[Tagging] patron saints

[Steve Doerr]

On 28/01/2015 12:43, Martin Koppenhoefer wrote:
>
> 2015-01-27 11:42 GMT+01:00 Simone Saviolo <simone.saviolo at gmail.com 
> <mailto:simone.saviolo at gmail.com>>:
>
>     Speaking of Vatican, i.e. Roman Catholic Church, Mary is Blessed,
>     not Saint. Her title is Beata Virgo Maria (Beata Vergine Maria in
>     Italian, Blessed Virgin Mary in English). She is an unordinary
>     Blessed, as she and her feasts are more important than those of
>     the Saints; anyway, "Saint Mary" is nothing but a popular name :-)
>
>
>
> Are you sure about this? Because I have heard about "Santissima Madre 
> di Dio" (holiest mother of God)
>
> There are also several other St. Marys, e.g.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Magdalene
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Goretti
>
>

Describing someone as 'holy' is not the same as giving them the title 
'saint'. The very fact that the superlative is used ('santissima') 
somewhat suggests that this is not the regular title meaning 'saint'. 
Nevertheless, there are many Church of England churches dedicated to 'St 
Mary the Virgin', so she seems to have been promoted to sainthood by the 
Anglican church! In Catholic circles, 'Our Lady' or its equivalent is 
also a common dedication.

The confusion in the use of Saint is noted by the Oxford English Dictionary:

'†3. Prefixed to various common nouns (in collocations taken over from 
Latin and French), esp. Charity, Cross, Spirit, Trinity. Obs.
'Sometimes abbreviated as in A. 1.

'In dedications of churches there occur St. Cross, St. Faith, St. 
Saviour, St. Sepulchre.'

-- 
Steve


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