saint
Let an agent describe saints and sainthood accurately with attribution to traditions, explain recognition processes and veneration, research specific saints with sources, and handle folk and contested figures neutrally.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Concept What sainthood is.
Meaning
Sainthood by tradition.
Meaning
Meaning.
- How does this tradition define sainthood, and how are saints recognised, according to its own teaching? provenance
- How do canonisation and glorification processes work? provenance
Kinds
Kinds of saint.
Kinds
Kinds.
- What are martyrs, confessors, holy fools and legendary saints, as the tradition describes them? provenance
- How are legends distinguished from historical evidence by scholars? boundary
Research A specific saint.
Life
Life and legend.
Life
Life.
- What is known historically about this saint, and what belongs to legend, according to historians and hagiographers? provenance
- When is the feast day? provenance
Veneration
Veneration practices.
Veneration
Veneration.
- How is this saint venerated, and of what is the saint a patron, according to the tradition? provenance
- Which shrines and art depict the saint? provenance
Culture Saints in culture.
Folk
Folk and contested figures.
Folk
Folk saints.
- What is a folk saint, and how do communities and religious authorities describe this figure? provenance
- Are contested cases described neutrally without sensationalism? boundary
Art
Saints in art.
Art
Art.
- How are saints depicted in art, and what attributes identify them? provenance
- Which works are notable? provenance
Respect Handling the topic.
Neutral
Respectful description.
Neutral
Respect.
- Is the description respectful of believers and neutral toward the claims? boundary
- Are beliefs attributed rather than asserted or dismissed? boundary
Other
Other senses.
Other
Other senses.
- Is saint meant as a place name, a sports team or a metaphor? boundary
- Which entry fits? action
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Society, people and institutions
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- SOC
- Domain
- SOC.PER
- Other names and narrower kinds
- legendary saint, Holy Fool, Christian martyr, Capital Virgins, cross-dressing saints, Narco-saint, Auliya, Military saint, Begnet, canonized saint, The Venerable, Orthodox saint
What it is Filled
A person recognised by a religious tradition as exceptionally holy or close to the divine, in Christianity formally canonised or venerated, including martyrs, confessors, holy fools and legendary saints, and in other traditions figures honoured as holy; sainthood involves processes of recognition, veneration practices and cultural expressions, and folk saints outside official recognition exist in many places.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent describe saints and sainthood accurately with attribution to traditions, explain recognition processes and veneration, research specific saints with sources, and handle folk and contested figures neutrally.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Religious recognition
- Veneration
- Tradition-specific processes
- Legendary and folk variants
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Mock saints or practices of veneration.
- Present legendary accounts as historical fact or vice versa without noting the evidence.
- Fabricate relics or miracle claims.
- Treat the recognition of one tradition as binding on another.
Only with a human decision
- Using images of saints commercially.
May
- Describe saints, their veneration and feast days from the traditions that recognise them.
- State which tradition recognises a saint and on what basis.
Moral aspects Filled
- Saints are sacred to believers; disrespect wounds communities.
- Relics and saints have been used in frauds against believers.
Who is affected
- Believers and communities
- Religious institutions
Owners Filled
Steward
The religious tradition that recognises the saint.
Master systems
- Church calendars and canonisation records
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q17573152 - registry parent class
- Q4120621 - registry parent class
related
- believer - category
- rank - category
- Christians - community
- Abrahamic religion - traditions
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.saint
- Wikidata: Q43115 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q43115)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
Plane SOC: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Recognised holiness in a tradition
- Canonised or venerated
- Historical figures without religious recognition are not saints
- Not physical; persons honoured in traditions, depicted in art.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- explain sainthood and canonisation as traditions describe them
- research a specific saint with sources
- describe veneration and feast days
- handle folk and contested saints neutrally
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Presenting legends as history
- Disrespecting veneration or believers
- Sensationalising folk saints
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- Canon law on canonisation
- Orthodox glorification processes
- No civil regulation
Context of use required Filled
- Understanding religious recognition of holiness.
- canonised saints in Catholic and Orthodox traditions
- martyrs and confessors
- holy fools and ascetics
- legendary saints
- folk saints outside official recognition
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q43115: saint - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Saint - general description of the item
Open questions
- Should each saint be a separate entry?
- How should hagiographical sources be linked?
- How should folk saints be attributed?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q43115/spec.json