The saints (according to Hans Urs von Balthasar) are a living out of the gospel reality by which its inner depth becomes transparent in their life and their doctrine. From this fundamental baseline flow certain other convictions central to Balthasar's thought. His volume A Theology of History argued, for instance, that the great saints make the gospel real in ways pertinent to the age and culture in which they live. In that sense, the lives of the saints reveal not a new revelation but a deepening appreciation and uncovering of the essential gospel meaning of Jesus Christ, so that the saints in a conspicuous manner not only "imitate" Christ but participate (as do all Christians) in the eternal meaning of his reality.

— excerpt from Questa online research article