Recognizing a Saint: Part 5 of 5

1 December 2009. This is the last installment of this series, as we have arrived at the pinnacle of the Church's recognition of sainthood: canonization. It is in canonization that the Church comes to bestow the title "Saint" on a person.

Once a person has been beatified, the final step to sainthood requires a proven miracle that has come about because of the Blessed's intercession. For a Blessed who is a confessor, this means a second miracle is needed. As in beatification, the proven miracle is taken as God's sign that the miracle has been performed by Him, because of the intercession of the Blessed, who is truly in heaven enjoying the beatific vision.

Upon the recognition of the miracle necessary for sainthood, the Pope can celebrate the canonization--adding the Saint's name to the list, or canon, of saints.

The formal declaration of canonization usually occurs during a special mass of the Pope outside of Saint Peter's Basilica before a large crowd. (However, the canonization mass may also be held in the saint's home country.) During the mass the saint's life history is read aloud, and the Pope chants the following in Latin:

In honor of the Blessed Trinity, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith and the growth of Christian life, with the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and Our Own, after lengthy reflection, having assiduously invoked God's assistance and taken into account the opinion of many brothers of ours in the episcopate, we declare and define [name] to be a saint [or "to be blessed"], and we enroll him [or her] in the Catalogue of the saints, and we establish that in the whole Church he [or she] should be devoutly honored among the saints. In the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Then, a large tapestry with an image of the saint is unfurled before the faithful to admire and venerate. Shown above is the tapestry of Saint Francisco Coll y Guitart, canonized earlier this year by Pope Benedict XVI.

With canonization, the Saint's feast day is assigned and may be celebrated anywhere in the Church. However, not every Saint's feast day appears on the General Roman Calendar or is celebrated as an obligatory feast in the Church. (In fact, only about half of the days of the year ( 149 if I have counted correctly) are recognized on the General Roman Calendar as obligatory or optional memorials of a Saint.)

Churches may be named in the honor of a saint and the faithful are free, without restriction, to celebrate and honor the saint. And, the masses may be celebrated in the saint's memory.

In the history of the Church, however, the process for sainthood that we have examined in this series--Servant of God, Venerable, Blessed, and Saint--is a relatively new development. In the case of persons that have commonly been called saints from "time immemorial" (in practice, since before 1500 or so), the Church may carry out a confirmation of cultus whereby the Church affirms that it is acceptable to venerate the person and the person is given the title of Blessed. Profiled on this blog, Blessed Simon Ballacchi, is an example of one who has received the title "Blessed" in this manner.

This short series of posts has not, in any way, been a thorough or complete treatment of the process of the Church in recognizing a saint. However, I offer it to all readers as a brief explanation of how we the Church has come to venerate and pray to the saints for their intercession.

So, the end of the story is this: Pray to the saints! By the power of their intercession, we can each one be a better instrument of God's love here on earth.

IMAGE: The tapestry of Saint Francisco Coll y Guitart, canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 11 October 2009.

Saint Francisco Coll y Guitart

12 OCTOBER 2009. Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI canonized a new Dominican saint. Although today is not his feast day, let's take this opportunity to learn about, now, Saint Francisco Coll y Guitart.

Born in 1812 in Grombeny, Catalan Pyrenees, Spain, Saint Francisco was one of ten children, and only 4 when his father died. Saint Francisco was confirmed at the age of 6 in 1818, and entered the seminary in Vichy, France in 1822 at the age of only 10. Saint Anthony Mary Claret was a fellow seminary student.

As a child, Saint Francisco taught grammar and catechism to local children in France. He joined the Dominican Order in 1830 at the age of 18. When religious orders were suppressed in France, Saint Francisco continued his studies covertly.

Saint Francisco was ordained on 28 March 1836. Assigned to Moya in 1839, an area ravaged by war, Saint Francisco established charitable organizations to feed and house the many refugees. Saint Francisco worked with the poor and displaced for 10 years. In 1850 Saint Francisco re-opened a suppressed Dominican monastery, and began a program of preaching throughout the Catalan region.

When the cholera epidemic struck in 1854, Saint Francisco worked to minister to cholera victims. He founded the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (La Annunciata) in 1856, a teaching branch of tertiaries

Saint Franciso was struck blind while delivering a homily given at Sallent on 2 December 1869. After that event, Saint Francisco's health never fully recovered, but he refused to retire. When the suppression of religious orders was lifted in 1872, and the Dominicans officially returned, they found that Saint Francisco has kept the necessary structures--physical and administrative--in place. Therefore, the Order could take up their ministry where it had been left off.

Saint Francisco was a popular preacher of missions in various dioceses of North Eastern Spain. Those who knew him characterized his life by his fervent zeal for preaching; he prayed long hours, studied, and dedicated a great deal of time to preparing the sermons for his missions.

Saint Francisco died on 2 April 1875 in Vic, Barcelona, Spain. By the time of his death, the order he had founded had grown to 50 houses; today there are over 140 in Europe and America.

Saint Francisco was beatified by the great Pope John Paul II on 29 April 1979. He was canonized yesterday by Pope Benedict XVI. Saint Francisco's feast day is 2 April.

Prayer

God of all truth, you chose Saint Francis to make known the name of your Son and to instruct Christian people in holiness. By the help of his prayers may the true faith be continually sustained and grow through the ministry of preaching. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

IMAGE: Wikimedia Commons