Whilst anyone can pray directly to God, Catholics believe it is an act of humility to ask a saint to intercede on one's behalf while also undertaking a personal relationship with God as part of an interior life.
A second miracle, after beatification, would prove that Prout was interceding directly on behalf of people and only then could she be canonised and recognised as a saint.
Christians in the Middle Ages believed that the relics of a saint could be used to intercede with God just as the saint had done in life.
As the church approaches a crucial synod at which thorny issues to do with the family are expected to be tackled – such as the status of remarried divorcees in the church – Francis said he hoped the two new saints would intercede with God "so that … [the church] may be open to the Holy Spirit in pastoral service to the family".
As the 1.2 billion-strong church nears a crucial synod on the family, at which it is expected to tackle thorny issues such as the status of remarried divorcees, Francis said he hoped the new saints would intercede with God to help the church "be open to the Holy Spirit in pastoral service to the family".
People beg saints to intercede with even higher powers.
The saints won't intercede this time; indeed the social positions of the political right have hardened to 5th century proportions, making the phrase "barefoot and pregnant" relevant again.
The number of altars dedicated to saints, who could intercede in this process, also grew dramatically, with St . Marys in Dundee having perhaps 48 and St Giles'sin EDundeeghaving 50.
Medieval maidens were known to call on St Catherine, patron saint of young women, to intercede on their behalf and, in west Dorset, a chapel dedicated to the saint still draws the lovelorn.
Some of his other characters are not so devout; there is, for instance, the trainer who pleads with the patron saint of hopeless cases: "Intercede for me, Jude Thaddeus.
Lady Mary sent one of her ladies-in-waiting to measure Cragh's body with a length of thread, which implied a promise to offer to the saint a candle the length of the person on whose behalf the saint was being asked to intercede should the intercession be successful, a common practice during the medieval period.
