Dear Chas:

We do have Old Testament Saints and celebrate their feast days. For example, consider the following saints and their feast days:

• St. Elijah - July 20th
• St. John the Baptist actually is a pre-Christian prophet who's feast day is June 24th and another feast day for his beheading on August 29th
• Abraham - August 9th
• David's - December 29th
• Ezekiel - July 21 Julian Calendar / August 3 Gregorian Calendar in the Byzantine Catholic Church

The focus on Saints, however, is on the Christian Saints. One reason for this is that the Church puts forward these people as a model of Christian sanctity, holy life, and devotion. While the Old Testament saints have their importance and aspects for us to model, obviously our focus is on role-models who are Christian and who can help us in our Christian pilgrimage.

The designation of "Saint", by the way, means the person is worthy of veneration. That is why the angels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, who are not human, are called saints.

There are Churches named in honor of Old Testament saints in the Orthodox Churches and perhaps in the Eastern Catholic Churches. Just a quick glance I found some Orthodox Churches with the name St. Elijah.

There might be a few Roman Catholic Churches named in honor of Old Testament saints, but I have not found any. The reason it is unlikely to find Roman Catholic Churches named after Old Testament saints is that is again the emphasis on Christian saints.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary