Eamon Duffy’s insightful account of Thomas More in The Tablet last week threw a spotlight on sainthood and to what extent our notions of sanctity are culturally determined by the spirit of the age in which we live. But his analysis of More was also a reminder that you are more likely to be canonised if you are a public figure. It is particularly true if you have founded a religious order or been a leading figure in the Church: think Josemaría Escrivá, John Paul II, John XXIII. This raising to the altars suggests that saints are super-Christians, a kind of celebrity elite who made it to the top in life and have now risen to the top in heaven. Certainly, they are people whom others have spent vast amounts of time and cash getting through the investigatory process that pr