Tuesday, September 10, 2013

What qualifies a saint: An examination of the suggested canonization of Emilio Sandoz

So my interest in what qualifies a saint began when I was reading "The Sparrow" and D.W. Yarbrough and Anne Edwards kept referring to the fact that Emilio Sandoz was so holy that he might in fact be a saint.
I was very confused.
Having been raised in a very protestant household my experiences and knowledge about sainthood only consists of having seen a sculpture of St. Francis of Assisi dancing in Santa Fe and putting a picture of it as my cellphone background for nearly a year.

He's beautiful, right?
So as one would, I went on to Google dictionary and Merriam-Webster Dictionary to see if Emilio Sandoz really qualified as a saint. I mainly got loose terms such as "one of God's holy people" and "one eminent for piety or virtue". My favorite definition was a saint is "an illustrious predecessor". In these terms Emilio Sandoz could certainly be considered a saint at that time in the book. He acted pious, virtuous and seemed to all his friends as one looked on by God with favor. Yet many people are religious and live well. Does that make them all saints too?
Dummies.com doesn't think so (my second go-to resource after Google-dictionary). Apparently there is much more criteria one has to meet before being canonized than I thought. Firstly, one has to be dead to be a saint. Once a possible saint has died, the persons case is brought before the Pope who then decides if they qualify. The person needs to have completed at least two miracles with eye-witnesses and have a specific cause.Then they are given more background checks then a suspected terrorist. If the miracles seem completely legitimate and all is well then they are canonized. Deus vult. If God wills it.

In the traditional Catholic sense, Emilio Sandoz is nowhere near a saint. He was born to a life of drug-selling and stealing in La Perla, Puerto Rico. From there he led a rebellious life even after he was given a second-chance as a reformed school boy. Eventually he converted to Christianity and became a Jesuit Priest. In his journey on Rakhat there were times when he seemed blessed by God. He mentions on several times that he had "fallen in love with God." He does amazing things in Rakhat, such as establishing solid relationships with aliens and turning away from the women he loves because he knows he must remain celibate. Yet, are these miracles. No. They're extraordinary, yet doable. He must have had unbelievable charisma and piety to have all his friends believe he was a saint. He wasn't. He was a man, prone to make mistakes like any other man. This is seen even more in the end of the book, which I shall neglect to mention since my book group has not gotten that far.
Oh, I neglected to mention that to be considered a saint one's body has to be dug up and examined. A saints body does not decay, the blood never dries, and apparently it smells like roses. Since Emilio has not yet died in the book I cannot consider or examine this specific qualification.

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