"their role was arguably also to distract & pacify, console the masses and encourage introspection rather than resistance and/or active attempts to overthrow and build a replacement for the status quo" Wooaaa....much of that is because the way they are portrayed now & the images associated with them have been safely sanitised for the consumption of the populace by a state patriarchy..once they become instiutionalised they loose connection with the original "artist" hence the need for others...it's dangerously close to the Illuminati/Thelemite creed to say that the peacemakers effectively work for the status quo, that is a well paved path! Saints became saints because canonisation was the easiest way for the church to exert control over the legacy..Does Gandhi ring any bells? Or Mandela?