The Canonization Process: How Does The Church Declare A Saint? | Diocesan PublicationsDiocesan Publications The Canonization Process: How Does The Church Declare A Saint? Home / Blog / The Canonization Process: How Does The Church Declare A Saint? Success The Catholic Church will be declaring its newest saint on September 4, 2016: Mother Teresa of Kolkota . As you might imagine, the Church has a rather rigorous method of formally declaring a person a saint. (Keep in mind, too, that just because a person is not formally declared a saint does not mean they are not in Heaven in the presence of God for all eternity. The Church simply cannot go through this process with every single person.) The formal process of the Church entails several steps : being declared a Servant of God, then Venerable, Blessed and finally Saint. Usually the process cannot begin until the person has been deceased for at least 5 years, unless the pope waives that time period. St. John Paul II waived the period for Mother Teresa, and Pope Benedict XVI waived it for John Paul II. Once the 5 year waiting period has concluded, the bishop of the diocese where that person lived petitions the Vatican to begin the process.

If there are no objections, the process begins. The road to canonization can seem like a very long one, and it is, for good reason. The Church must invest a great deal of time and research into that person’s life, making sure that the person did indeed lead a holy life in all matters, both public and private. Once the process begins, the person in question is given the title, “Servant of God.” If you’ve ever wondered why so many priests and nuns are declared saints and not so many lay people, it lays in this step. All the person’s writings must be collected, including private writings such as diaries and letters to friends and family. The person’s entire life must be documented. For a religious, the diocese or the religious order may designate people to do this work. For a lay person, it is much more difficult to have someone devote so much time for this. It is essentially a full-time job for at least one person, and usually more. Once that step has been completed, the person is declared “Venerable.” At this point, one miracle must be attributed to the intercession of this person.

In the case of John Paul II , it came from a French nun, who suffered from Parkinson’s (the same disease that claimed the life of the pontiff.) Her miraculous recovery from the disease in 2011 was the first recorded miracle attributed to Pope John Paul II’s intercession. Such miracles must be investigated and confirmed by two tribunals, one scientific and one theological : The scientific commission must determine by accepted scientific criteria that there is no natural explanation for the alleged miracle. While miracles could be of any type, those almost exclusively proposed for Causes are medical. These must be well-documented, both as regards the disease and the treatment, and as regard the healing and its persistence. While the scientific commission rules that the cure is without natural explanation, the theological commission must rule whether the cure was a miracle in the strict sense, that is, by its nature can only be attributed to God. To avoid any question of remission due to unknown natural causation, or even unrecognized therapeutic causation, theologians prefer cures of diseases judged beyond hope by medicine, and which occur more or less instantaneously.

The disappearance of a malignancy from one moment to another, or the instantaneous regeneration of diseased, even destroyed, tissue excludes natural processes, all of which take time. Such cases also exclude the operation of the angelic nature. While the enemy could provoke a disease by his oppression and simulate a cure by withdrawing his action, the cure could not be instantaneous, even one day to the next. Much less can he regenerate tissue from nothing. These are, therefore, the preferred kinds of cases since they unequivocally point to a divine cause. The theological commission must also determine whether the miracle resulted through the intercession of the Servant of God alone. If the family and friends have been praying without cease to the Servant of God exclusively, then the case is demonstrated. The next step is “beatification” and the person is given the title “Blessed.” This means that the person may be given private veneration or veneration in their own diocese or home. The Church’s investigation continues, and since the declaration of sainthood is considered infallible, the Vatican withholds the decree until all study of the person’s life is complete. At this point, a second miracle must be established.

For John Paul II, this came from a man in Colombia, Marco Fidel Rojas, who also suffered from Parkinson’s : Fidel remembers experiencing the first symptoms of the disease in December 2005. After a series of examinations, doctors determined he had suffered a stroke, which led to the development of Parkinson’s. Little by little, the disease began to get worse. “I felt like I could collapse at any moment. Various times I fell down outside on the street,” he recalled, adding that once he was almost run over by a taxi. As the years went by and his health continued to deteriorate, Fidel suddenly remembered on the evening of Dec. 27, 2010, that during a trip to Rome he had met Pope John Paul II after Mass and spoke with him for a few moments. I have a friend up there, Fidel thought that night, amid his pain. “And he had Parkinson’s. Why didn’t I pray to him before? Venerable Father John Paul II: Come and heal me; put your hands on my head.” After praying, Fidel said he slept perfectly that night; the next morning he woke up with no symptoms of the illness. El Tiempo reported that Dr.

Antonio Schlesinger Piedrahita, a renowned neurologist in Colombia, has certified Fidel’s healing and says he is in good health. The pope must assent to the findings of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. Once the Holy Father gives his consent, the person may be canonized . By the Rite of Canonization the Supreme Pontiff, by an act which is protected from error by the Holy Spirit, elevates a person to the universal veneration of the Church. By canonization the Pope does not make the person a saint. Rather, he declares that the person is with God and is an example of following Christ worthy of imitation by the faithful. A Mass, Divine Office and other acts of veneration, may now be offered throughout the universal Church. Note the wording: “the Pope does not make the person a saint.” The Catholic Church doesn’t make saints like Hollywood makes movie stars. Catholics saints are men and women who lived holy lives in obedience to God’s will, and they became saints at the moment they entered heaven. However, the Church does recognize those souls that the Church can confirm are in heaven as saints. It is always a great celebration when a person is declared a saint for the Universal Church.

We look forward to Mother Teresa’s canonization and the celebration of her dedication to the will of God. © Diocesan Publications, 2017 Canonization | Religion-wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Main article: Historical process of beatification and canonization The first persons whom Christians honoured as saints were the martyrs . Their death for their faith was considered the supreme and undeniable witness to their faith in Christ. The fame of many of them spread widely, leading to their veneration far outside the area in which they lived and died. The Latin Rite Canon of the Mass contains the names only of martyrs, along with that of the Virgin Mary and, since 1962, that of Saint Joseph . By the fourth century, however, " confessors ", people who had confessed their faith not by dying but by word and life, began to be venerated publicly. Examples of such people are Saint Hilarion and Saint Ephrem the Syrian in the East, and Saint Martin of Tours and Saint Hilary of Poitiers in the West. Their names were inserted in the diptychs , the lists of saints explicitly venerated in the liturgy , and their tombs were honoured like those of the martyrs.

Since the witness of their lives was not as unequivocal as that of the martyrs, they were venerated publicly only with the approval by the local bishop . This approval was required even for veneration of a reputed martyr. In his history of the Donatist heresy, Saint Optatus recounts that at Carthage a Christian matron, named Lucilla, incurred the censures of the Church for having kissed the relics of a reputed martyr whose claims to martyrdom had not been juridically proved. And Saint Cyprian (died 258) recommended that the utmost diligence be observed in investigating the claims of those who were said to have died for the faith. All the circumstances accompanying the martyrdom were to be inquired into; the faith of those who suffered, and the motives that animated them were to be rigorously examined, in order to prevent the recognition of undeserving persons. Evidence was sought from the court records of the trials or from people who had been present at the trials. Saint Augustine of Hippo (died 430) tells of the procedure which obtained in his day for the recognition of a martyr.

The bishop of the diocese in which the martyrdom took place set up a canonical process for conducting the inquiry with the utmost severity. The acts of the process were sent either to the Metropolitan or Primate, who carefully examined the cause, and, after consultation with the suffragan bishops, declared whether the defunct was worthy of the name of 'martyr' and public veneration. Acts of formal recognition, such as the erection of an altar over the saint's tomb or transferring the saint's relics to a church, were preceded by formal inquiries into the sanctity of the person's life and the miracles attributed to that person's intercession. Such acts of recognition of a saint were authoritative, in the strict sense, only for the diocese or ecclesiastical province for which they were issued, but with the spread of the fame of a saint, were often accepted elsewhere also. The Holy See began to be asked to intervene, so as to ensure a more authoritative decision. The canonization of Saint Udalric, Bishop of Augsburg , by Pope John XV in 993 is the first undoubted example of a papal canonization of a saint from outside Rome.

(Some historians maintain that the first such canonization was that of Saint Swibert by Pope Leo III in 804.) Thereafter recourse was had with greater frequency to the judgment of the Popes. Walter of Pontoise was canonized by Hugh de Boves , the Archbishop of Rouen in 1153 ; Walter was the last saint in Western Europe to have been canonized by an authority other than the Pope. [3] [4] “The last case of canonization by a metropolitan is said to have been that of St. Gaultier, or Gaucher, abbot of Pontoise, by the Archbishop of Rouen, A.D. 1153. A decree of Pope Alexander III , A.D.

1170, gave the prerogative to the pope thenceforth, so far as the Western Church was concerned.” [3] In 1173 Pope Alexander III , after reprimanding certain bishops for having permitted veneration of a man who was far from being a saint, decreed: "You shall not therefore presume to honour him in the future; for, even if miracles were worked through him, it is not lawful for you to venerate him as a saint without the authority of the Catholic Church." [5] The procedure initiated by the text of Alexander III, confirmed by a bull of Pope Innocent III in the year 1200, issued on the occasion of the canonization of Saint Cunegunde, led to increasingly elaborate inquiries. Roman Catholic procedure since 1983 Pope John Paul II's apostolic constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister of 25 January 1983 and the norms issued by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 7 February 1983 for its implementation on diocesan level continued the work of simplification already initiated by Pope Paul VI .

[6] "Servant of God" The process leading towards canonization begins at the diocesan level. A bishop with jurisdiction—usually the bishop of the place where the candidate died or is buried, although another ordinary can be given this authority—gives permission to open an investigation into the virtues of the individual, responding to a petition by members of the faithful, either actually or pro forma . [7] This investigation may open no sooner than five years after the death of the person being investigated. [8] However, the pope has the authority to waive this five year waiting period, as was done for Mother Teresa by Pope John Paul II [9] and for John Paul II himself by his immediate successor, Benedict XVI . [10] Normally, a guild or organization to promote the cause of the candidate's sainthood is created, an exhaustive search of the candidate's writings, speeches and sermons is undertaken, a detailed biography is written and eyewitness accounts are gathered.

When sufficient information has been gathered, the investigation of the candidate, who is called "Servant of God", is presented by the local bishop to the Roman Curia —the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints—where it is assigned a postulator , whose task is to gather further information about the life of the Servant of God. Religious orders who regularly deal with the congregation often have their own designated postulator generals. "Declaration 'Non Cultus'" At some point, permission is then granted for the body of the Servant of God to be exhumed and examined, a certification ("non cultus") that no superstitious or heretical worship or improper cult has grown up around the servant or his or her tomb is made, and relics are taken. "Venerable/Heroic in Virtue" When enough information has been gathered, the congregation will recommend to the pope that he make a proclamation of the Servant of God's heroic virtue (that is, that the servant exhibited the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, to an heroic degree).

From this point the one said to be "heroic in virtue" is referred to by the title " Venerable ". A Venerable has as of yet no feast day , no churches may be built in his or her honor, and the church has made no statement on the person's probable or certain presence in heaven, but prayer cards and other materials may be printed to encourage the faithful to pray for a miracle wrought by his or her intercession as a sign of God's will that the person be canonized. "Blessed" Beatification is a statement by the church that it is "worthy of belief" that the person is in heaven, having come to salvation. This step depends on whether the Venerable is a martyr or a "confessor". For a martyr, the pope has only to make a declaration of martyrdom, a certification that the venerable gave his or her life voluntarily as a witness for the faith and/or in an act of heroic charity for others. This allows beatification , giving the venerable the new title "Blessed" (abbreviated "Bl.") or, in Latin, Beatus or Beata.

A feast day will be designated, but its observance is normally restricted to the Blessed's home diocese, to certain locations associated with him or her, and/or to the churches or houses of the blessed's religious order, if they belonged to one. Parishes may not normally be named in honor of a Blessed. If the Venerable was not a martyr - all non-martyrs are "confessors" as they "confessed" or bore witness to their faith by how they lived their lives - it must be proven that a miracle has taken place by his or her intercession - that is, that God has shown a sign that the person is enjoying the Beatific Vision by God performing a miracle in response to the Blessed's prayers.

Today, these miracles are almost always miraculous cures, as these are the easiest to establish based on the Catholic Church's requirements for a "miracle." (The patient was sick, there was no known cure for the ailment, prayers were directed to the Venerable, the patient was cured, the cure was spontaneous, instantaneous, complete and lasting, and doctors cannot find any natural explanation.) "Saint" (abbreviated "St" and "S.") To be canonized a saint, one (more) miracle is necessary. Canonization is a statement by the church that the person certainly enjoys the Beatific Vision. The saint is assigned a feast day which may be celebrated anywhere within the Catholic Church, although it may or may not appear on the general calendar or local calendars as an obligatory feast, parish churches may be built in his or her honor, and the faithful may freely and without restriction celebrate and honor the saint. In the case of persons that common usage has called saints from "time immemorial" (in practice, since before 1500 or so), the Church may carry out a "confirmation of cultus ", which is much simpler. For example, Saint Hermann Joseph had his veneration confirmed by Pope Pius XII .

In the case of the Eastern Catholic Churches , individual churches sui juris retain, in theory, the right to glorify (see next section on Eastern Orthodox practice) saints for their own jurisdictions, though this has rarely happened in practice. Although a recognition of sainthood by the pope does not directly concern a fact of divine revelation, it must still be "definitively held" by the faithful as infallible under (at the very least) the Universal Magisterium of the Church since it is a truth connected to revelation by historical necessity. [11] [12] Other Christian traditions Main article: Glorification#In Orthodox Christianity Glorification of saints in the Eastern Orthodox Church differs from Roman Catholic tradition in both theology and practice. The Glorification of saints is considered to be an act of God, not a declaration of the hierarchy. The official recognition of saints grows from the consensus of the church. When an individual who has been sanctified by the grace of the Holy Spirit falls asleep in the Lord, God may or may not choose to glorify the individual through the manifestation of miracles . If so, the devotion to the saint will normally grow from the "grass roots" level.

Eventually, miracles will have grown to such a degree that a formal Service of Glorification will be scheduled. A Glorification may be performed by any Bishop within his Diocese . Often there will be a formal investigation to be sure that the individual is Orthodox in their faith, has led a life worthy of emulation, and that the reports of miracles attributed to their intercessions are verifiable. The Glorification service does not "make" the individual a saint; rather, the Church is simply making a formal acknowledgement of what God has already manifested. Martyrs need no formal Glorification; the witness of their self-sacrifice is sufficient. Anglican Since the English Reformation , only King Charles I has been canonized in the Church of England . National Anglican churches have their own calendars of saints and other holy men and women. Some more recent people, while not officially declared saints, have been added to certain Anglican national calendars for commemoration, for example C. S. Lewis (November 22) and Martin Luther King, Jr. (April 4). Protestant The Protestant reformers rebuked the Catholic Church in regard to the glorification of saints.

Protestants generally do not respect a specific canon of deceased Christians over deceased Christians at large. Lutheran practice Some Lutherans have a calendar of saints , much of which they inherited from the Catholic Church. Some Lutheran bodies limit the recognition of saints to those persons mentioned in the Gospels and the Book of Acts. See also How Does the Catholic Church Declare Someone a Saint? - Busted Halo How Does the Catholic Church Declare Someone a Saint? By The Editors September 2, 2016 You might have heard — Mother Teresa will be declared a saint this weekend. Have you ever wondered about the steps to canonization — that is, being named a saint by the Catholic Church? Who is eligible? What happens on the way to being named a saint? Aren’t there miracles involved? We answer all those questions and more in this saint-filled video. One of the interesting things about the saints is that many of them were imperfect people. They sinned. They experienced doubt. For many saints, the turnaround in their lives was gradual — it did not necessarily come in one big moment of clarity. That might sound a lot like your own spiritual journey.

When you really think about it, we’re all “saints in the making” and examples of canonized Saints of the Church can help us along our way. How can you follow the example of the saints in your own life? Watch this video, learn more about Catholic Saints here at Busted Halo , and be open to what the saints can teach you about your spiritual journey today. The Process of Becoming a Saint The Process of Becoming a Saint FR. WILLIAM SAUNDERS Recently, the Pope declared Edith Stein a saint. Would you please let me know more about the process for being declared a saint? St. Edith Stein The official process for declaring someone a saint is called canonization. Prior to the year 1234, the Church did not have a formal process as such. Usually martyrs and those recognized as holy were declared saints by the Church at the time of their deaths. Before the legalization of Christianity in the year 313 by Emperor Constantine, the tombs of martyrs, like St. Peter, were marked and kept as places for homage. The anniversaries of their deaths were remembered and placed on the local Church calendar.

After legalization, oftentimes basilicas or shrines were built over these tombs. As time went on, the Church saw the need to tighten the canonization process. Unfortunately, sometimes figures of legends were honored as saints. Or once, the local church in Sweden canonized an imbibing monk who was killed in a drunken brawl â hardly evidence of martyrdom. Therefore, in the year 1234, Pope Gregory IX established procedures to investigate the life of a candidate saint and any attributed miracles. In 1588, Pope Sixtus V entrusted the Congregation of Rites (later named the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints) to oversee the entire process. Beginning with Pope Urban VIII in 1634, various Popes have revised and improved the norms and procedures for canonization. Today the process proceeds as follows: When a person dies who has "fame of sanctity" or "fame of martyrdom," the Bishop of the Diocese usually initiates the investigation. One element is whether any special favor or miracle has been granted through this candidate saint's intercession.

The Church will also investigate the candidate's writings to see if they possess "purity of doctrine," essentially, nothing heretical or against the faith. All of this information is gathered, and then a transumptum, a faithful copy, duly authenticated and sealed, is submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. Once the cause is accepted by the Congregation, further investigation is conducted. If the candidate was a martyr, the Congregation determines whether he died for the faith and truly offered his life in a sacrifice of love for Christ and the Church. In other cases, the congregation examines to see if the candidate was motivated by a profound charity towards his neighbor, and practiced the virtues in an exemplary manner and with heroism. Throughout this investigation the "general promoter of the faith," or devil's advocate, raises objections and doubts which must be resolved. Once a candidate is declared to have lived life with heroic virtue, he may be declared Venerable. The next step is beatification. A martyr may be beatified and declared "Blessed" by virtue of martyrdom itself. Otherwise, the candidate must be credited with a miracle.

In verifying the miracle, the Church looks at whether God truly performed a miracle and whether the miracle was in response to the intercession of the candidate saint. Once beatified, the candidate saint may be venerated but with restriction to a city, diocese, region, or religious family. Accordingly, the Pope would authorize a special prayer, Mass, or proper Divine Office honoring the Blessed. After beatification, another miracle is needed for canonization and the formal declaration of sainthood. Most recently, we have witnessed this process in the canonization on October 11 of Edith Stein, a Carmelite nun who took the name "Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross." Just a few highlights of her life: She was born in Breslau, Germany, studied at both the University of Breslau and the University of Gottingen, served as a teaching assistant for the great philosopher Edmund Husserl, and received her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Freiburg in 1917. Wrestling with her Jewish faith and being drawn toward Catholicism, she was baptized and received into the Catholic Church on Jan. 1, 1922.

She taught in various capacities, until the Nazi government prohibited all Jews from teaching in 1933. She entered the Carmelite monastery in Cologne, Germany in 1933, but transferred to the monastery in Echt, Holland in 1938 to protect the other sisters. Finally, on Aug. 2, 1942, she was arrested by the Gestapo for being both a Catholic sister as well as of Jewish descent, transported to Auschwitz, and gassed on August 9, 1942. Pope John Paul II beatified her on May 1, 1987, declaring her a martyr of the faith. Interestingly, when the sisters cleaned her cell at the monastery, they found a small picture with her handwriting on the back, which read, "I wish to offer my life as a sacrifice for the salvation of the Jews." Truly, she offered her life to the Lord. The miracle due to her intercession involves a young girl, name Teresia Benedicta, who suffered in 1987 from a lethal dose of Tylenol which crippled her liver functions. The little girl's condition continued to worsen.

(The daughter's father, a Melkite priest, sees two coincidences: First, he learned that his ordination date coincided with the date of Edith Stein's death. Second, after an intense study of her life and works, he and his wife named their newborn daughter Teresia Benedicta.) After invoking the intercession of St. Edith/Teresa Benedicta, the little girl miraculously recovered. In 1998, the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, after careful examination, determined that the cure defied any natural explanation and must be attributed to divine intervention through St. Edith/Teresa Benedicta. Since she was a martyr and now the intercessor for a miraculous cure, Pope John Paul II canonized her as a saint. In all, we must not lose sight that this thorough process exists because of how important the saints are as examples for us, the faithful who strive to live in the Kingdom of God now and see its fulfillment in Heaven. Vatican II declared, "God shows to men, in a vivid way, His presence and His face in the lives of those companions of ours in the human condition who are more perfectly transformed in the image of Christ.

He speaks to us in them and offers us a sign of this kingdom to which we are powerfully attracted, so great a cloud of witnesses is there given and such a witness to the truth of the Gospel. It is not merely by the title of example that we cherish the memory of those in heaven; we seek rather that by this devotion to the exercise of fraternal charity the union of the whole Church in the Spirit may be strengthened" ("Lumen Gentium," No. 50). Acknowledgement Saunders, Rev. William. "The Process of Becoming a Saint." Arlington Catholic Herald. This article is reprinted with permission from Arlington Catholic Herald. The Author Father William Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope parish in Potomac Falls, Virginia. He is dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College. The above article is a "Straight Answers" column he wrote for the Arlington Catholic Herald. Father Saunders is the author of Straight Answers , a book based on 100 of his columns, and Straight Answers II . Mary Virginia Merrick Canonization Cause | Becoming a Saint Canonization is the formal process the Catholic Church uses to declare someone is a saint What is a saint?

"The Church through the Pope solemnly declares a Catholic to be united with God in heaven, an intercessory to God on behalf of the living, and worthy of public and universal veneration." (USCCB) The purpose of a cause of canonization is to examine one's life and death to determine (a) if he/she were martyred or (b) lived a life of virtue. 1. (Arch)diocesan Phase A petition to open a cause is made to an (arch)diocese. After the (arch)bishop opens the cause, the person is declared a "Servant of God." The (arch)diocese investigates how the person lived a "heroic, virtuous life" through a full theological examination of his/her writings and interviews of witnesses; for martyrdom, by examining the circumstances of martyrdom and the person's life. The person responsible for this investigation is the postulator. 2. Vatican Phase All of the documentation collected is sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints for examination. Documentation is sent to the members of the Congregation (cardinals and bishops). If the staff and Congregation find it favorable, it goes to the Pope.

The Pope may declare the person "Venerable." 3. Becoming a "Blessed" A miracle attributed to the intercession of the person must be verified after examination by medical experts and theologians (a miracle is not mandatory for a martyr). Pope declares the person "Blessed." 4. Becoming a Saint A second verified miracle is attributed to the person. The Pope approves formal recognition of the person as a saint. This is done in a Canonization Mass. ​ Canonization | Define Canonization at Dictionary.com Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for canonization Expand n. late 14c., from Medieval Latin canonizationem (nominative canonizatio), noun of action from past participle stem of canonizare (see canonize ). canonize v.

late 14c., "to place in the canon or calendar of saints," from Old French cannonisier and directly from Medieval Latin canonizare, from Late Latin canon "church rule" (see canon (n.1)). Related: Canonized; cannonizing. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper Canonization Key Terms - Diocese of Springfield in Illinois Canonization Key Terms Skip to content Canonization Key Terms Beatification is the second stage in the process of proclaiming a person a saint; occurs after a diocese and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has conducted a rigorous investigation into the person’s life and writings to determine whether he or she demonstrates a heroic level of virtue or suffered martyrdom. A miracle attributed to a person’s intercession must be proved Blessed is the title bestowed on a person who has been beatified and accorded limited veneration. Canonization is the formal process by which the Church declares a person to be a saint and worthy of veneration universally. Congregation for the Causes of Saints is a department of the Roman Curia, established originally as the Congregation of Rites by Pope Sixtus V in 1588.

Reorganized and renamed in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, and again in 1983 by Pope John Paul II. In addition to making recommendations to the pope on beatification and canonizations, it is also responsible for the authentication and preservation of sacred relics. Miracle is an event that can be witnessed by the senses but is in apparent contradiction to the laws of nature. The Church recognizes authentic miracles as a divine intervention in the sensible world. Petitioner is the party initiating action in canon law. In the case of a sainthood cause, the petitioner is one who asks the bishop to begin the investigation which could ultimately lead to canonization. (A bishop may also begin a cause on his own initiation.) Positio is a comprehensive summary of all documentation; in this context, there are two: the one summarizing the investigation of a candidate’s life and heroic virtues or martyrdom and a second for any alleged miracles. The positio is prepared by the postulator with the assistance of someone from outside the Congregation of the Causes of Saints. Postulator is the person appointed to guide and oversee the cause.

One oversees the cause at the diocesan level (Phase I); the second, resident in Rome and appointed by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, oversees all aspects of Phases II and III. Prefect is the head of any of the pontifical congregations, usually a cardinal. Relator is the person appointed by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to assemble the historic documentation of the particular location and era of the candidate. Saint is the title given to someone who has been formally canonized by the Church, and therefore offered for public veneration; less formally, anyone, canonized or not, believed to be sharing eternal life with God. Servant of God is the title given to a candidate for sainthood whose cause is still under investigation, prior to beatification. Venerable is another honorific given to a candidate for sainthood whose cause has not yet reached the beatification stage but whose heroic virtue has been declared by the pope. Information taken from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Backgrounder: Making Saints . Reproduced with permission of the USCCB.

Last Updated on Thursday, 26 May 2011 14:26 Canonization C Canonization Canonization (or canonisation) is the act by which a particular Christian church or group declares a deceased person to be a saint and is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process. In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Rite and Eastern Rites) the act of canonization is reserved to the Holy See and occurs at the conclusion of a long process requiring extensive proof that the person proposed for canonization lived and died in such an exemplary and holy way that he or she is worthy to be recognized as a saint. The Church's official recognition of sanctity implies that the persons are now in heavenly glory, that they may be publicly invoked and mentioned officially in the liturgy of the Church, most especially in the Litany of the Saints. Other Christian churches still follow the older practice (see, for instance, below on Eastern Orthodox practice). Canonization, whether formal or informal, does not make someone a saint: it is only a declaration that the person is a saint and was a saint even before canonization.

In the Catholic Church, canonization involves a decree that allows veneration of the saint in the liturgy of the Roman Rite throughout the world. For permission to venerate on a local level, only beatification is needed, not canonization. Historical development of the process The first persons whom Christians honoured as saints were the martyrs . Their death for their faith was considered the supreme and undeniable witness to their faith in Christ. The fame of many of them spread widely, leading to their veneration far outside the area in which they lived and died. The Latin Rite Canon of the Mass contains the names only of martyrs, along with that of the Virgin Mary and, since 1962, that of Saint Joseph . By the fourth century, however, " confessors ", people who had confessed their faith not by dying but by word and life, began to be venerated publicly. Examples of such people are Saint Hilarion and Saint Ephrem the Syrian in the East, and Saint Martin of Tours and Saint Hilary of Poitiers in the West. Their names were inserted in the diptychs , the lists of saints explicitly venerated in the liturgy, and their tombs were honoured like those of the martyrs.

Since the witness of their lives was not as unequivocal as that of the martyrs, they were venerated publicly only with the approval by the local bishop . This approval was required even for veneration of a reputed martyr. In his history of the Donatist heresy, Saint Optatus recounts that at Carthage a Christian matron, named Lucilla, incurred the censures of the Church for having kissed the relics of a reputed martyr whose claims to martyrdom had not been juridically proved. And Saint Cyprian (died 258) recommended that the utmost diligence be observed in investigating the claims of those who were said to have died for the faith. All the circumstances accompanying the martyrdom were to be inquired into; the faith of those who suffered, and the motives that animated them were to be rigorously examined, in order to prevent the recognition of undeserving persons. Evidence was sought from the court records of the trials or from people who had been present at the trials. Saint Augustine of Hippo (died 430) tells of the procedure which obtained in his day for the recognition of a martyr.

The bishop of the diocese in which the martyrdom took place set up a canonical process for conducting the inquiry with the utmost severity. The acts of the process were sent either to the metropolitan or primate, who carefully examined the cause, and, after consultation with the suffragan bishops, declared whether the defunct was worthy of the name of 'martyr' and public veneration. Acts of formal recognition, such as the erection of an altar over the saint's tomb or transferring the saint's relics to a church, were preceded by formal inquiries into the sanctity of the person's life and the miracles attributed to that person's intercession. Such acts of recognition of a saint were authoritative, in the strict sense, only for the diocese or ecclesiastical province for which they were issued, but with the spread of the fame of a saint, were often accepted elsewhere also. The Holy See began to be asked to intervene, so as to ensure a more authoritative decision. The canonization of Saint Udalric, Bishop of Augsburg, by Pope John XV in 993 is the first undoubted example of a papal canonization of a saint from outside Rome.

(Some historians maintain that the first such canonization was that of Saint Swibert by Pope Leo III in 804.) Thereafter recourse was had with greater frequency to the judgment of the popes. Walter of Pontoise was canonized by Hugh de Boves, the Archbishop of Rouen in 1153; Walter was the last saint in Western Europe to have been canonized by an authority other than the pope. “The last case of canonization by a metropolitan is said to have been that of St. Gaultier, or Gaucher, abbot of Pontoise, by the Archbishop of Rouen, A.D. 1153. A decree of Pope Alexander III, A.D.

1170, gave the prerogative to the pope thenceforth, so far as the Western Church was concerned.” In 1173 Pope Alexander III, after reprimanding certain bishops for having permitted veneration of a man who was far from being a saint, decreed: "You shall not therefore presume to honour him in the future; for, even if miracles were worked through him, it is not lawful for you to venerate him as a saint without the authority of the Catholic Church." The procedure initiated by the text of Alexander III, confirmed by a bull of Pope Innocent III in the year 1200, issued on the occasion of the canonization of Saint Cunegunde, led to increasingly elaborate inquiries. Roman Catholic procedure since 1983 Pope John Paul II's apostolic constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister of 25 January 1983, and the norms issued by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 7 February 1983, for its implementation on diocesan level continued the work of simplification already initiated by Pope Paul VI. "Servant of God" The process leading towards canonization begins at the diocesan level.

A bishop with jurisdiction—usually the bishop of the place where the candidate died or is buried, although another ordinary can be given this authority—gives permission to open an investigation into the virtues of the individual, responding to a petition by members of the faithful, either actually or pro forma . This investigation may open no sooner than five years after the death of the person being investigated. However, the pope has the authority to waive this five year waiting period, as was done for Mother Teresa by Pope John Paul II and for John Paul II himself by his immediate successor, Benedict XVI. Normally, a guild or organization to promote the cause of the candidate's sainthood is created, an exhaustive search of the candidate's writings, speeches and sermons is undertaken, a detailed biography is written and eyewitness accounts are gathered. When sufficient information has been gathered, the investigation of the candidate, who is called "Servant of God", is presented by the local bishop to the Roman Curia—the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints—where it is assigned a postulator , whose task is to gather further information about the life of the Servant of God. Religious orders who regularly deal with the congregation often have their own designated postulator generals.

"Declaration 'Non Cultus'" At some point, permission is then granted for the body of the Servant of God to be exhumed and examined, a certification ("non cultus") that no superstitious or heretical worship or improper cult has grown up around the servant or his or her tomb is made, and relics are taken. "Venerable/Heroic in Virtue" When enough information has been gathered, the congregation will recommend to the pope that he make a proclamation of the Servant of God's heroic virtue (that is, that the servant exhibited the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, to an heroic degree). From this point the one said to be "heroic in virtue" is referred to by the title " Venerable ". A Venerable has as of yet no feast day , no churches may be built in his or her honor, and the church has made no statement on the person's probable or certain presence in heaven, but prayer cards and other materials may be printed to encourage the faithful to pray for a miracle wrought by his or her intercession as a sign of God's will that the person be canonized.

"Blessed" Beatification is a statement by the church that it is "worthy of belief" that the person is in heaven, having come to salvation. This step depends on whether the Venerable is a martyr or a "confessor". For a martyr, the pope has only to make a declaration of martyrdom, a certification that the venerable gave his or her life voluntarily as a witness for the faith and/or in an act of heroic charity for others. This allows beatification, giving the venerable the new title "Blessed" (abbreviated "Bl.") or, in Latin, Beatus or Beata. A feast day will be designated, but its observance is normally restricted to the Blessed's home diocese, to certain locations associated with him or her, and/or to the churches or houses of the blessed's religious order, if they belonged to one. Parishes may not normally be named in honor of a Blessed.

If the Venerable was not a martyr - all non-martyrs are "confessors" as they "confessed" or bore witness to their faith by how they lived their lives - it must be proven that a miracle has taken place by his or her intercession - that is, that God has shown a sign that the person is enjoying the Beatific Vision by God performing a miracle in response to the Blessed's prayers. Today, these miracles are almost always miraculous cures, as these are the easiest to establish based on the Catholic Church's requirements for a "miracle." (The patient was sick, there was no known cure for the ailment, prayers were directed to the Venerable, the patient was cured, the cure was spontaneous, instantaneous, complete and lasting, and doctors cannot find any natural explanation.) "Saint" (abbreviated "St" and "S.") To be canonized a saint, one (or more) miracle is necessary. Canonization is a statement by the church that the person certainly enjoys the Beatific Vision.

The saint is assigned a feast day which may be celebrated anywhere within the Catholic Church, although it may or may not appear on the general calendar or local calendars as an obligatory feast, parish churches may be built in his or her honor, and the faithful may freely and without restriction celebrate and honor the saint. In the case of persons that common usage has called saints from "time immemorial" (in practice, since before 1500 or so), the Church may carry out a "confirmation of cultus ", which is much simpler. For example, Saint Hermann Joseph had his veneration confirmed by Pope Pius XII. In the case of the Eastern Catholic Churches, individual churches sui juris retain, in theory, the right to glorify (see next section on Eastern Orthodox practice) saints for their own jurisdictions, though this has rarely happened in practice. Although a recognition of sainthood by the pope does not directly concern a fact of divine revelation, it must still be "definitively held" by the faithful as infallible under (at the very least) the Universal Magisterium of the Church since it is a truth connected to revelation by historical necessity.

Other Christian traditions Eastern Orthodox Glorification Glorification of saints in the Eastern Orthodox Church differs from Roman Catholic tradition in both theology and practice. The Glorification of saints is considered to be an act of God, not a declaration of the hierarchy. The official recognition of saints grows from the consensus of the church. When an individual who has been sanctified by the grace of the Holy Spirit falls asleep in the Lord, God may or may not choose to glorify the individual through the manifestation of miracles. If so, the devotion to the saint will normally grow from the "grass roots" level. Eventually, miracles will have grown to such a degree that a formal Service of Glorification will be scheduled. A Glorification may be performed by any Bishop within his Diocese . Often there will be a formal investigation to be sure that the individual is Orthodox in their faith, has led a life worthy of emulation, and that the reports of miracles attributed to their intercessions are verifiable. The Glorification service does not "make" the individual a saint; rather, the Church is simply making a formal acknowledgement of what God has already manifested. Martyrs need no formal Glorification; the witness of their self-sacrifice is sufficient.

Timothy Ware (Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia) says this about canonization in Orthodoxy: "In private an Orthodox Christian is free to ask for the prayers of any member of the Church, whether canonized of not. It would be perfectly normal for an Orthodox child, if orphaned, to end his evening prayers by asking for the intercession not only of the Mother of God and the saints, but of his own mother and father. In its public worship, however, the Church usually asks the prayers only of those whom it has officially proclaimed as saints; but in exceptional circumstances a public cult may become established without any formal act of canonization." Sometimes, too, the Orthodox Church adopts a Roman Catholic saint, as it did Hungary's King Stephen I in 2000, who was previously canonized by Pope Gregory VII in 1083. Anglican Since the English Reformation, only King Charles I has been canonized in the Church of England . National Anglican churches have their own calendars of saints and other holy men and women. Some more recent people, while not officially declared saints, have been added to certain Anglican national calendars for commemoration, for example C. S.

Lewis (November 22) and Martin Luther King, Jr. (April 4). Lutheran practice Some Lutherans have a calendar of saints, much of which they inherited from the Catholic Church. Some Lutheran bodies limit the recognition of saints to those persons mentioned in the Gospels and the Book of Acts. (Wikipedia) Canonize | Definition of Canonize by Merriam-Webster Examples of canonize in a sentence She died 100 years ago and was canonized in Rome last year. <a singing star so canonized by his fans that they refuse to believe anything bad about him> Origin and Etymology of canonize Middle English, from Medieval Latin canonizare, from Late Latin canon catalog of saints, from Latin, standard First Known Use: 14th century canonize Synonyms

Question: Canonization is when a church declares someone to be a what?
Answer: Saint