Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1906-05-18
NAME OF COLUMBUS
MAY Be CANONIZED
MOVEMENT TO PLACE NAME OF
COLUMBUS IN THE CATALOGUE
OF THE SAINTS is REVIVED.
Special to the Herald.

Rome, May lo.-ounudy VIII We ti
4OOth anniversary of the death o
Christopher Columbus. 1t was Oh
May 20. 1906. that the discoyerer o
the New World breathed his last il
the town of Valladolid, Spain, after
partaking of the holy sacrament and
uttering these words: Into Thy
Hands, o Lord, | Commit My Spirit
With the approach of this anniver
sary has come a revival of the move
ment to place the name of Columbus
in the catalogue of saints, or in other
words, to canonize him. This move
ment began in earnest in 1892, the
4O0th anniversary of the discovery of
America, at which time great pressure
was brought to bear on the college
of cardinals to induce them to take
action in the matter. A petition
signed by several millions of people
in nearly every civilized country, and
including many of the highest digni-
taries of the church, was presented to
the sacred college.
But the cardinals of the curia de-
cided at that time that the father of
an illegitimate son could not possibly
be a saint This objection refers to
the relations of Columbus with Be
atrice Enriques, daughter of an inn
keeper at Cordova, whose acquaint-
ance he made while stopping in her
fathers house, awaiting the answer
of the court to his petition for aid to
make the voyage to find the western
passage to India. Columbus fell in
love with the young woman, and she
became the mother of his son, Fer
nando. A book has been written TO
prove that they were legally married,
but this evidence was rejected as not
satisfactory by the congregation of
rites in 1892.
Now the movement has been revived
by the archbishop of Turin and other
Italian ecclesiastics, who have asked
for the reconsideration of the. case.
There are good prospects that the
movement will meet with success in
the course of time The strongest ar
gument in favor of the admission of
Columbus to the calendar of saints is
that he was an instrument Of Prov
ince in opening the Western hemis-
phere to civilization and christianity
Another argument is that in his will
he bequeathed the greater part of his
estate to the rescue Of the holy sepul
cher and the conversion underworld.
The steps to canonization are many
and much time is required before the
final stage is reached. The importance
of the ceremony may be understood
when 1t is stated that it is deemed to
be the public judgment of the Apos-
tolic See respecting the holiness and
glory of one who is thereupon enrolled
among the saints" 1t is declared that
the purpose thus honored led a perfect
life and that God worked miracles at
his intercession, either during his life
or after his death, and that conse-
quently he is worthy to be honored
as a saint, to invoke him and to eel
citrate mass and an Office in his honor
OF saints of Papal decree the num-
Der is comparatively small Up to
the time of Plus TX there were only
115 Papal lamentations, and under the
long pontificate of the late Pope Leo
there were fewer than a dozen.
A condition precedent to canoniza-
ton is Identification. This consists OF
fourteen distinct steps. The candi.
date must be one who is alleged to
have practiced in life in heroic de-
gree faith, hope and charity. The
first step is the Bishops inquiry,
which is made as exhaustive as pos
sible to ascertain whether the person
was eminent in the exercise of these
virtues Then comes an inquiry as
to whether there has ever been any
cultus. The next step is a report ou
these points to the secretary of the
congregation of rites. The fourth step
is the opening of this report and the
presentation of a formal request that
the person be called blessed. Next
after this Promoter Fidei" is ap-
pointed by the Pope 1t is the duty
of this officer to urge all the objec-
tons that he can find against the can
didate for the honor The sixth steD
is a minute examination of all the
writings of the one for whom beatif-
cation is sought, and then the congre-
cation of rites proceeds to an investi-
cation of the mircales said TO have
been performed An interval of ten
years must elapse between this and
the next stage of the procedure. the
appointment of three bishops or high
functionaries to review the work OF
the examiners into the miraculous
deeds.
Their report is the next move and
this is followed by the arguments OF