SAINT means a person eminent for piety and virtue, and is generally applied to the apostles and other holy persons mentioned in Scripture. But the Roman Catholics give it an application much more extensive. The canonization of saints, they tell us, is the enrolment of any person in the canon or catalogue of those who are called saints; or it is a judgment and sentence of the church, by which it is declared that a deceased person was eminent for sanctity during his lifetime, and especially towards the end of it, and that consequently he must now be in glory with God, and deserves to be honoured by the church on earth with that veneration which she is wont to pay to the blessed in heaven.

The discipline with regard to this matter has varied. It would seem that in the first ages every bishop in his own diocese was wont to declare what persons were to be honoured as saints by his people. Hence St Cyprian, about the middle of the third century, requires that he be informed of those who should die in prison for the faith, that so he might make mention of them in the holy sacrifice with the martyrs, and might honour them afterwards on the anniversary day of their happy death. This veneration continued sometimes to be confined to one country; but sometimes it extended to distant provinces, and even became universal all over the church. It was thus that St Laurence, St Ambrose, St Augustin, St Basil, and many others, appear to have been canonized by custom and universal persuasion. In those ages none were reckoned saints but the apostles, the martyrs, and very eminent confessors, whose sanctity was everywhere notorious. Afterwards’ it appears that canonizations were wont to be performed in provincial synods, under the direction of the metropolitan. It was thus that St Isidore of Seville was canonized in the seventh century, by the eighth council of Toledo, fourteen years after his death. This manner of canonization continued occasionally down to the twelfth century. The last instance of a saint canonized in this way, is that of St Walter, abbot of Pontoise, who was declared a saint by the archbishop of Rouen in the year 1153. In the twelfth century, in order to prevent mistakes in so delicate a matter, Pope Alexander Ill-judged it proper to reserve this declaration to the Holy See of Rome exclusively; and decreed that no one should for the future be honoured by the church as a saint without the express approbation of the pope.

Several authors have written on canonization, particularly Prosper Lambertini, afterwards pope under the name of Benedict XIV., who had held the office of Promoter of the Faith for many years. He published on it a large work in several volumes, in folio, of which there is an abridgment in French. In this learned performance there is a full history of the canonization of saints in general, and of all the particular processes of that kind that are on record.

Sτ Andrews. See Andrews, St. St Αντονιο, one of the Cape de Verd islands. See Verd Cape, Islands or. St Barbes Isle, a small island in the Eastern Seas, situated under the equinoctial line. It is about three miles in circumference. Long. 107. 40. E.

Sτ Berardino, straits that separate the islands of Luzon and Samar, in the Philippines.

Sτ George, one of the Azores. See Azores. St Iago, one of the Cape de Verd islands. See Verd Cape, Islands of. St Michaels, one of the Azores. See Azores. St Nicholas, one of the Cape de Verd islands. See Verd Cape, Islands of. St Peter AND St Paul, a seaport village of Asia, on the south-eastern coast of Kamtschatka, in the bay of Awat-ska, which, though small, is described by Captain King as most commodious. Long. 158. 43. E. Lat. 54. N.

Sτ ServaN, a city of France, in the department of the Ille-Vilaine, and arrondissement of St Malo. It stands on the bay of St Malo, where the river Rance falls into it, and is separated from the city of that name by an arm of it. It has an enclosed harbour and a good roadstead, in which ships of the line can ride in security. It is only fortified towards the sea. There is an establishment for building ships, where some frigates have been constructed. It has manufactories of sail-cloth, ropes, and ship-biscuits, and, in the year 1836, contained 9975 inhabitants, who depend mostly on the shipping.

Sτ Sever, an arrondissement of the department of the Landes, in France, containing 170,746 hectares, equal to 665 square miles in extent. It is divided into eight cantons, and these into 114 communes, with 90,500 inhabitants in 1836. The capital is the city of the same name situated on the left bank of the river Adour, and contains 5863 inhabitants. Long. 0. 55. W. Lat. 43. 45. N.

Sτ Thome, a town of the south of India, in the province of the Carnatic, situated close to the sea-side, which here forms a small bay. It stands in a fine plain abounding in cocoa-nut trees, which retain their verdure throughout the year. Except the church, it is now nearly a heap of ruins, inhabited chiefly by Indians, Portuguese, and Hindu weavers, who consist of Hindus, Mahommedans, and Roman Catholic Christians, the latter being a mixture of the Portuguese and natives, and of a very dark complexion. This town arose on the ruins of the ancient Hindu city of Ma-liapurum, which the Portuguese took possession of about the year 1545, and made it the capital of all their settlements on the Coromandel coast. They changed the name to St Thome, in honour of the apostle. In 1672 it was taken by the French, w ho in 1674 were compelled to surrender it to the Dutch, who gave it up to the king of Golconda. In 1749 it was taken by a British fleet under Admiral Boscawen; and in the Carnatic wars between the British and the French it was occupied by the Madras presidency, under whose authority it has ever since remained. Long. 80. 22. E. Lat. 13. 1. N.

Sτ Tropes, a city of France, in the department of the Var and the arrondissement of Draguignan. It is a seaport on the bay of Grimaud, in a fruitful district, has a haven defended by a castle, is well built, and enjoys a great trade in cork and in ship-building, and a considerable tunny fishing. In 1836 it contained 3736 inhabitants. Long. 6. 33. 25. E. Lat. 43. 16. 8. N.