Making saints
Question: How do people become recognized
as saints?
 The
road to sainthood begins at the grass-roots. Ordinary Christians,
perhaps in a parish or a religious community, recognize that someone
of extraordinary holiness has lived among them. The memory of that person
inspires them. The story of his or her life is told, perhaps in a book.
People pray to the person, asking intercession for some favor, and their
prayers may be answered. Extraordinary signs, perhaps a cure from sickness,
occur. A local group may be formed which seeks to make this person's
life and gifts more widely known.
After
a long period of time, sometimes many years, the bishop of the diocese
where that person lived may be asked to begin the local process for
declaring a saint. If he sees merit in the request, he sets up a board
of experts to investigate the person's life, soundness of faith and
reputation for holiness. Those who knew the person are interviewed.
If miracles are attributed to that person's intercession, they must
verified by medical experts. Finally the bishop must ascertain from
the other bishops of the region if this person is known and venerated
more widely than in one local area.
Then,
if there is reason to proceed further, the bishop may petition Rome
to begin the process of beatification.
Beatification
Beatification
is the next step toward sainthood. It begins when the local
bishop provides the materials he has accumulated to the Vatican's Congregation
for the Causes of Saints. Using the materials, officials of the
congregation create an historical-critical account of the candidate's
life and spirituality. One important criteria sought at this stage is
the historical importance of the candidate: Did he or she meet a particular
challenge of their time and place? Did the candidate offer a new example
of holiness to the world in which he lived? Or was he truly a martyr,
one who died for faith in Jesus Christ?
If
the candidate was martyred, a miracle need not be sought. If the candidate
did not die as a martyr, then one miracle after death must be proven,
through the scrutiny of a body of medical experts. Once they find it
acceptable, and the candidate's life is judged truly heroic by a group
of theological experts and cardinals, then the pope can declare that
beatification may proceed. After the beatifcation takes place, the candidate
can be called blessed and veneration may be offered by the local church.
The pope can then go further and canonize the blessed.
Canonization
Canonization
is the final step that declares someone a saint. It means that
the candidate, already called blessed, is entered into the worldwide
list of saints recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. First, however,
in the case of a candidate who is not a martyr, the church looks
for another authentic miracle attributed to the candidate's intercession,
as a sign from God of the candidate's heroic holiness. Then, if the
candidate's reputation for holiness continues to grow worldwide,
the pope may decide to canonize.
The
church does not claim that its own list of saints is exhaustive.
In fact, its celebration of the Feast of All Saints on November 1st
points to a "huge crowd which no one could count from every nation,
race, people, and tongue." (Revelations 7) The church's list of canonized
saints is only meant to witness to God's grace at work through every
time and place, from the first centuries until now.
If
there is any trend in the process of canonization it is the search
for more "lay" saints: mothers and fathers, men and women who were active
in the world of family, business and politics and showed themselves
to be holy in a secular world. The church is looking for original saints,
who responded to the unique needs of their times, and so can open the
way of holiness to others.
Above
all, the saints are examples of how to follow Jesus Christ in every
circumstance. "In the lives of those who shared in our humanity and
yet were transformed into especially successful images of Christ, God
vividly manifests to men his presence and his face. He speaks to us
in them, and gives us a sign of his Kingdom, to which we are powerfully
drawn, surrounded as we are by so many witnesses ( cf. Hebrews 12,1),
and having such an argument for the truth of the gospel." (Lumen Gentium
50, Vatican II)
For
a detailed discussion of this process, consider looking at Kenneth Woodward's
book, Making Saints, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. Links
of possible interest include:
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