Decades ago, one could even speak of centuries ago, parents used to assign the first names of their children according to the feasts of the saints of that day, even among Catholics and Orthodox the custom of congratulating people on Your saint’s day. Not in vain in the famous “Mañanitas” there is a stanza that says: “Today, because it’s your birthday, we sing them to you here…”.

He onomastic alludes to the day when a saint is celebrated, although it is common for many people to use it as a synonym for birthday, which is wrong, because when they talk about it, they only allude to the list of holy names.

Like every day of the year, today also commemorates the women and men who stood out for having special connections with the deities, who did good deeds for their neighbors and who had high ethics and morals, reasons that led them to to be canonized or beatified and be among the saints.

It is the day of the saint Friday February 17.

At Amasea, in the Hellespont, passion of Saint Theodore, a soldier who, under the Emperor Maximian, for having openly confessed his Christian faith, was terribly scourged, imprisoned and finally burned alive. Saint Gregory of Nisa sang the praises of this saint in one of his speeches.

With this character is other saints and martyrs which are also celebrated this Friday, February 17 as follows:

Saint Alexius Falconieri and companions

Saint-Bonose

San Constable

San Evermodo

San Fian

Saint Fintan

Saint Flavian

Saint Mesrob

San Pedro Yu Chong-nyul

Saint-Silvin-d’Auchy

Blessed Anthony Lesczewicz

Marchand during the canonization of Pope John Paul II. (Reuters)

The Catholic and Orthodox Church uses canonization to declare a deceased person a saint who during his life made sacrifices or was linked to a divine event in favor of the church.

This involves including the person’s name in the canon (list of recognized saints) and permission is granted by the Catholic Church to venerate her, acknowledging her power before God.

During Christianity, people were recognized as saints without the need for a formal process; however, this changed in the Middle Ages. In the case of Catholicism, the Church must make an exhaustive inquiry into the life of the person to be sanctified.

For the Catholic Church, there are four ways to achieve this: the way of heroic virtues; the path of martyrdom; that of exceptional causes, confirmed by an ancient cult and written sources; and the offer of life.

General view of a mass for the canonization of 19th century British Cardinal John Henry Newman, a Swiss laywoman, an Indian nun, an Italian nun and a nun known as "Mother Teresa of Brazil"at the Vatican, October 13, 2019. (REUTERS/Remo Casilli)
A general view of a mass for the canonization of 19th century British Cardinal John Henry Newman, a Swiss laywoman, an Indian nun, an Italian nun and a nun known as ‘Mother Teresa of Brazil’, at the Vatican, on October 13, 2019. (REUTERS/Remo Casilli)

Catholicism is one of the most practiced religions in the world. The most recent data from the Vatican – in particular from its Ecclesial Statistical Yearbook – indicate that there are more 1,360 million Catholics in the world.

The American continent is where the most Catholics predominate, with nearly half of those registered by the Vatican, being more than a quarter located in South America.

In recent years, the Vatican has realized that the presence of Catholics has grown considerably on two continents: Asia -especially the Middle East- and Africa.

In contrast, religious rates in Europe declined, while in Oceania they remained stable.

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