"Let the saint intercede to protect our way on the roads," said Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state and the highest-ranking church official after Pope John Paul II. "And may motorists drive with judgment and prudence".
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dead Muslim saints cannot intercede with God or perform miracles.
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.
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.
Declaring Serra a saint — meaning the Catholic Church recognizes that a person has made it to heaven and can intercede for those on earth — hasn't been without controversy.
