The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-23

ing a higher stage than Justification. Of these miracles two were considered the fire Perhaps the most famous lay saint in the physiological calendar is Louis K. But though Chapelle and brought the sacred crown of thorns to France might be supposed to be ton 'H was only granted after T a most % sesTchinr inquiry into the veracity of the nfty-seven miracles attributed to his relics.
 The procedure in the inquiry into a saIntss claim to canonization is usually submitted to as searching an examination and scrutiny as as. are those & of 2 claimant to lapsed peer before the saint can be formally inscribed on the Canon Sanctorum he must survive the or- for the preliminary stage of justification. In the first instance. Commissioners are appoint ries. ' Their Ter report is submitted to a speeiai tribunal of clerics. who decide if the candi- date is worthy of the first degree of hierarchiaI tribunal, after considerable interval--in the case of the latest canonized saint, Rita de Cascia. over 27o years-then considers the question of the admittance of the saint to full canonzatfon. At this trial the candidates in- terests are looked after by an official. who is styled the Del Advocatus, who opposed by the Promoter Fidei, popularly known as the Diaboli Advocatus. Probably many persons miliar expression "devirs advocate' owes its origin to a Roman Catholic ceremony.
 After the decision of this tribunal in the can didate's favor. the final ratification by the Pope is alone required for the admittance of the saint into the Roman Catholic Calendar.
 Since the Reformation the admittsnce of fresh saints into the Calendar is . compara- lively rare event. One reason for the paucity Of claimants for canonization is said to be the enormous cost of the procedure. curious example of this is to be found in the Bor- romeo family of Milan. It was found that the the famous saint, Charles Borromeo. was so great that the family refrained from press- ing the claims of another seintly parsonage. a cousin of St. Charles. on account of the ex- pense! Then it must be remembered that fin a less credulous and superstitious age a more and alleged miracles of saints is now insisted upon. It is also said that the concentrations which have been granted by the Vatican have to some extent been influenced by motives of public interest and church policy. The canon- ization of the jesuit martyrs in Japan. the vic- seventeenth century, for instance. said to De prompted by desire to encourage the poral power was threatened.
 An immediate practical result of canoniza- ton is that the new saints bones become of is the church or religious foundation which could attract hosts Of pilgrims by exhibiting on the anniversary of particular saint a small fragment of his bones or even a toe nail or a single hair. Even the value of relics of a monarch like Louis TX. was greatly enhanced when they could be venerated as those of St. Louis. In fact these relies were scrambled for by sovereigns. the great ab- fashion.
 The first distribution of the relics resulted in U portion o1 tne skull Of St. Louis being ap- portioned to the Sainte Chapelle. another DOT tion to the Abbey of Poissy, while the Metro politan Cathedral Notre Dame had to be sat isied with rib. Then the Church of Mont Jote venerates relic which is said to be one Of the bones of the sainted Kings hand. As for the heart though several churches claimed to possess this, the balance of evidence is in favor of the relic enshrined at tho Cathedral of Monreale, near Palermo. being the actual heart of Louis. What remains of the per- sonal relics of St. Louis. well as the crown of thorns and other alleged relics to which the holy chapel owes it's existence, are now in Notre Dame
 The rare ceremony of canonization in St Peters, with its spendid and imposing ritual IS calculated to impress even the most uncom- promising Protestant Regarded merely as a great religious pageant. it is only surpassed by the gorgeous and imposing ceremonies the enthronement of a new Pope. The whole nave of the cathedral is filled with a specially in- vited audience. A special throne (sedia ges- tatorial is erected for the Pope behind the high altar, and he enters the church pre- ceded by an apparently interminable process sicn of ecclesiastical dignitaries in full canon icais. from Cardinals, Archbshops and Bishops 10 Canons. priests. and monks. representing blast and the anthem "Tu es Petrus' is sung As soon as his Holiness Is seated on the throne beneath the hugo baldacchino of silver cloth. the Cardinal Vicar of Rome twice formally demands that the name of the saint designate may be added to the catalogue of the saints. Twice the Pope replies that the will Of God should first be sought by prayer. Whereupon solemn litanies are chanted Fi- nally the Pope reads the Bull of Canonizatfon which decrees that the servant of God in question shal be inscribed in the Canon Sanc- forum, and that his memory shall be cele- brated throughout the church on a given day Then the Te Deum Is sung. and the pealins of bells from every church in Rome announces to all the faithful in the Eternal City the admission of new saint to the Roman Catho- lie Calendar A In honor of the new saint. celebrated by the Pope himself, con