Dalam agama Kristian, istilah santo (pinjaman bahasa Portugis[1] - bagi wanita: santa) diberikan kepada seseorang yang telah terbukti menjalani hidup melakukn kebajikan yang dikagumi dan berani serta berkeperibadian suci atau kudus.[2] Gelaran ini bisa digunakan kepada orang hidup ataupun mati, dan diterima dalam dunia agama.

Santo dianggap masyarakat sebagai tokoh yang perlu dicontohi gaya hidup atau ajarannya baik kepada generasi terkini mahupun untuk masa akan datang. Secara amnya dalam banyak aliran gereja Kristian, sesiapa sahaja yang diketahui kuat dalam pegangan anutan dianggap layak "suci" di sisi Tuhan namun hanya sebahagian individu yang dilihat lebih layak mendapat kehormatan atau penyanjungan tinggi[3] sehingga mendapat pengiktirafan utama dan rasmi dari gereja anutan.

Tahap-tahap Pengkanonan dalam Gereja Katolik
  Hamba Tuhan   →   Venerabilis   →   Beatifikasi   →   Santo/Santa  

Lihat pula sunting

Templat:Santo-stub

Rujukan sunting

  1. ^ Dalgado, Sebastião Rodolfo (1988). Portuguese Vocables in Asiatic Languages. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. m/s. 176.
  2. ^ "saint". Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia. ISBN 0-8024-9697-0. Christians in general are 'saints' in NT usage, and the term is common in reference to the inclusive membership of a local church . . . Other references in the NT equate Christians in general with 'saints' . . . All these are identified as saints because they are in Christ Jesus.
  3. ^ Woodward, Kenneth L. (1996). Making Saints. Simon & Sachier. m/s. 16. ISBN 978-0-684-81530-5. Among other Christian churches, the Russian Orthodox retains a vigorous devotion to the saints, especially the early church fathers and martyrs. On rare occasions, new names (usually monks or bishops) are grafted onto their traditional list of saints.... Something like the cult continues among Anglicans and Lutherans, who maintain feast days and calendars of saints. But while the Anglicans have no mechanism for recognizing new saints, the Lutherans from time to time do informally recommend new names (Da Hammarskjold, Dietrick Bonhoeffer, and Pope John XXIII are recent additions) for thanksgiving and remembrance by the faithful. The saint, then, is a familiar figure in all world religions. But only the Roman Catholic Church has a formal, continuous, and highly rationalized process for 'making' saints.