CV NEWS FEED // Everyone is called to sainthood, but the Catholic Church has conditions for being recognized as a saint.
Canonization and beatification are the markers by which the Church recognizes a deceased person as having made it to heaven. What’s the process, and what is the history behind it?
What is a saint?
A saint is a dead person who during his or her life responded to God’s call to holiness. The word saint is derived from the Latin word “sanctus,” meaning holy.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops identifies saints as “persons in heaven (officially canonized or not), who lived heroically virtuous lives, offered their life for others, or were martyred for the faith, and who are worthy of imitation.”
There are upwards of 11,000 officially recognized saints in the Roman Catholic Church.
What is the history of Catholic canonization?
In the infancy of the Catholic Church, people were declared saints through “vox populi, vox Dei,” (voice of the people, voice of God) – or public acclaim.
Papal intervention in the process of canonization was not recorded until the 10th century and was formally put into practice in the 1500s during a reorganization of the Roman Curia. Until then, formal approval by a local bishop was required to declare a person a saint.
What are the Modern Steps to Sainthood?
There are three official steps by which someone ultimately becomes a saint. The first step is to become recognized as a “Venerable,” a “title given to a deceased person recognized formally by the pope as having lived a heroically virtuous life or offered their life.”
The second step involves being beatified and recognized as a “Blessed.” For a Venerable to become a “Blessed,” there must be evidence of a miracle through the intercession of the deceased person. To be a “Blessed” the deceased must also be found to have lived a life of heroic virtue or to have died a martyr’s death.
The final step on the path to sainthood is canonization, which requires a second miracle following beatification.
What is the process for beatification and canonization?
Inquiry into the life of a deceased person to begin the road to sainthood typically cannot start until five years after the death of the holy man or woman. Only the pontiff can accelerate the timeline, as was the case for St. Mother Teresa and Pope St. John Paul II. Their canonizations were speeded through and finalized – Mother Teresa’s by John Paul II and John Paul II’s by Pope Benedict XVI.
For the deceased to be considered for veneration, the bishop of the diocese of the deceased must file a petition to the Holy See for a Cause for Beatification and Canonization.
If there are no objections to the petition by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, then the formal inquiry or Cause moves forward and the deceased is given the title “Servant of God.”
Once a Servant of God’s life has been investigated and there is clear evidence of heroic virtue, the Congregation votes on whether to move forward to beatification. Ultimately, the Holy Father decides whether or not a Cause advances or is closed.
The process continues similarly through beatification and finally canonization.
According to EWTN, in “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.”
The Vatican’s official processes can be read here.
