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To: Soliton
Because I don't know if it is true or not.

You don't know if the tradition of praying to saints came about as you claim either, but that doesn't stop you from misrepresenting your speculation.

Why?

44 posted on 09/07/2008 9:15:27 AM PDT by papertyger (I'll vote McCain today for him giving us Palin tomorrow.)
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To: papertyger

History of Roman Catholic Saints
Some theologians believe that many people venerated as Saints never actually existed. The polite term for such “Saints” is ahistorical. Sorting out exactly which Saints are ahistorical is difficult, because of the larger difficulty of proving a negative: the absence of independent records of a Saint’s existence doesn’t prove she or he never existed; indeed there are no specific records of the existence of many people who lived before the 20th century. The Acta Sanctorum (hagiographical work) of the Bollandists forms a major part of the historiography of named Saints.

There are a large number of Catholic Saints with what appear to be pagan names. Most likely they were pagans who converted to Christianity and subsequently became Saints. However, it is possible that some pre-Christian deities (especially in Rome’s area) were accidentally adopted as saints. It is thought that some cults were “Christianized” in a fairly direct manner. The basis for this is usually a similarity of names. For example, it is now commonly asserted that Saint Brigid was based on the Celtic goddess Brigid. The goddess was popular long before Christianity reached Ireland. Another possibility is the melding of the actual life of the Saint with myths related to pre-Christian gods and heroes. There are some striking parallels to the events portrayed in the lives of certain saints and fables such as Androcles and the Lion.

http://www.catholicexpert.com/saints.html


56 posted on 09/07/2008 11:16:30 AM PDT by Soliton (> 100)
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