Question about mythological saints

[Ziggamafu]

...like some of the "14 Holy Helpers" for instance. There are quite a few well-known saints whose origins are very sketchy at best. Some are all but certain to be mythological. I feel weird about invoking their help, but at the same time want to keep tradition...what should I do?

[Mommie2Boys]

The way I see it, it can't hurt. If those saints are in heaven, then they can become your intercessors. If not, I don't think any prayer is wasted. But this is strictly my opinion.

[jovan66102]

Mommie2Boys,

 

Good answer. God will hear the prayers directed in Faith even if the Saint never existed. St George, Dragon Slayer, Pray for Us!

[CampeadorShin]

Then would it be bad to make up a Saint?  Because if a Saint never really existed, then someone must've made him/her up.

[Quo_Vadis_Petre]

How can we make up and celebrate a Mass of a Saint that never existed? Because all of the 14 Helpers are commemorated at least in the Liturgy.

[Clarkthepapist]

It would seem to me that these "mythological" saints are only that because of the liberal anti Catholic scholors trying to disprove their existence or trying to connect them to other religions in order to discredit the Church.

[QuisUtDeus]

Then would it be bad to make up a Saint?  Because if a Saint never really existed, then someone must've made him/her up.

If you willfully made up a Saint, it would be bad because then it's a lie.

 

Most of the "mythological" saints probably existed, but their stories were combined with others, mixed up over time, etc. 

 

If the Church says someone is a Saint, you can have a devotion to them.  If there was some mixup, God will know what to do with the prayers, and no sin is incurred because the Church allowed the licety.

 

Besides prayers, the Saints also set examples for us to follow.  They serve a lot of purposes in the Church, both Militant and Triumphant, and most likely Suffering.

 

 

[charlesh]

Clark makes a very good point that we should always keep in mind. The common tactic is the argument from silence. ("There's not much on "historical" record tying the rosary to the 13th century, therefore it's doubtful that the familiar story of the origin of the rosary is 'historically' true.") Notice that this is the same tactic (or blunder) that Protestants use to discredit extra-biblical claims: "It isn't explicitly set forth in the bible, therefore it never happened."