The formalities of canonization were slow to become standardized before
the 12th and 13th centuries when Rome finally imposed a pattern for the
investigation of the lives and achievements of dead people who might be
considered certain to have arrived in heaven. But going back to early
hagiographical sources, it was commonplace for writers to use sanctus as
an adjective for their hero or heroine both during life and after. The
word did not really mean "saint" but rather "holy." Still its use
dramatically illustrates the prevailing sloppiness of the early period.
Jo Ann McNamara
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