Catholic Church

===Saints and devotions===
{{Main|Saint|Canonization|Veneration|Catholic devotions}}
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A saint (also historically known as a hallow) is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness or closeness to God, while canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares that a person who has died was a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the "canon", or list, of recognized saints.<ref name="WilsonFischer2005">{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=Douglas|last2=Fischer|first2=Ty|year=2005|title=Omnibus II: Church Fathers Through the Reformation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zClmDnl3b3EC&pg=PA101|publisher=Veritas Press|isbn=978-1-932168-44-0|page=101|quote=The word 'hallow' means 'saint,' in that 'hallow' is just an alternative form of the word 'holy' ('hallowed be Thy name').|access-date=31 March 2021|archive-date=10 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310112757/https://books.google.com/books?id=zClmDnl3b3EC&pg=PA101#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="DiehlDonnelly2001">{{cite book|last1=Diehl|first1=Daniel|last2=Donnelly|first2=Mark|year=2001|title=Medieval Celebrations|publisher=Stackpole Books|url={{googlebooks|WKyMpNnRWUC|page=13|plainurl=y}}|isbn=978-0-8117-2866-9|page=13|quote=The word hallow was simply another word for saint.}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The first persons honoured as saints were the [[martyr]]s. Pious legends of their deaths were considered affirmations of the truth of their faith in Christ. By the fourth century, however, "[[confessor]]s"—people who had confessed their faith not by dying but by word and life—began to be venerated publicly.

In the Catholic Church, both in Latin and Eastern Catholic churches, the act of canonization is reserved to the [[Apostolic See]] and occurs at the conclusion of a long process requiring extensive proof that the candidate for canonization lived and died in such an exemplary and holy way that he is worthy to be recognized as a saint. The church's official recognition of sanctity implies that the person is now in [[Heaven]] and that he may be publicly invoked and mentioned officially in the [[liturgy]] of the church, including in the [[Litany of the Saints]]. [[Canonization]] allows universal veneration of the saint in the liturgy of the [[Roman Rite]]; for permission to venerate merely locally, only [[beatification]] is needed.<ref>"Beatification, in the present discipline, differs from canonization in this: that the former implies (1) a locally restricted, not a universal, permission to venerate, which is (2) a mere permission, and no precept; while canonization implies a universal precept" ([http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02364b.htm Beccari, Camillo. "Beatification and Canonisation".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724145034/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02364b.htm |date=24 July 2018 }} ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 2. New York, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. Accessed 27 May 2009.).</ref>

<!--// Begin //Content derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_devotions-->[[Catholic devotions|Devotions]] are "external practices of piety" which are not part of the official liturgy of the Catholic Church but are part of the popular spiritual practices of Catholics.<ref>{{cite book|last=Carroll|first=Michael P.|year=1989|title=Catholic Cults and Devotions: A Psychological Inquiry|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FHVmFOHNr7cC&pg=PA7|isbn=978-0-7735-0693-0|page=7|access-date=31 March 2021|archive-date=10 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310112749/https://books.google.com/books?id=FHVmFOHNr7cC&pg=PA7#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> These include various practices regarding the veneration of the saints, especially [[Veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church|veneration of the Virgin Mary]]. Other devotional practices include the [[Stations of the Cross]], the [[Sacred Heart]] of Jesus, the [[Holy Face of Jesus]],<ref name="etwndevoti">{{cite web|url=http://ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/index.asp|title=Catholic Prayers, Novenas, Prayers of Jesus, Marian Prayers, Prayers of the Saints|work=EWTN|access-date=4 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407085827/http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/index.asp|archive-date=7 April 2015}}</ref> the various [[scapular]]s, novenas to various saints,<ref name="popdevos">{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12275b.htm|title=Popular Devotions|work=New Advent|access-date=4 April 2015|archive-date=24 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150424075244/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12275b.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrimages]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12085a.htm|title=Pilgrimages|work=New Advent|access-date=4 April 2015|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211020331/https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12085a.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> and devotions to the [[Eucharist (Catholic Church)|Blessed Sacrament]],<ref name="popdevos"/> and the veneration of [[Santo (art)|saintly images]] such as the ''[[Santo (art)|santos]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1994-09-15/entertainment/ca-38635_1_art-center|first=Christopher|last=Knight|title=Art Review: Images of 'Santos': Fascinating Portrait of Catholic Devotion|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=15 September 1994|access-date=4 April 2015|archive-date=16 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416195335/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-09-15/entertainment/ca-38635_1_art-center|url-status=live}}</ref> The bishops at the Second Vatican Council reminded Catholics that "devotions should be so drawn up that they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, accord with the sacred liturgy, are in some fashion derived from it, and lead the people to it, since, in fact, the liturgy by its very nature far surpasses any of them."<ref>''[[Sacrosanctum Concilium]]'', 13</ref>