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It is one who is reasonably believed by the Church to be worthy of emulation and is by virtue of his or her exemplary faith enjoying the beatific vision in heaven.

Broadly speaking, a saint is one who is living in sanctifying grace, whether here on earth, in purgatory, or in heaven. A canonized saint is one who God has chosen to work a minimum of two miracles through as a result of intercessionary prayer from a believer on earth - and subject to the Church's scrutiny. Also, the Church will explore the writings of the person under consideration (no heretical saints!) as well as their life here on earth - by their fruits, they shall be known. But it is only by miraculous intervention does the Church know for sure if someone is truly enjoying the beatific vision.

I do not think prayers for intercession to men we personally believe to be saintly are forbidden, but only prayers to canonized saints are encouraged.

I believe that since we are ALL part of the Body of Christ (Church Militant, Suffering, and Triumphant) and death cannot separate us from Christ or the Body, we CAN ask for the intercessionary prayers of the souls in Purgatory.

"The Provincial Synods of Vienna (1858) and of Utrecht (1865) teach that the poor souls can help us by THEIR intercessions. Pope Leo XIII in 1889 ratified an indulgenced prayer in which the poor souls are appealed to in dangers to body and soul... (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Ott, pg 323)

While St. Thomas Aquinas argued against this, the Church never frowned on the invocation of the poor souls - a practice widespread among the Faithful, and which has been advocated by many theologians. It is possible that the poor souls may acquire knowledge of the invocations of the Faithful by Divine Revelation.

"The veneration of dulia may not be offered to the suffering souls." (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogman, Ott, pg 323)

Regards

we CAN ask for the intercessionary prayers of the souls in Purgatory.

My question was even simpler -- can we pray for the intercession of those who we have good reason to believe are saintly, -- not merely forgiven and perhaps are still suffering, but who, we personally believe, are in heaven?

For example, many pray for the intercession of the late Holy Father even though he has not been canonized.

Thank you both for your responses.

I have a Catholic relative who prays to her deceased father for intercession. (A good man, but obviously not Canonized.) Based on your whole post, I take it then, that I have no need to "correct" her as a Catholic. She also believes that her father is watching over her family and is thus aware of what is happening on earth. Is this correct?

Please forgive my ignorance, but I don't know anything of the exact Church teaching of purgatory. Who goes there? Why? What's it like, and for how long? What is the strongest scriptural support for this, or is this considered tradition?