In Christian belief, a saint, also known as a hallow, is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God.
The word saint derives from the Latin sanctus, meaning "holy" or "consecrated", and entered English through Old French seint and Middle English saint, retaining its meaning as a holy person and historically used to refer to individuals regarded as holy.
The word hallow is synonymous with saint, the former derived from the Old English hālig, the same root as "holy", and refers to holy individuals. It is preserved in certain names and traditions celebrating saints, such as Allhallowtide, a period that includes All Hallows' Eve (Halloween) and All Hallows' Day.
The Greek equivalent of the Latin sanctus is ἅγιος (hagios) 'holy'
John A. Coleman wrote that saints across various cultures and religions have the following family resemblances:
- exemplary model
- extraordinary teacher
- wonderworker or source of benevolent power
- intercessor
- a life often refusing material attachments or comforts
- possession of a special and revelatory relation to the holy.
In the Hebrew Bible, English "saints" most often renders terms of holiness, especially the adjective qādôš ("set apart, consecrated, holy"), and in the plural it appears as "holy ones" or "saints", with emphasis on consecration and ideally the absence of moral and ceremonial defilement
In the Apostolic Age, New Testament writers use "saints" predominantly in the plural as a collective designation for Christians in a given locality; the only clear singular instance is distributive in Philippians 4:21 ("every saint"), so the term marks the church as a people set apart for God rather than an elite subgroup.[15][16][17]
Paul makes this corporate sense explicit by identifying "the saints" with "you" in 1 Corinthians 6:2, so that oi hagioi functions as a self-designation for all Christians; he also addresses communities as "saints" in letter openings/closings and often speaks of "all the saints" to emphasize corporate unity across locations (Romans 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 1:1; Phil 1:1; Colossians 1:2).[18][19]
In practical matters he urges "service" and aid "for the saints," including the Jerusalem poor, sometimes with abbreviated phrasing that presumes this shared self-designation (e.g., 1 Cor 16:1; 2 Cor 8:4; 9:1, 12 ≈ Rom 15:26).[20] Scholars also observe covenantal–eschatological and temple/priestly overtones in such language (e.g., judging the world/angels; participation in Christ’s altar).[21][22][23][24] Other New Testament writers vary: calling believers hagioi is common in Hebrews and Jude[25] it is frequent in Revelation with an emphasis on prayer/endurance and is used for the same group as "believers/Christians,"[26] while 1 Peter does not use hagioi as Paul does (even as it speaks extensively of holiness).[27][28]
Standard reference works concur that hagioi designates all believers (not a special class), that the plural, collective usage predominates, and that the underlying idea is consecration/belonging to God.[29][30][31] Later Christian traditions (e.g. Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism) developed distinct practices of recognizing exemplary figures, but this stands apart from the New Testament’s collective usage.
According to the Catholic Church, a saint may be anyone, whether recognized on Earth or not, who forms part of the "great cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1).[33][34] These "may include our own mothers, grandmothers or other loved ones (cf. 2 Timothy 1:5)" who may have not always lived perfect lives, but "amid their faults and failings they kept moving forward and proved pleasing to the Lord".[33] The title Saint denotes a person who has been formally canonized – that is, officially and authoritatively declared a saint – by the church as holder of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and is therefore believed to be in Heaven by the grace of God.