Do Catholics Worship Saints?

Father Mike Schmitz wants to address some confusion regarding Catholics’ veneration of saints. In this video, he explains how—far from idolatry or paganism —statues, paintings, and icons of the saints are reminders of what God can do in someone’s life. Therefore, honoring the saints doesn’t take away from the glory we give God. It actually brings him greater glory.


Fr. Mike is also a presenter in these faith formation programs from Ascension:





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[harrison_williams]

I love you Fr Mike. You’ve helped me tremendously on my path out of atheism, to the kingdom of God.

[kimjohmsam]

love this ~~~ St. Augustine: "When it comes to the Saints, we give them "dulia" which means honor, veneration. When it comes to Mary, we give her "hyperdulia" which is this even more honor and veneration. When it comes to God, we give him "latria" which is worship. And worship belongs to him alone. "

[jimivey]

It is such a pleasure to listen to a man who so clearly loves his profession! His enthusiasm is contagious!

[vincentprice]

I just wanna say I'm not Catholic, I'm Protestant but I love your channel and despite our differences I see you all as brothers in Christ. As long as we agree that Christ is the only way and you only follow the Bible and no other doctrines, you're Christians and I refuse to let Satan divide us..

[tonyhector]

I’m a Protestant moving towards the Catholic faith and this channel has been integral in stretching my mind / making me think and dig into His Holy Word. Love it.

[colonythirteenstars]

Father Mike - Thank you. As a Protestant getting closer to crossing the Tiber, this was a great explanation. Furthermore, it is perfectly consistent with all other Catholic explanations I have discussed or read, again giving credence to the Catholic stance.

[jessevelasquez]

I have friends and coworkers, even protestants, who when going through hard times have asked me to pray for them or to keep them in my prayers. I never turn them away or tell them to go and pray directly to God. On the contrary I will absolutely help and pray for them.

[meagane]

Thanks for explaining this so well! Protestants are always confused by this aspect of Catholicism and honestly I find it hard to explain to them even though I was born and raised in the holy mother church

[serafinjusino]

My father's 2 dogs escaped and my dad was very, very distraught. I prayed to God and to St. Anthony to intercede and ask our Lord Father Jesus Christ that my dad's dogs be found. My dad found him the next day and called me and told me it was like a miracle, because Harley was on his way to a main road. Only one was found and I pray that the other is found soon, but it was been 2 months. But I believe that St Anthony indeed intercede for me and asked Jesus about my dad's dog. And God graciously allowed my dad to have his Harley back. I hope wherever Chevy is, he can get back to my dad, or at least know what happened to him.

[larkbird]

I'm always amazed at the things people believe about Roman Catholicism. Someone even accused me of praying TO the Pope! They didn't really believe me when I explained that no, we pray FOR the Pope. Of course, there is always the anti-Mary thing. So many believe Our Blessed Mother was just some random girl.... as though God would not have taken care in creating the woman who would birth and raise His Son! Now THAT'S just crazy talk, in my opinion.

[virginiagates]

Father did a great job here.
As a convert to the Catholic faith, I would also clarify the term "pray." Because Protestants don't pray to the saints, they have lost the secondary meaning of "pray" in their vocabulary. Because they only pray to God, praying is automatically only equated with latria in their minds. So if one says, "Pray to Mary, she will help you." They interiorly (at least) stiffen with horror at what is being suggested. However, Catholics always use and understand the meaning of the word "pray" (in whatever grammatical form), when referring to the saints, as its possible second dictionary definition and that is "to ask." Most Protestants have heard lines from Shakespeare at some point in their life. They would do well to recall hearing the expression, "I pray thee....", which today we would say, " I ask you..." Catholics have simply retained the secondary use of "pray", where as, Protestants have not.

[auntbertha]

When protestants claim that we "worship" Mary and the saints, they are claiming to know our thoughts and intentions, which they do NOT know. We Catholics worship GOD And we HONOUR Mary and the saints for their service to God and for the example they set for us to show us that we too can acheive holiness.

[PCphal]

Fr. Mike. I have found your videos to be very educational and informative. I'm a Presbyterian, and I know very little about Catholicism, and you've helped me understand Catholic practices and doctrine that is often misunderstood by protestant denominations.

[miamilan]

I like to pray directly to Jesus. Yes, I can pray with someone for something but for myself, in my alone time, I pray to Jesus.

[catiecat]

I just want to say that I’m so happy I found this channel. I’m a very devoted Catholic, but my Father and step mother are both just Christian. Their reasons for not being Catholic involve thinking that we worship saints. It has been very hard for me to hear their complaints about the Catholic faith. This channel makes me feel so much better and not so alone. Thank you 🙏

[chrismarshall]

I hope you see this. I have just started my adult path to converting to Catholicism . Your videos are answering lots of my questions. Thank you so much.

[davidcole]

I'm an ex Protestant and have been Catholic now for 4 years. I find that there are a lot of Protestants that really don't understand, nor attempt to understand, the beliefs of the Catholic church. I also find that there are many that want to call out Catholicism as a cult and we are not true believers. It is vital that we deeply understand and zealously defend our faith. For it is under attack from all sides, even from our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

[onofrerigor]

To be religious as children of God, Jesus Christ commanded us to love one another - not to fight and destroy each other.

[georgekaftan]

I question Catholacism like any honest Catholic, but the argument that we worship saints has always blown mind. Ask any knowledgeable Catholic if they worship saints and you will hear a resounding NO. But Protestants insist and insist that we do for some reason. If a Catholic says they don't worship saints, they don't. That's it. Nobody can accidentally worship something, so why continue to push this point after you have heard EVERY competent Catholic deny saint worshipping?? Worship comes from the heart and soul and is completely intentional. WE DON'T WORSHIP SAINTS!

[brokenwings]

I love catholic people with all my heart I have catholic family i love as well.