific prayer formula to get the Catholic saints to help us

In a previous article, I talk about the mistake of “magical thinking” and superstition. In that treatment, I touch on the formula prayers that we often use in our devotion to the saints. Some of these formula prayers come with a tradition of “promises,” often promises that our Lord or our Queen Mother make through the saint in a locution or vision. As I said in that article, there is nothing wrong with these prayers, or in putting our trust in these promises. The promises fall under “private revelation,” meaning that we are not required to believe in them as a tenant of faith, but we are free to exercise them as part of our spirituality. Reciting these prayers in the hope of receiving the promise is an exercise in trust. When used in that way, these prayers can be a very good spiritual practice. But there can be problems with these kinds of prayers. The first problem, the danger of falling into “magical thinking,” I discussed in that article.

The second problem is that we might come to believe that such a prayer formula is necessary to enlist the saint’s help. I see this sometime on social media when someone will ask, “Does anyone know a good prayer to Saint _______?” Now, I never judge individual requests like this. In fact, I try to help when I can. But in general, I have to wonder if people think they need a prayer formula in order to enlist the help of a saint. This is just not true.

You see, we don’t believe that Catholic saints have the power in themselves to help us at all. When we “pray to a saint” we are really just asking them to pray for us, just like I might ask you to pray for me or you may ask me to pray for you. The difference is that the prayers of the saints are more effective, even miraculously so, because of their closeness to God. But our prayers are not answered by the saints. Our prayers are always answered by God, in His way and in His time. The prayer of the saints is simply God allowing them to cooperate in His goodnesses and having us serve each other as members of the Covenantal Family of God. So all that is necessary to enlist the help fo the saints is to ask for it! In fact, as I said above, they are eager to help us! They are not waiting for us to intone the right prayer formula before they’ll help us.

So use the rote and formula prayers if you want to. But don’t just rattle them off as if all that matters are the words of the prayer. Most of these prayers are very beautiful and worthy of our meditation. In fact, I would recommend that if you use any rote or formula prayer that you use if as a springboard for meditative prayer. Pray it slowly. Mean the words. Watch for phrases in the prayer that really speak to your heart and linger on these.

But don’t become dependent on prayers that someone else wrote for you. Feel free to ask the saints for help in your own words, as simple as they may be.

Myth #3: The souls in Purgatory can do nothing to help us

The final myth as to do not with the saints, but with the saints-to-be. Tradition tells us that the souls in Purgatory do not have the power to pray for us. A soul in Purgatory is completely absorbed in the fire of God’s love (St. Catherine of Genoa) and on their own need for purification that they cannot turn their heart outward to help others.

I trust our tradition on this – this is not the myth

Rather, the myth lies in the implicit assumption that we make about these suffering souls. We tend to think of them only as souls that need our prayers. We forget that at some point these souls will be saints in Heaven! And in fact, when they get to Heaven their grace-filled hearts will turn in gratitude to those who supported them in their purification through their prayers.

So while it’s true that the souls in Purgatory can’t answer our prayers while they’re in Purgatory, it is not fruitless to ask for their prayers even as we pray for them!

1. We don’t know when a soul completes its purification and becomes a saint in Heaven. I continue to pray for my grandparents, but it’s very possible that they are already in Heaven. Of course, my prayers for them aren’t “wasted.” If my grandparents don’t need the prayers, my prayers are not wasted. Any prayer for a soul in Purgatory is a prayer for the entire Family of God in the Church Suffering.

2. Even if the soul is still in Purgatory, our request for their prayers will be heard once he or she is in Heaven. God is not bound by time. We don’t have to worry that our request for prayer and support is sent to a soul at the wrong time.

So don’t be afraid to pray for deceased loved ones, and to ask for their prayers in the same breath. Everyone in a state of grace is united in the Family of God, helping each other reach the perfection of Heaven.