Do Catholics believe in the Old Testament?
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Yes, Catholics must believe in the Old Testament and New Testament, and the God of the Old Testament = Holy Trinity.
The heretical Manicheans and Albigensians rejected the Old Testament. The Council of Florence's Cantate Domino (1442), promulgated by Pope Eugene IV, condemns them in part because (DZ 707):
they have said that there is one God of the New Testament, another God of the Old Testament.
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Do Catholics believe in the Old Testament?
The short answer is: Absolutely!
In fact Catholic bibles include some books not found in other denominations. Canonical by the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church (Deuterocanonical books):
- Book of Tobit
- Book of Judith
- 1 Maccabees
- 2 Maccabees
- Book of Wisdom
- Sirach
- Book of Baruch
- Additions to Esther
- Additions to Daniel
It is worth mentioning that the Catholic Church honour many biblical persons as saints.
Among the multitude of canonized saints in the Roman Catholic Church, there appears to be one gaping hole in the historical record: the Old Testament. The current liturgical calendar does not mention a single person from that time period.
Why is that? Does it mean the holy men and women of the Old Testament are not saints?
To answer that question we must first define what the word “saint” means. The word comes from the Latin sanctus, meaning “holy,” and did not refer officially to deceased individuals who led lives of holiness until later in Christian history.
In fact, the term as we use it today is much more specific than it was in the past. It wasn’t until the 16th century that a formal canonization process was developed. Before then the process to become a saint was directed more by popular accord than a Church decree.
At first saints were identified as those who were martyred for the faith, but by the 4th century the category included a larger group of holy men and women. These individuals were then given certain “feast days” on which to celebrate their life and be reminded of their virtues.
By the 16th century there developed the Roman Martyrology that listed all the “official” saints who could be celebrated on specific days of the year. Interestingly, included in that list are various Old Testament figures. Father Ray Ryland notes how it establishes days for “the prophet Habakkuk (Jan. 15); Isaiah (July 6); Daniel and Elias/Elijah (July 20 and 21); the seven Maccabees and their mother (Aug. 17); Abraham (Oct. 9); and King David (Dec. 29).”
Also, the traditional Litany of Saints that is sung or said at certain liturgical events includes an invocation to, “All you Holy Patriarchs and Prophets, pray for us.”
So holy individuals in the Old Testament are considered saints and because they are thought to be in the eternal embrace of God, Catholics are able to pray to them for their intercession. - Are holy men and women of the Old Testament considered saints?
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