Column C18: A Selection of Saints If you consider prayers to a saint a form of invocation, then this table has a place in this book. There are over 10,000 named saints and beati from history, the Roman martyrology and Orthodox sources, but no definitive 'head count' Only the better known or more interesting saints, like St. Albertus Magnus, have been included. According to some writers the origin of beatification and canonisation in the Catholic Church can be traced back to the ancient pagan procedure apotheosis, although in his classic work on the subject, Benedict XIV2 refutes this view. Apotheosis literally means 'to make a god', and the ancient Romans as well as the Chinese often promoted their heroes to the status of a god. Often the decree embodying this was based on the statement of a single person that, for example, while the body of the new 'god' was being cremated, an eagle (in the case of the emperors), or a peacock (uno's sacred bird, in the case of their consorts), was seen to carry the spirit of the departed heavenward. 3 Apotheosis was awarded to many members of the imperial family, with little regard to their virtues or remarkable achievements. The process of canonisation of a saint has some parallels, but required much more evidence, especially of attested miracles.