The term "secular saint" has no strict definition, but generally refers to someone
venerated
Veneration (; ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Veneration of saints is practiced, ...
and respected for contributions to a noble cause, but not recognized as a
canonical saint by any particular
religion
Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...
. The ranks of secular saints, like those of religious ones, are often filled by
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...
s.
Revered historical figures
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
began his "
Reflections on Gandhi": "Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent…" Orwell concluded his essay with an attack on the idea of sainthood but praise for
Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...
:
One may feel, as I do, a sort of aesthetic distaste for Gandhi, one may reject the claims of sainthood made on his behalf (he never made any such claim himself, by the way), one may also reject sainthood as an ideal and therefore feel that Gandhi's basic aims were anti-human and reactionary: but regarded simply as a politician, and compared with the other leading political figures of our time, how clean a smell he has managed to leave behind!
The term "secular saint" has also been used with reference to the
incel community, which has been observed referring to mass-killer
Elliot Rodger as "Saint Elliot" within the online spaces and discourses of the community and celebrating the anniversary of the
2014 Isla Vista killings
Two misogynistic terror, misogynistic terrorist attacks occurred in Isla Vista, California, United States on the evening of May 23, 2014. 22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured fourteen others by gunshot, stabbing and vehicle ...
as "Saint Elliot Day". Some academics, such as Taisto Witt, have suggested that, while the incel community is apparently
nonreligious
Irreligion is the absence or rejection of religious beliefs or practices. It encompasses a wide range of viewpoints drawn from various philosophical and intellectual perspectives, including atheism, agnosticism, religious skepticism, rationa ...
, their treatment of Rodger suggests that he has been appointed to a position that functionally operates as that of a saint within the community.
[‘If i cannot have it, i will do everything i can to destroy it.' the canonization of Elliot Rodger: ‘Incel’ masculinities, secular sainthood, and justifications of ideological violence, Witt, T. (2020) Social Identities]
See also
*
Beatification
Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the p ...
*
Canonization
Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon ca ...
*
Hagiography
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...
*
Saint
In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...
*
Folk saint
Folk saints are dead people or other spiritually powerful entities (such as indigenous spirits) venerated as saints, but not officially canonization, canonized. Since they are saints of the "folk", or the ''populus'', they are also called popular s ...
*
Phallic saint
Phallic saints are representations of saints or local deities who are invoked for fertility. The representations of the phallus are benevolent symbols of prolificacy and reproductive fruitfulness, and objects of reverence and worship especiall ...
*
Military saint
The military saints, warrior saints and soldier saints are patron saints, martyrs and other saints associated with the military. They were originally composed of the early Christians who were soldiers in the Roman army during the persecution of ...
Notes
References and further reading
*
The Path of Brighteousness by
Cullen Murphy for ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 185 ...
'' (November 2003)
* {{Cite journal , last = Witt , first = T. , title = 'If i cannot have it, i will do everything i can to destroy it.' the canonization of Elliot Rodger: 'Incel' masculinities, secular sainthood, and justifications of ideological violence , journal =
Social Identities , volume = 26 , issue = 5 , pages = 675–689 , doi = 10.1080/13504630.2020.1787132 , date = 30 June 2020
Heroes