Saint Tolkien?

Seeking knowledge in, of, and about Middle-earth.
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Voronwë the Faithful
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Saint Tolkien?

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

I learned through John Rateliff's blog that there is a movement to have Tolkien canonized. There is even a website, Cause for Tolkien. I find it all very odd. Not being Catholic, I don't really have an opinion on the subject. But I find it very odd. Very odd indeed!
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
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Beutlin
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Re: Saint Tolkien?

Post by Beutlin »

"Saint John of Oxford?" might be a more fitting title to this thread.

The linked website at least reads rather like the work of only superficially practicing but overly-enthusiastic Middle-earth fans, as opposed to one of devout Catholics.
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Frelga
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Re: Saint Tolkien?

Post by Frelga »

I am also not a Catholic and have no opinion, but aren't there supposed to be miracles first? And the body not decaying?
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.

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Beutlin
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Re: Saint Tolkien?

Post by Beutlin »

Incorruptibility of the body is not a requirement for sainthood, nor is it canonical proof for a person's sainthood.

In most cases, at least two miracles are required for sainthood, and one miracle for beatification (to oversimplify a little bit, the stage before sainthood). The Catholic canonization process requires a very long time, usually several decades, if not centuries. So I doubt even the youngest among us would come to see his canonization if it ever came to be (25 March, 3019, seems like a realistic date ^^).
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Primula Baggins
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Re: Saint Tolkien?

Post by Primula Baggins »

It's also not unusual for the process to be begun for beloved figures, even if there's little expectation that it will be completed.

Beutlin, that would be a highly appropriate date! :)
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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