Qualifying Saints

In the great intertwining of the vicissitudes of Mediæval history involving people in general, and individual leaders in particular, often the political, dynastic, and military personages took over historical memory, leaving in the shadows the individual religious, moral, and charitable people of the time.  This is especially true with so many holy figures of noble families during that period. Often they worked more or less openly, helping others in need through the founding of monasteries and churches. Indeed, numerous noble women, having become widowed, subsequently devoted themselves to retired life in a monastery, typically founded by them years earlier.  In some cases, they became abbesses of their local religious communities.  Many turned to a life of fasting and good deeds.  For these reasons, some of these women, while not canonized or recognized generally by the Church, have been referred to by the local people or monastic orders as Blessed.

As a Society, we have no doubt there were many notable people in history who led venerable, holy lives. As Alan Koman points out in his very useful A Who’s Who of Your Ancestral Saints (2010), in reading of the lives of the holy men and women who were recognized during the first millennium, the terms “Saint” and “Blessed” seem to have been used interchangeably. We do not doubt there are many of our ancestors who led holy lives, themselves, for who are we to judge that specific aspect of their character. We have reviewed many volumes published over the last three centuries, all of which clearly are authoritative on the lives of the Saints and the Beatified.  These treatises reveal that often, small Mediæval communities considered certain people within their own communities or small regions as holy, but these same sources appear to provide little or no support for that reverence.

Because of this defect in early records, the Society has adopted a standard for recognition of our Saintly ancestors. When there exists an absence of recognition by some significant portion of the Church, or even when some clear evidence, such as a cultus dedicated to religious adoration (beyond the presence of a church building or a memorial statue or other icon), is lacking in order to conclude sainthood or beatification, the Society elects not to recognize them as Propositus Ancestors for the purpose of establishing or augmenting membership. We are always open to the presentation of further evidence that might lead us to reconsider our position on specific individuals.

Following is a self-explanatory list of the Saints recognized by our Society. This information will be helpful when determining which Saint one wishes to use either to join the Society or to submit a supplementary application. It may be opened in a separate window in your web browser, or you may download it for future reference.

The above list is a proprietary document of this Society.
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