Ambrose, Charlemagne, “Charles the Great,” who ruled over most of Europe, and St. Some of the greatest emperors of Christendom, such as Constantine, the first emperor to make Christianity legal, Theodosius, the spiritual son of the great St. Not only have the great saints used and preached the Sign of the Cross throughout history, some of the greatest heroes of the Church have prayed it in desperate times. “Tertullian, Cyprian, Athanasius, Gregory, Basil, Augustine, Chrysostom, Jerome, Ambrose, and so many others who swell the list…all these great intelligences practiced the Sign of the Cross most assiduously, and they incessantly recommend all Christians to make it on every occasion” (Gaume 25). We have the testimony of many great saints throughout the ages who defend with the uttermost fervor the value of the Sign of the Cross. If this prayer was useful for the early Christians, but God did not will for us to imitate them, then this devotion would surely have faded from use two thousand years later. However, many of their practices are no longer used today. We have already examined the use of the Sign of the Cross by the early Christians. These also give witness to the importance of one of the Church’s most important prayers. The Church has weathered many storms, and many great men have arisen over time to defend her. By observing their holy lives, and often by reading what they wrote, we receive yet another confirmation of the immense importance of the Sign of the Cross. These saints are given to us by the Church as an example of how we should strive to attain Heaven. Though we obviously cannot know all the saints while we are still on this earth, there are some great souls who have been officially canonized by the Church.
Saint John saw, in his Apocalypse, “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands” (Apoc. The Church has always produced many great saints and heroes throughout history.
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