Recognizing a Saint: Part 4 of 5

30 NOVEMBER 2009. Reviewing the Church's process of declaring a person a saint, we have reached the step that is most difficult for a person--now called Venerable--to achieve: beatification.

Beatification is the statement by the Church that it is worthy of belief that the person is in heaven, having achieved salvation. The step of beatification can take one of two paths depending on whether the candidate is a martyr or a confessor.

A martyr is one who has voluntarily given her or his life for the faith. For a martyr to achieve beatification, the Pope must make a declaration of martyrdom. This declaration certifies that the Venerable gave her or his life voluntarily as a witness for the faith or in an act of heroic charity for others.

If the Venerable is not a martyr, then she or he is called a confessor--for she or he has confessed, or bore witness, to their faith by the way she or he lived their life. For a confessor, beatification requires proof that a miracle has taken place because of the intercession of the Venerable. In other words, the Church believes that a proven miracle is God's sign that the Venerable is indeed in heaven, enjoying the beatific vision, and God has performed the miracle in response to the Venerable's prayers. Today, the miracles are almost always miraculous cures. For the Church to confirm that a cure is miraculous, the Church must find that a person was sick, no known cure was available for the illness, the person directed their prayer of intercession to the Venerable, and the person was cured. The cure must be instantaneous, spontaneous, complete and lasting, and without medical or natural explanation.

Once the declaration of martyrdom is made or a miracle has been proven, the Church may declare the Venerable to be a "Blessed,"or, in Latin, Beatus or Beata. Each Blessed has a designated feast day, although it is typically only celebrated in the Blessed's home diocese (or other area particularly associated with the Blessed) or within the Blessed's religious order. Churches may not normally be named in honor of a Blessed.

Probably the most recognized Blessed today is Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Mother Teresa was declared a Blessed on 19 October 2003 by Servant of God Pope John Paul II the great. Several Blesseds have been profiled on this Blog:

Blessed Margaret of Savoy
Blessed James Benfatti
Blessed Simon Ballacchi
Blessed Raymond of Capua
Blessed Dominic Spadafora
Blessed Jordan of Pisa
Blessed Robert Nutter
Blessed Adrian Fortescue
Blessed Pope Benedict XI
Blessed Junipero Serra
Blessed Osanna of Mantua
Blessed Diana and Blessed Cecilia

The next and final installment in this series will examine the final step in the Church's recognition of sainthood: canonization.

IMAGE: Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Recognizing a Saint: Part 1 of 5

27 NOVEMBER 2009. Over the course of the year the Church celebrates hundreds of saints and blesseds, and many hundreds more are celebrated by particular religious communities and local churches due to particular or local devotions. As the Acta Sanctorum Blog seeks to celebrate with the Church all of these saints and blesseds, it seems like now (as a new liturgical year is about to begin) may be an opportune time to examine how the Church comes to recognize a person as a saint.

To begin, this first installment in the series will look at the basics of the Church's recognition of saints and provide a short introductory history.

As discussed in an earlier post, a saint is a "'holy one' who leads a life in union with God through the grace of Christ and receives the reward of eternal life. The Church is called the communion of saints, of the holy ones." (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2d ed. (hereinafter CCC), glossary (emphasis added)) Thus, the declaration of a person as a saint is a statement of belief by the Church that the person is indeed in heaven, having received the reward of eternal life for having lived a holy life in union with God, through the grace of Christ. 

In other words, the Church's recognition of an individual as a saint is not what makes that person a saint. Instead, the Church is declaring its belief that the person is a saint and was a saint (even before the person's formal recognition by the Church).

There a number of steps that must be achieved before the Church will declare a person's sainthood: (1) first the person's life undergoes an examination during which the person is given the title "Servant of God;" (2) at some point, the body of the person is exhumed with permission and examined and declaration is made that no heretical cult or superstitious practice has grown up around the person or her or his tomb; (3) then, the person must declared "Venerable" and having heroic virtue; (4) then, the person may be beatified (the most difficult step in the process)--and earns the title "Blessed"--which is an affirmation that it is "worthy of belief" that the Blessed is, indeed, in heaven; and (5) finally, the person may be canonized--thereby earning the title "Saint"--which is the declaration of belief that the person is indeed in heaven, enjoying the beatific vision.

The process to achieve sainthood, which had been around in some from since at least the Thirteenth Century, was simplified further, following reforms by Pope Paul VI, by Pope John Paul II in his apostolic constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister, issued on 25 January 1983, and the norms issued by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 7 February 1983.

The declaration of sainthood provides for universal veneration of the Saint throughout the Church. While not an express limitation, the veneration of a Blessed, or Beati, may be limited to only a particular diocese or a particular religious order.

Reportedly, there are more than 10,000 named saints and blesseds from history, counting both Catholic and Orthodox sources, but there is no definitive head count. The General Roman Calendar assigns feast days of saints to about half of the days of the year. However, that is only a small percentage of all the saints listed in the Roman Martyrology--the Church's official 776 page list of saints.

The second installment of this series will look more closely at what is involved in a person being named a Servant of God.