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What in the God Emperor's name is a living saint? I've come across beings referred to as living saints occasionally in my reading and I have a couple questions.
1. Is the only living saint Celestine, or are there lots of them?
2. Aparrently they can regenerate from anything and never die, why is this?
3. Are all living saints female?
4. I've heard them called daemons of the emperor, if this is accurate, how so?

There appears to be two uses of the term, "Living Saint". One is from the Ecclesarchy, which defines a living saint as (paraphrased) "Someone who has done extraordinary miracles in his/her lifetime" or something like that. These are similar to people who are declared saints by the Catholic Church today.

The other version is a supernatural being that defies explanation as to what the hell it is, beyond something that's benevolent to the Imperium. Saint Celestine, Saint Sabbat, and that Dawn of War Soulstorm saint. And maybe the Sanguinor, who shares a lot of similarities. No one knows exactly what's up with these things. They show up, do all sorts of miraculous feats to help the Imperium, apparently keep coming back even after they're killed, etc etc. It's generally accepted that they're reincarnated from saints that were once human (besides the Sanguinor which makes him even more mysterious), but why and how is unknown.

1. I think that others exist and were alluded to in older codexes, but aren't necessarily the same as Celestine. I don't know the exact details, Lynata could probably give you a better answer

2. We don't know, exactly. All we know is that they are being empowered by some other force. Presumably something from the warp.

3. No reason there can't be a male Living Saint, Though the extreme faith of the Adepta Sororitas would likely mean that quite a few of them are female, yes.

4. That's is mostly just a beloved fan theory, with some small basis in the fluff. (5e 'dex says that Celstine will only die when the Empror wills it, but that could be from an SoB point of view). Basically, Celestine (and presumably other Saints that might be like her) exhibit very... Daemon-y charactersitics. They're drawn to places were emotions and belief are running high (a losing battle), exhibit supernatural powers, and appear and vanish seemingly out of and to nowhere. This leads some fans to theorising that it's the Emperor specifically who had made them into "daemons" and provides their power, but really it's ambiguous. There's also an interesting theory that they're just "possessed" by the warp power given off by the collective faith of the Sisters.

ThePrimordial wrote:
What in the God Emperor's name is a living saint? I've come across beings referred to as living saints occasionally in my reading and I have a couple questions.
1. Is the only living saint Celestine, or are there lots of them?
2. Aparrently they can regenerate from anything and never die, why is this?
3. Are all living saints female?
4. I've heard them called daemons of the emperor, if this is accurate, how so?

First, use the search function.Questions regarding faith and by extension, the living saint has been asked before:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/538779.page

TL: DR; There are several (if no more) Living Saints, all of whom are described to be having some sort of divine blessing. The source of their power was never explained but for Faith, which is also a SoB exclusive rule on tabletop.
I'm under the impression that they have seemly survived wounds that had almost definitely killed them. Such phenomenons would then be declared miracles, and the persons in question hailed to be favored by the Emprah due to their unformidable faith by the Ecclesiarchy. Haven't heard of a case where this is bogus tho, seems like all known cases of living saints are indeed genuine, and have some form of super natural power that which isn't believed to be psychic .

correction: ok so there can be non-super natural living saints? I guess if they simply survive some wounds that can kill every other human, than it'd count?
I however disagree with any other form of living saints that did not suffer a lethal punishment - those would simply to saints, not living saints. Saint Sabbat for example was just Joan De Arc, which begs the question: if she has indeed reincarnated, would she be a living saint?

Sebastian Thor was declared a Living Saint.

1. Depends on the sources. GW Studio fluff has only ever confirmed two Living Saints, Saint Dominica and Saint Celestine. Licensed material has, over the years, introduced more, such as Saint Aeneas from Dawn of War. If you go by the 3E WH Codex, a Living Saint is declared once every couple centuries, making them somewhat rare for the Imperium as a whole.

2. Depends on interpretation. Perhaps Living Saints are divine creatures powered by the God Emperor's direct intervention, perhaps Living Saints are Warp spirits attracted to and possessing Imperial worshipers, perhaps Living Saints are merely the product of Imperial propaganda and the people's superstition turning luck and coincidence into miracles (see real life). Regardless of their origin, it is possible or even likely that every Living Saint has their own "special power". For example, Saint Sebastian was said to have the ability to calm Warp Storms, allowing his followers safe passage across the Immaterium on their rebellion against the insane High Lord Vandire.

3. Many or most, though this may simply be due to the Battle Sisters' extreme piety (regardless of whether their faith makes for actual miracles, or because they merely make easily controlled tools for propaganda purposes). However, the 3E Codex also mentions an ongoing in-universe debate about whether or not Sebastian Thor was a Living Saint, and the 13th Black Crusade's Saint Joachim might be a candidate, too, as he displayed the same abilities Sebastian did.

4. Depends on interpretation. As mentioned under #2, it is entirely possible that they are not supernatural at all, but merely the product of Imperial superstition, mixed with the wonders of arcane high technology (= magic to the uninitiated). However, if they truly are supernatural, then the description "Imperial Daemons" may be accurate, and is one I have used in the past myself.

Here is my own pet-theory to their origin. It should be noted, however, that it would only apply to Living Saints in the manner of how Celestine is described to us in the studio fluff. It is entirely possible that (as mentioned above) just like the Sororitas' Acts of Faith, Celestine is not supernatural at all, or at the very least that the Ecclesiarchy lumps in actual supernatural Saints with normal people whose actions and abilities were simply misinterpreted or misunderstood. The conclaves that are responsible for confirming the status of a Living Saint are also a political matter, after all, and occasionally become a duel ground between factions of the Church and individual Inquisitors, with the potential Saint being reduced to a nothing more but a pawn that may see themselves being executed as a witch any day just because influential person A doesn't like influential person B.

TiamatRoar wrote:There appears to be two uses of the term, "Living Saint". One is from the Ecclesarchy, which defines a living saint as (paraphrased) "Someone who has done extraordinary miracles in his/her lifetime" or something like that. These are similar to people who are declared saints by the Catholic Church today.
The other version is a supernatural being that defies explanation as to what the hell it is, beyond something that's benevolent to the Imperium. Saint Celestine, Saint Sabbat, and that Dawn of War Soulstorm saint. And maybe the Sanguinor, who shares a lot of similarities. No one knows exactly what's up with these things. They show up, do all sorts of miraculous feats to help the Imperium, apparently keep coming back even after they're killed, etc etc. It's generally accepted that they're reincarnated from saints that were once human (besides the Sanguinor which makes him even more mysterious), but why and how is unknown.

I would rather reinforce the Ecclesiarchy's distinction between "Saint" and "Living Saint", with the former's faith supposedly being strong enough to achieve miracles in the Emperor's name, whereas the latter is said to be a vessel for the Emperor Himself.

In-universe, there are no two uses of the term "Living Saint", and it would not make sense for them to be - after all, what is the difference between "extraordinary miracles" and something that "defies explanation"? The Ecclesiarchy treats everything as the Emperor's handwriting.

"The greatest heroes of the Adepta Sororitas may, in the most exceptional of circumstances, be proclaimed Living Saints. This ascension is likely to occur only a handful of times in a millennium, and is the cause of great rejoicing across all the worlds of the Imperium.

Before an individual can be declared a Living Saint, a joint conclave of the Inquisition and the Ecclesiarchy must first affirm that the declaration is true, and the individual just and pure. Some of these convocations have been known to last many years, with debate raging back and forth between the various factions until agreement is reached. Needless to say, the mot earnest advocates of the beatification are to be found amongst the Thorians. This faction of the Inquisition believes that the great Sebastian Thor was in fact a vessel through which the Emperor took a direct hand in the course of history, and that other examples of such 'avatars' are to be found amongst the teeming billions of Mankind. Others, notably members of the Ordo Malleus, oppose such theories, seeing in them the threat of domination from the denizens of the Warp.

A Living Saint is an avenging angel, a terrible and wondrous being to witness, for they shine with the purest of light, and bring death and destruction to the impure. It is also the case that one who burns twice as bright burns half as long, for no human can wield such power indefinitely. Hence the title 'Living Saint' - for at her ascension, the individual is already martyred, her death a self-fulfilling prophecy."
- 3E C:WH

On a sidenote, Saint Sabbat being called a Living Saint is one of the contradictions between GW fluff and licensed material. Sabbat lived long before the Adepta Sororitas were formed, yet Codex fluff states that the very first Living Saint was Battle Sister Dominica.

I've always thought of living saints as essentially "good" Daemon Princes: humans that were elevated by the emperor in the warp so they could keep fighting. Explains both Living Saints and the Sanguinor, maybe even also Draigo...

Pretty sure Macharius was declared a Living Saint. As for saint Sabbat maybe the declaration was made posthumously? Going back and examining his deeds to declare that before he died he was a Living Saint.

Well, Saint Sabbat is a character that exists in a BL novel, from a series of novels that is not exactly known for adhering to pre-established fluff and lore particularly tightly. The author even comments on this in his foreword in one of the omnibi of his novels, so it's not much of a problem, really.

All these books are neither designed nor intended to all agree with one another.

 Ferrum_Sanguinis wrote:
I've always thought of living saints as essentially "good" Daemon Princes: humans that were elevated by the emperor in the warp so they could keep fighting. Explains both Living Saints and the Sanguinor, maybe even also Draigo...

I really like this theory and to me it makes the most sense.