Where did the practice of praying to patron saints originate and when?
Praying to patron saints originated from the practice of praying to local and area deities. Many of these were simply incorporated into the Christian system and given the names of saints and the people simply kept on praying to the deity under Christian guise. Originally it was to trees within animistic shamanism and this practice is recorded, even in recent times in Islam as well, coming from paganism also. In the early Church the practice was never in question and the Church would have denounced the practice as heresy. The Church believed in the Resurrection of the dead and they all understood that the saints were still in the grave. The assertion that the saints including Mariam (Mary) or anyone other than Christ being resurrected and in heaven was considered a godless and blasphemous doctrine and was the true test of a Christian. Gradually the gods and goddesses, for example like the Maeve Brigit, one of the triune system of the Celts, was incorporated among countless others. Hecat
