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Guibert didn't call for an end to the veneration of saints, as Martin Luther and others would a few centuries later, but he did exhort church leaders to fix the system:

"Let the pontiffs therefore see to it, let the guardians of God's people see to it, and provide that, if the people have a zeal of God, they may at least have it according to knowledge, lest they sin by offering aright and not dividing aright. If the prophet say truly, 'Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil,' [Isaiah 5:20] then what perversity can be greater than to thrust men upon the sacred altars who perchance, in their lifetime, deserved to be thrust forth from the Church itself!"

Catholic leaders heeded Guibert's call in the thirteenth century by making the canonization of saints a more rigorous, formal process. In the sixteenth century, the Council of Trent imposed additional regulations on the canonization and veneration of saints. In the 1960s, the papacy went so far as to end recognition of dozens of saints whose stories either couldn't be proven or couldn't be true. Still, the wildly popular Juan Diego looks like a shoo-in. Apparently public opinion can influence papal proceedings.

For more on this topic, see:

Great Lessons from "Bad" History

Sainthood awaits man some say didn't exist

Saint Juan Diego

Guibert de Nogent: On Relics

Legends of the Saints (from the Catholic Encyclopedia)

Case of the Missing Relic

Who Was the Worst Catholic Saint?

Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christian History magazine.
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