The role that saints had in the lives of Christians during the medieval times was very important. The saints were seen as a necessary mediator between the humans and God. Madigan explains how it is possible that some people were extremely afraid of the journey from earth to heaven after death occurred, and so they would appeal to the saints to journey with them as a “heavenly friend”, since they were so close to God (Madigan 324). If someone asked for help from the saints, those saints would then perform a miracle through the supernatural powers they were given. These miracles mostly had to do with physiological elements, like physical healing, fertility, and safety. When the saints died, their shrine held the bones, relics, or whole corpses of the saints. These powers were “effective especially at the shrine,” (Madigan 323). Madigan goes on to explain how Ancient Christians believed this to be the case, because of an inverse relationship between the natural body and the supernatural power. They believed that when the power of their body on earth starts to decreases, their supernatural power will increase. Therefore, a deceased saint, although useless physically, is extremely powerful supernaturally.

The saints performed these miracles for the people, because they were venerating the saints, or in other words, respecting and revering them. People were also supposed to give gifts and alms to the saints, and in exchange, the saint would answer the petition, or perform the miracle for the people who were faithful to honor them. If the saint did not keep his word and answer the petition or perform the miracle, the people could essentially devalue his name by saying that the certain saint was not one to be trusted because he could not answer the petition of the faithful. The people who felt like their saint, whom they were venerating for, was not up to the task, could take their petitions to another saint, and therefore, devalue the name of the previous saint even further.

The cult of saints had an effective way of taking time and space and making it something sacred, according to Madigan (329). Gregory illustrates this in certain passages of Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages. For example, on page 56, he explains how Perpetuus, the fifth bishop who succeeded Saint Martin, did not approve of the small church that stood above the tomb stone of Saint Martin because he did not deem it worthy to perform any miracles. He ordered for it to be torn down and built into a giant monument so that that space could be made more sacred and is now worthy enough to perform miracles. This basilica still stands today, transcending time as well. A second example comes from page 230, where Gregory explains relic “translation,” which is where people take body parts of a saint and move them around from where they were originally placed. This was considered a great sin.

Although Gregory’s stories were interesting, a lot of what he explained was hearsay from other people. This means that a lot of it could have be exaggerated, or contained multiple errors. Some were even completely fictionalized, like the story of the pilgrimage to Canterbury. For a medieval Christian though, hearing of saints and shrines that could perform miracles and essentially grant you wishes if you honored it correctly, would be an amazing thing to hear. Since there was no way to scientifically prove whether or not these things were just pure spectacle or actual miracles, people right away believed in the power of the saints. Although these stories were not 100% true, the impact was still substantial because it still gave people hope and gave their faith meaning and purpose when times were really difficult.