Lincoln as secular saint

[LincolnToddFan]

Perhaps, but there is a great deal of difference between a secular saint and a Christian saint.

The Catholic Church recognizes the extraordinary personal sanctity/holiness of a person as the standard for sainthood.

A secular "saint" has qualities that the press and public admires, like courage or heroism. But courage is not necessarily a supernatural virtue, and a person can have that very admirable quality without being a follower of Christ. The late Christopher Reeve and Diana Princess of Wales are examples of humans that the world elevated for "human" reasons, not because they bore heroic witness to the Gospel.

In other words the difference between a secular saint and a Catholic one is Jesus Christ.

MyNameisKate...you are right that Ecclesiastes says that the dead know nothing. But that's because Ecclesiastes is part of the Old Testament and was written before the arrival of the Son of God. There was no hope of salvation for anyone at all before that happened. When Christ briefly descended to the dead after His death on the Cross, he awakened their souls by the Good News that He had defeated death and made them part of the New Covenant.

This is the teaching of the Church and as a Catholic it's what I also believe and accept. I don't want anyone to think I am judging them if they have different beliefs. I am always open to listening to the beliefs of others.