The communion of saints: notes on holiness and martyrdom

Abstract

Here in this paper we aim to discuss the idea of holiness, that due to periods of extreme persecution to Christianity joined strongly to martyrdom, and as established in the Catholic devotion to the saints. We know that the concept of holiness belongs not only to the Catholic Church, not only to Christianity, but it is present in many religions, often characterized by a sense of rupture from the world and a specific connection with the sacred. So we do not intend here to bring a large concept of holiness that serves various religions, but to check how holiness has been understood within the Catholic world. We must verify that the Saints were taking basilar place in Catholic religiosity, serving as examples to the faithful that they create links of familiarity, often by passing through the same sufferings which they passed.