Do Anglicans Canonize Saints?

Here is another excerpt from For All the Saints, which may be helpful. It is the last few paragraphs of the introduction, and I highly recommend reading the whole article.

 

That is not in accord with the facts.

 

Here is a pretty cool blog post about Anglicanism and the advocation of the Saints:

http://conciliaranglican.com/2012/09/05/either-the-saints-are-alive-or-jesus-is-dead/

O God, the King of saints, we praise and glorify your holy Name for all your servants who have finished their course in your faith and fear: for the blessed Virgin Mary; for the holy patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs; and for all your other righteous servants, known to us and unknown; and we pray that, encouraged by their examples, aided by their prayers, and strengthened by their fellowship, we also may be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; through the merits of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.​

​

 

There's a hymn that sums up, popularly at least, what I think is the Anglican understanding of Sainthood, especially the third verse. Hymn no. 293:

I sing a song of the saints of God,
patient and brave and true,
who toiled and fought and lived and died
for the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
and one was a shepherdess on the green;
they were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.

They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
and his love made them strong;
and they followed the right for Jesus' sake
the whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
and one was slain by a fierce wild beast;
and there's not any reason, no, not the least,
why I shouldn't be one too.

They lived not only in ages past;
there are hundreds of thousands still.
The world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus' will.
You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store,
in church, by the sea, in the house next door;
they are saints of God, whether rich or poor,

and I mean to be one too.

Interesting fact, the revision committee for the 1982 Hymnal tried to throw this song out, but popular demand forced them to add it back in.

 

That is a good one!! I totally forgot about hymns, as they do add another source of theological depth and poetry - they really are the psalms of Christianity!

I myself was thinking of that classic hymn, "For All the Saints, Who From Their Labours Rest," as it contains that sublime verse:

O blest communion, fellowship divine!​

we feebly struggle, they in glory shine;​

all are one in thee, for all are thine.​

Alleluia, Alleluia!​

Or how about "God, Whose City's Sure Foundation,"

Some there were like lamps of learning​

shining in a faithless night,​

some on fire with love, and burning​

with a flaming zeal for right,​

some by simple goodness turning​

souls from darkness unto light.​

​

As we now with high thanksgiving​

their triumphant names record,​

grant that we, like them, believing​

in the promise of thy word,​

may, like them, in all good living​

praise and magnify the Lord.​

Or even this lovely hymn: http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/g/g022.html

By the way, Lowly Layman, what is the hymnal called? In Canada, we utilise the Common Praise book, which is the main hymnal for all Canadian Anglicans... and of course, in my particular parish, we have the supplementary New English Hymnal, which is Anglo-Catholic in character (it has plenty of hymns for specific saints, such as the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Evangelists, the Apostles, hymns to the Blessed Sacrament, etc.).

I am not sure what it is, but I can say for sure that while the Reformed tradition may have rearranged the Anglican Faith when it split from the Bishop of Rome towards that of Canterbury, the Anglican Communion has become more and more Catholic as time goes by.

 

good question Lux. idk. in the hymnals, theyre either identified by number (293) or the first line. so i guess it's called "i sing a song of the saints of god".

 

Found it. It's called The Hymnal 1982. XD It's the official one for the Episcopal Church, and the hymn, apparently is a popular one with Episcopalians in the United States.It's not in our hymnals, nor have I ever heard it sung! The former two hymns that I quoted above, "For All The Saints" and "God, Whose City's Sure Foundation" are probably more familiar up here.

I guess the Church of England and the Anglican Church of Canada share more similar hymnaries than the Episcopal Church of Scotland and the USA, lol.

 

Well that is something we need to remedy. Youtube features several versions of the song, but since I learned and sang it the first time as a child, I like this best:

Enjoy!

 

OMG that was soo cute! Way too precious! ^-^; I pray that those children will have learned a little something about the Communion of Saints!

I can't wait to have my own children and be a mother some day! :')

 

KCM is still celebrated/commemorated in the CofE but probably not that widely. (My Diocese does). There is an active Society of King Charles the Martyr and a few English churches are dedicated to him.

He was canonised according to pre 10th century custom. This was carried out by Convocation with the support of Parliament. A report published in the late 1950's (Saints & Heroes in the Anglican Communion) refers to this as a genuine canonisation. Historically there have been some alleged cures ascribed to him. According to the diarist John Evelyn, Bishop Ken reported such a case to Charles II. Apparently when Charles' tomb was opened in the early 19th century, his body was claimed to be incorrupt and of sweet odour.

There was a canonisation made during the reign of Henry VIII after the break with Rome but I don't have the reference to hand.

 

The parish church in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, is dedicated to Charles, King and Martyr.

I did see a list of Anglican "saints" somewhere but I have been unable to dig it up. It was an interesting list, including not only Tyndale, Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley and Laud, but also the Wesleys, and, wait for it, Thomas More. On Wikipedia an American RC referred to this as "B/S". I pointed out to him that it was typically forgiving of the Anglican communion to honour a man who had given his life for his beliefs (and persecuted Protestants).......and I got a curt and very rude reply.

 

Here I would like to repeat my question:
What about Anglicans and name days?

Do some Anglicans celebrate name days in any way?

 

I think your thread had responses. Some older Anglicans are aware of their name days, but name days are not celebrated, and younger Anglicans don't even know what day their name day is. I have no idea what day is Saint Zachary/Zechariah's day.

If an Anglican does celebrate their name day it's a personal choice because they think it is interesting or fun, not because there's any support for the tradition in the Church. There is nothing wrong with celebrating a name day so long as it doesn't lead to the improper idolisation of your namesake.

 

"celebrate" may mean lots of things.

From a big party to: just thinking of it

 

@ Saint Zachary

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=251

So: Their feast day is November 5th.