A complete version of the Roman Martyrology, the Vatican’s list of all the canonized saints and blesseds, will soon be launched as a searchable database on eCatholicHub.net. The eCatholicHub database does not leave out any saint or blessed, which its creators say make it the “most comprehensive source” for saint information on the internet.
The database includes each saint’s or blessed’s full name, feast day, year of death, and the order in which the person is commemorated on his or her feast day. The database also incorporates special titles, pictures and biographical information for hundreds of saints.
Users may search the database by name or through advanced searches using multiple criteria. They can find patron saints and namesakes, martyrs and bishops, and saints from every place and time.
Jim Zapapas, a Denver database programmer, joined with Mark Giszczak, a graduate student at Catholic University of America, to create the database. Giszczak translated names, titles and geographical terms from the Roman Martyrology, which is currently published only in Latin.
The last edition of the Roman Martyrology was published in 2004 but is continually updated by the Vatican. The eCatholicHub database includes all the saints and blesseds who have been added since 2004.
The Catholic internet portal eCatholicHub, writing in a press release, said it funded the project because so many new saints and blesseds have been added, making it difficult for the faithful to remain current. Further, the site wished to provide access to the Roman Martyrology for English speakers without knowledge of Latin.
“eCatholicHub felt that Catholics have a right to this information and that it was a need the site could fill. Now if someone wants to find out if a person is a saint or not, they can look here.” “It truly is the most powerful saint database on the web and it should be extremely useful for lay people and specialists alike,” eCatholicHub said.
The database will first be viewable on October 1 at http://www.ecatholichub.net.
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(Source: CNA)