Servant of God

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Servant of God is the title given to a deceased person of the Roman Catholic Church whose life and works are being investigated in consideration for official recognition by the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church as a saint in heaven. It is the first step in the process leading to being declared Venerable upon a decree of heroicity or martyrdom and then honored in beatification with the title of Blessed after the confirmation of miracles attributed to the honoree. The final step is canonization where the honoree would receive the title of Saint.

This should not be confused with Servus Servorum Dei (Servant of the Servants of God), one of the titles of the Pope.

General usage

In general Christian usage (and in some other religious traditions -- the Arabic name Abdullah عبد الله literally means "servant of God"), the phrase "servant of God" is used as a description of a person believed to be pious in his or her faith tradition. Though it is commonly only formally used for those for whom a process of canonization has started, in fact it is proper to use it of any Christian. The Eastern Churches, e.g., use this term to describe the believer approaching to receive the Eucharist, also called Holy Communion. Hence, it is not yet a declaration by the Church at this stage in the process of any actual finding of fact about the person.

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Last updated on Saturday January 19, 2008 at 15:04:07 PST (GMT -0800)
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