Roman Catholic Saints QUESTION from Jason on November 3, 2002 Sir -
By the process of making a person a Saint, is there also a process by which a person is unmade a Saint? Has any such occurence been documented?
Thanks. Jason
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on November 8, 2002 Dear Jason:
No, once a saint, always a saint.
The ways in which people became canonized Saints has changed over the centuries. The requirements are MUCH tougher today than they were 1500 years ago.
Thus there are some Saints that technically we are not sure actually existed, but devotion to those saints God still honors IF there are any that are only legends and not real.
Today, the Pope makes an infallible proclamation that raises a person to sainthood. As with all infallible declarations, it is irevokable.
Many people were under the mistaken notion that when the Church changed the Liturgical Calendar and removed some Saints that the Church was de-Sainting them. That is in error. Because there are only so many Saints we can fit into a yearly calendar, the Church chooses the Saints that have importance and meaning to the Universal Church. Thus from generation to generation the list of saints that have meaning to universal Church and its people can change and when it does the Church adds or removes those Saints from the calendar.
However, just because a Saint is removed from the calendar does not mean we cannot privately celebrate the feast day of that Saint.
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