I shall speculate and simply say half of Christendom indulges in devotion to saints, and half does not.
In practice, devotion to a saint usually takes the form of prayers of supplication addressed to the saint. Some claim such devotion does not differ from a request for the prayers of a friend. Some claim such supplication creates a mediator beside Christ who alone is the Mediator between God and humanity. Some say that devotions to saints are harmless and happy spiritual exercises encouraging and enriching a sense of friendship with the companions of Christ. Some say such devotions are spiritual poison because they deflect the soul’s vision from the one true ground of communion with God in Christ, they feed the soul not with truth and freedom, but with romance and abject delusion.
The word saint comes from the Latin for holy. St. Paul called the Christians to whom he wrote “saints”. To belong to Christ and his church is to be a saint. In the waters of baptism all are justified, sanctified, made righteous and holy. Yet, most people seem uncomfortable when called a saint, or holy, or even religious. Perhaps some believe the expectation too high to be viable. Perhaps some, having never read a hagiography, think being holy means being a person without idiosyncrasy or flaw. Perhaps some realize the fragility of holiness in the human, and the power of evil on this earth. Early in Christian history, the title of saint became reserved to the martyrs (witnesses), to them that had sealed their commitment to God in the shedding of their blood. In time, the title was extended to the men and women who had borne witness to God by having led godly lives.
Every local church soon had its own saints. In time, the popularity of certain saints spread to other churches. In time, bishops and synods found it necessary to govern who was honoured with the title. The Roman Church developed a highly structured system involving three stages of scrutiny wherein an individual passes from the title of Venerable to Blessed and lastly to Saint. This last elevation is called Canonization. Other churches have not developed such intricate systems; most rely on the example given in an individual’s life and work. Many churches remember the saints and give thanks to God for their lives and examples. Some churches pray to the saints as individuals who share in the ministry of Christ as the one Mediator between God and humanity.
Two separate influences came to create the practice of praying to saints. The first is solidly Christian, the idea of the church as the body of Christ. If one belongs to the body, one has, in Christ, moved beyond time, beyond death, into the eternal, into a partaking in the very life of God. If one is united to Christ, one is united to all others in Christ (the Communion of Saints). Those who have ended this earthly existence are not cut off from them who have not, for all are united in that singular medium which is Christ. If those on this earth can pray for one another, then may not they at rest pray for them labouring on earth, especially for them in need? May it not be said that when the church prays, the whole church prays, the church on earth (“church militant”), and the church at rest (“church triumphant”)? If the saints pray with us, then may not the saints be called upon to pray for us?
The second influence that came to effect the treatment of the saints is very human: the need to distance the ego from the divine. The human ego is afraid of God. The holy is an unbearable experience for the ego, for the ego always yearns to itself be god. Popular religiosity commonly gives rise to certain types of buffers for use between the holy and the human. The most common names given these buffers are the lesser gods, the demi-gods, and for some Christians, the saints. For many it is a matter of psychological and spiritual convenience to not be directly faced with the awesome presence of the God. The saints are made to be shields and guards. The vessels of God’s grace and wisdom are made the instruments of obscurement. Protestantism avers that which they are made to obscure is that Christ alone is the medium of communication between God and humanity, that Christ alone is the reality of our union and of all communion, and that no one member may or can substitute for that reality either in symbol or in fact. When the church prays to God, it may do so only because by the power of the Spirit it is one with the Lord Christ who forever prays for us to the Holy One.
It does not matter that some use distinct terms to differentiate the worship of God (Latria) from devotion to saints (Dulia) and devotion to St. Mary (Hyperdulia). Technical theological terminology is not the issue here. The intent of the supplicant is not the issue here. Despite the allure of “friends in heaven”, and we do have such, the honour paid to a friend cannot be allowed to disrupt the more intimate relationship, and we do have such, with God in Christ. I am not about to decree one camp in error and the other in perfect possession of truth. I am, however, most firmly, most ardently, as must any sound practitioner of spiritual counsel and direction, decreeing that if anyone would advance in prayer and spiritual growth, there must be a singular focus for prayer, an orthodoxy. Therefore, we confess there is no prayer, no intercession, no blessing, no grace, no medium of grace, no mediator, no co-mediators, no co-intercessors, no chains of approach, no need for chains of approach, no relation to the Holy One except Christ. There exists no saint except in Christ. This is our orthodoxy, the fundamental aspect of our communal prayer life, our singular vision of our relationship with, to, and in the Holy: God is in Christ, absolutely, exclusively, wholly and directly, and Christ is here.