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Underground > Temple >

The Pantheon,the Saints and the hordes of Demons

Ground Zero

04:32 / 15.12.01

(zer0)
I've been thinking quite a bit lately about catholicism and it's liberal use of them for specific tasks.(i.e. St.Eugene,the patron saint of repairing glasses)They invoke these entities through ritual and sybolism.
Isn't this what they burned witches for?
Not to step on toes, but is there a difference between summoning a demon or summoning a saint?
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
(zer0)

05:31 / 15.12.01

That sounds like Devil talk to me, son!

18:33 / 15.12.01

NOw,now...don't scare the lad...

18:54 / 15.12.01

I believe the usual Church explanation is that you don't pray to a saint (let alone invoke them), but that you ask the saint to pray to God on your behalf. the idea being that as they are shining examples of piety and devotion, their prayers are more likely to be heard and answered than those of mere mortals. The saints themselves tend to pay more attention to people who either face the same problems which they themselves faced in life or who ressemble a class of people which they dedicated their life to helping, hence the specialization.

Although it's fairly obvious that the saints replaced the numerous pagan deities and spirits which were worshipped by the various local religions before the establishment of the Church

10:50 / 16.12.01

I think you're spot on with your last point there, Gus.

I would also say that involving the Saints in intercessions is one of those funny old addenda to the Christian faith that the Catholics seem obsessed with adding (for no real reason, at least that they're prepared to give). Most denominations do not practise this, and many do not deal with the Saints at all. If one is to take Biblical theology as the basis for all forms of Christian prayer, the only precedent for involving another entity is to ask Jesus to intercede on one's behalf.