CANONIZATION. — Canonization is a definitive act or sentence by which the Supreme Pontiff decrees that a servant of God, already enrolled among the blessed, be inscribed in the catalogue of saints and be venerated throughout the universal Church with the cult due to all the canonized.
I. CANONIZATION IN THE PRACTICE OF MODERN CANON LAW
From the definition it is immediately apparent what difference exists between beatification (q.v.) and canonization. In the former the cult is limited to a city, diocese, region, or religious family, and is merely permissive; in the latter it is extended to the entire Catholic world and is obligatory. But the true difference lies, as Benedict XIV writes, in “that final and definitive sentence of holiness” which imposes the cult due to the saints in the universal Church: a sentence which the Supreme Pontiff pronounces in canonization, and never in beatification. One of the characteristic notes of the Church is indeed her holiness: she is holy because her Founder is holy, her doctrine is holy, her end is holy, and she is holy because she has the power to generate in every age legions of saints, who, by their life, their virtues, their apostolate, and the miracles wrought through their intercession, come to confirm the very holiness of the Church. The defender, guardian, and judge of this holiness is none other than the Vicar of Christ; and to him alone, who presides over the entire Church and has the right to propose what is to be believed and done in matters concerning religion, it belongs to judge who is to be held and honored as a saint. And in this judgment the Pope cannot err. Benedict XIV, incomparable master in this matter, teaches that he who would dare affirm that the Pope in this or that canonization has erred, and that this or that saint canonized by him ought not to be honored with the cult of dulia—i.e., on account of his dignity in the supernatural order—would be “not only heretical, but certainly temerarious, scandalous to the whole Church, injurious to the saints, suspect of heresy, and an assertor of an erroneous proposition.”
Moreover, the definitive sentence by which the Pope proclaims the holiness of servants of God finds its first and highest justification in the special assistance of the Holy Spirit that enlightens him, and is solidly supported by a whole complex of investigations, studies, and facts that demonstrate with what discernment and prudence the Church proceeds in causes of canonization, which are numbered among the greatest and most serious within her competence. Indeed, the normal and ordinary path is not to initiate a cause of canonization unless it has first been established that the servant of God has already been recognized as blessed. And if for a moment one recalls what was said under the heading Beatification, one will see what long and severe inquiry is employed before a servant of God obtains the title and honors of blessed. Despite this complex of research and ascertainment, two further miracles are required, verified after beatification, which pass under the scrutiny of physicians and surgeons appointed ex officio and are discussed and weighed first by a medical commission and then by two prelates, consultors, and cardinals in three or more Congregations, the last of which is presided over by the Pope.
Once the miracles are approved and the decree promulgated establishing that it may safely proceed to canonization, another series of acts begins, unfolding in three Consistories; for the Holy See desires that in an affair of such gravity the consultative judgment of the Sacred Congregation of Rites be joined to the equally consultative judgment of the Sacred Consistory. It begins with the secret Consistory, where, in addition to the cardinals of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, all the cardinals residing in Rome convene. After hearing the report of the Cardinal Prefect of the same Congregation concerning the life, miracles, and acts accomplished up to that point, they are questioned by the Supreme Pontiff whether it pleases them that solemn canonization proceed, to which they respond placet or non placet. Next is held a public Consistory, where one of the consistorial advocates delivers in elegant Latin an oration on the life and miracles of the blessed whose canonization is sought. Upon the conclusion of the advocate’s address, the Secretary of the Latin Letters, speaking in the name of the Pope, replies that His Holiness exhorts all to invoke divine light through fasting and prayer before the sacred College of Cardinals and the episcopate have declared their intention. To this end a semi-public Consistory is convoked, to which, in addition to all the cardinals, are invited the patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, and abbots nullius residing in Rome, so that, after having taken cognizance of a compendium of the life of the blessed together with the relevant acts, drawn up under the care of the Secretary of the Rites, they may give their suffrage. This final Consistory opens and closes with a brief allocution by the Pope, who announces the day on which, in the basilica of St. Peter, with solemn apparatus and ceremonies, he will perform the act of canonization. On the appointed day the Pontiff pronounces before the Catholic world the definitive sentence by which he inscribes the name of the blessed in the catalogue of saints and ordains that his memory be honored annually by the universal Church.
CANONIZATION — Pius II canonized St. Catherine of Siena (29 June 1461). Fresco by Pinturicchio in the Piccolomini Library (1505–1507) — Siena.
holiness of life or whose glorious martyrdom is demonstrated by the processes with such breadth and certainty of proof as to exclude any doubt.
II. CANONIZATION IN HISTORY
SUMMARY:
I. Origins of canonization; the cult of martyrs
II. The beginning of the cult of non-martyrs
III. Episcopal canonization
IV. Papal or universal canonization
V. List of canonizations handled by the Sacred Congregation of Rites from Clement VIII (1594) to Pius XII
VI. Equipollent canonization
VII. Canonization and the Church.I. THE ORIGINS OF CANONIZATION, THE CULT OF THE MARTYRS
The ancient Church regarded martyrdom as the highest expression of faith and charity, and therefore of Christian perfection; for this reason it venerated the martyrs as the closest friends of God and the most powerful intercessors for us.This veneration was based on the public fact of martyrdom, and was linked to a twofold element: local and temporal. The cult, that is, was bound to the place of the martyrdom or the burial of the martyr, and to the date of the martyrdom itself. The memory of a martyr, unlike the memory of any other deceased person, was not celebrated only by relatives and kin, but by the Christian community itself, and the anniversary was recorded in the relevant calendars. Moreover, whereas in the piety toward the deceased the prevailing idea was that of our intercession with God for their salvation, the celebration of the martyr was festive, and his intercession was implored on behalf of the living. The first historically documented example of an anniversary feast for a martyr is that of the Church of Smyrna for St. Polycarp, who died in 156 (Martyrdom of Polycarp, 18: ed. R. Knopf-G. Krüger, Ausgewählte Märtyrerakten, 2nd ed., Tübingen 1929).
The fact of martyrdom was a matter of public knowledge; the Christian community itself had witnessed it; ordinarily speaking, therefore, no specific act of recognition by ecclesiastical authority was required. Only in certain particular cases, when sects also claimed to have martyrs—especially in Africa—did some vigilance on the part of ecclesiastical authority seem advisable (v. MARTYRS).
As has been said, the Christian communities kept a kind of list of their own martyrs, noting the name, the date of martyrdom, and the place of burial. St. Cyprian attests to this when he reminds his clergy: “Note the days on which they depart, so that we may be able to celebrate their commemoration among the memorials of the martyrs” (Epistolae, 12, 2, ed. J.M.J. Hartel: CSEL, III, 303). Hence the origin of martyrologies and calendars. An example of such lists is found in the Depositio martyrum of the Roman Church, inserted in the Chronography of 354 (v. CHRONOGRAPH). But the names of the martyrs also passed more directly into the cult, that is, they were inserted into local diptychs, read during the holy sacrifice (v. DIPTYCHS). The continuous contact among the various churches gave occasion for an initial spread of the cult of a martyr beyond the place of origin; their names began to migrate into the calendars and martyrologies of other churches, and certain famous martyrs were also received into the diptychs of those churches.
The golden age of the cult of the martyrs was the first centuries after the Peace of Constantine: suffice it to mention the splendid decoration of their tombs, the erection of memorials, churches, and basilicas—often grand—above their tombs or in their honor; the pilgrimages, the solemn liturgical celebrations of their feasts, the panegyrics delivered in their honor. The Eastern practice of the translation and division of their relics then spread to the West as well, and the centers of cult of the martyrs multiplied. St. Stephen the Protomartyr, once his relics were discovered (415), St. John the Baptist, or St. Lawrence, the Roman deacon, and many others, received a cult that rapidly extended to the whole Church. Popes of Eastern origin introduced many cults of martyrs into Rome; with the migrations of entire populations caused by the barbarian invasions, there sometimes followed those of the relics and the cult of a martyr (e.g., St. Quirinus from Siscia to Rome, St. Severinus from Noricum to Naples); all this occurred through an organic and natural development, without prior intervention by the bishops. Only from time to time was it necessary to moderate somewhat the excessively ardent and less cautious zeal of the people (v. MARTYRS).
At this period one cannot yet speak of canonization in the modern canonical sense. The solemn and liturgical cult of the martyrs was the fruit of a spontaneous and logical evolution that was based, on the one hand, on the historical notoriety of the fact of martyrdom, which rendered the deceased directly similar to Christ, and, on the other, on the two fundamental elements for the origin of the cult: the date and place of the martyrdom.
II. THE BEGINNING OF THE CULT OF THE “NON”-MARTYRS
The period of persecutions had not yet ended when another group of the deceased began to attract special veneration from the Christian communities, namely the “confessors” (v.), that is, Christians who were brought before the civil authority for their faith but, for various circumstances, had either not undergone martyrdom or had survived II. The testimonies regarding the particular veneration accorded to these confessors (in the primitive sense of the word) are very numerous; and upon their death a confessor of the faith could easily become the object of a veneration similar to that accorded to a true martyr. Among the best-known examples it suffices to recall: Dionysius of Milan (359); Eusebius of Vercelli (370); Athanasius (373); Meletius of Antioch (381); John Chrysostom (407). Yet it is easily observed that some of these figures distinguished themselves not only for what they suffered for the faith, but also for their strenuous defense of it on the political and doctrinal fronts and for their life and activity, so that, as soon as they died, a reputation arose around them not unlike that enjoyed by the martyrs. There are then other figures who, without having been confessors of the faith in the primitive sense, excelled so greatly in doctrine, exemplary life, and manifold activity—political-ecclesiastical or social—that they too, after their death, were soon surrounded by honors analogous to those rendered to the martyrs; suffice it to mention Gregory Thaumaturgus (270), Ephrem the Syrian (373), Basil the Great (379), Ambrose of Milan, Martin of Tours (397), Jerome (420), and Augustine (430), to say nothing of so many others.But there is more. In the same period, and on a very large scale, the practice of asceticism and monasticism had been developing. The East soon resounded with the fame of hermits and cenobites, and soon the West also came to know some of their great figures (Athanasius, for example, the great exile). Anthony the Abbot (356) was known throughout the Christian world through the celebrated biography written by St. Athanasius, where all could read that Anthony was to be equated with the ancient martyrs, not by the shedding of blood, but by a no less authentic and real martyrdom, namely that of the arduous and continual conquest of perfection (Life, chap. 47: PG 26, 912). Similar veneration was enjoyed by other great ascetics and monks, such as, for example, Barontius (372); Paul of Thebes (381); Simeon the Stylite (450). Their death anniversaries were also celebrated liturgically, often imposing sanctuaries arose at their tombs, famous as pilgrimage destinations; their relics were venerated and sought after, and churches in their honor multiplied. The first “non”-martyrs to enter the liturgical cult of the Church of Rome appear to have been Pope Sylvester and Martin of Tours. During the 6th–9th centuries, not a few other “non”-martyr saints were received into the Roman calendars; in Rome they had their oratories, monasteries, and churches, and from there they spread beyond the Alps, and vice versa. This movement of cult was largely favored by Popes of non-Roman origin, by the many monks who emigrated to the West, or by the exchange of relics and the diffusion of legends and passions, etc.
Altro elemento che non si deve sottovalutare e che operò molto in profondità e vastità, è l'opera letteraria dei Padri e degli scrittori ecclesiastici, i quali svilupparono e diffusero sistematicamente la teoria del « martirio incruento », rappresentato appunto dalla vita penitente, ascetica e monastica, o comunque dalla vita di perfezione cristiana. Tale teoria divenne la dottrina comune in tutto il medioevo e influisce anche oggi. Basteranno alcuni pochi riscontri, rimandando per il resto alla bibliografia notata sotto. Paolino di Nola sollecita per S. Felice, presbiterò nolano, la gloria di martire: « Martyrium sine caede placet, si prompta ferendi-mensque fidesque Deo calent; passura voluntas-sufficit, et summa est meriti testatio voti » (S. Paulini carmina [ed. J.M.] Hartel: CSEL, XXIX, corn. 14, V. 10-12, p. 46). S. Girolamo non si perita a scrivere ad Eustochio: « Mater tua longo martyrio coronata est. Non solum effusio sanguinis in confessione reputatur, sed devotae quoque mentis servitus cotidianum martyrium est » (Epistolae [ed. I. Filberg], CSEL: LV, ep. 108, n. 31, p. 349). Di Martino di Tours dice Sulpicio Severo: « Implevit tamen sine cruore martyrium »; nella sua festa si riscontrano ancora la salmodia ed altri elementi liturgici propri dei martiri.
III. EPISCOPAL CANONIZATION
Between the 6th and 10th centuries, while the East was increasingly separating itself from the West, the collapse of the Roman Empire and the migration of the barbarian peoples, with the consequent need to convert them to the Catholic faith, presented the Church with new and difficult tasks. This was the age of the great bishops, missionary monks, converted kings who ended up in monasteries, queens and princesses who founded monasteries and churches and then became abbesses or nuns themselves, hermits and pilgrims; a world in ferment and in motion, with deep contrasts between violence and holiness, amid young peoples of strong imagination, enthusiastic about the new faith, admirers of the heroes of charity and evangelical purity. During this period, alongside a revival of the cult of the martyr-saints, new cults of saints sprang up everywhere: often, the mere reputation of an ascetic life, the founding of a monastery with its beneficial consequences, great charity toward the poor, sometimes a violent death—even if not always strictly for the faith—and above all the reputation of miracles, was enough to give rise to a new cult. The two starting points for these early medieval cults were the popular voice acclaiming a holy life and the credit given to miracles.Great churches ordinarily regarded their founders and first bishops as saints; the same applied to the figures of great abbots. In all cases, their memories were collected, their legends written, without much concern for critical scrutiny; the calendars and martyrologies of those centuries were enriched with ever-new names, altars multiplied in churches, and the number of feasts rapidly increased. From time to time, it was necessary to curb abuses. Charlemagne, for example, had to take measures against improper cults (MGH, Capitularia, II, 56: “Ut falsa nomina martyrum et incertae sanctorum memoriae non venerentur”; the Council of Frankfurt [794]: “Ut nulli novi sancti colantur aut invocentur nec memoriae eorum per vias erigantur, sed ii soli in ecclesia venerandi sint, qui ex auctoritate passionum aut vitae merito electi sunt” [MGH, Capitularia, II, 170]; the Council of Mainz [813]: “Deinceps corpora sanctorum de loco ad locum nullus praesumat transferre sine consilio principis vel episcoporum et sanctae synodis licentia” [Mansi, XIV, 75]).
From the various and manifold accounts on this subject, it emerges that a more or less uniform practice was taking shape in these centuries through which a new cult was authorized. The starting point was always the public fame, the vox populi, which immediately after the death of the servant of God rushed to the tomb, invoked his intercession, and proclaimed his thaumaturgic power. Then the competent bishop was approached; indeed, often during a diocesan or provincial synod, a life of the deceased was read aloud, especially the account of miracles (the very first nucleus of future processes), and following the approval, the exhumation of the body took place to give it more honorable burial: the elevatio. But often, either immediately or later, another step followed: the translatio, that is, the new deposition of the holy body before or beside an altar, or even beneath or above it, which then took the name of the saint so venerated; indeed, sometimes the very church was enlarged or rebuilt and precisely dedicated to the saint who had been elevated or translated. From the elevatio or translatio onward, the liturgical feast was regularly celebrated, often with great solemnity, not only in the locality where the altar or church stood but throughout the diocese, region, province, or even the entire religious order.
The principal elements of this procedure, which had developed during the Merovingian era and taken on a certain consistency in the Carolingian period, were therefore: public fame of holiness and miracles (or martyrdom), presentation to the diocesan bishop or synod (diocesan or provincial) of a life specially composed, with particular emphasis on the miracles attributed to the “saint,” and official approval or consent to the cult, which was inaugurated with the elevatio or translatio. In other words, a fixed point of the cult was created: the proper altar of the new saint, or his church, where the liturgical feast was regularly celebrated.
The cult could remain limited or spread more or less rapidly and widely; this was a secondary element, the essential being the official intervention of the competent ecclesiastical authority, that is, in that age, the ordinary bishop, acting in virtue of his own authority, often made more evident by the concurrence of neighboring bishops or a synod. We are thus faced with an ordinary and normal ecclesiastical discipline, universally recognized, therefore legitimate and valid in all respects: namely, episcopal or local, or particular canonization, as some prefer to call it, the sole and exclusive form from the 6th to the 12th century, continuing at times until the 14th. A very late example, to cite one, is found in 1215, in the canonization of St. Peter of Trevi, celebrated prout poterat by the bishop of Anagni, Peter, in the presence of neighboring prelates. St. Peter Damian (d. 1072) was well acquainted with this practice and speaks of it as something ordinary (cf. Opusculum VI, cap. 19: PL 145, 142).
In conclusion: for more than five or six centuries (6th–12th), episcopal canonization was the normal and sole form in use in the Latin Church. Beside it, as will be seen immediately, papal canonization grew very slowly, and much time and doctrinal and canonical labor were required before it succeeded in supplanting the ordinary medieval canonization carried out by bishops. It must be emphasized above all that episcopal canonization initiated a true and proper cult of a saint, that is, the celebration of the liturgical feast, the erection or dedication of altars and churches, the use of the saint’s name in baptism, and so forth, without any limitation. The more or less extensive geographical diffusion of these cults is a secondary and purely accessory element. One must avoid applying modern juridical concepts to those times; moreover, even formal papal canonization, although it obliges the whole Church to venerate a saint, does not in any way imply the imposition of his feast throughout the Church.
IV. PAPAL OR UNIVERSAL CANONIZATION
The transition from the practice of episcopal canonization to papal canonization is almost imperceptible in its beginnings. At first, the latter appears rather casual and was certainly not intended as a supreme act valid for the universal Church. Yet it is clear that a canonization decreed by the pope carried greater authority; and therefore, in a second phase, requests for papal authorization of cults grew ever more frequent. The procedure, however, remained the same as in episcopal canonization, and in most cases the pope merely gave his consent, while the actual solemn elevation and inauguration of the cult took place locally. The travels of the popes in the 11th and 12th centuries provided occasions for the popes to perform such elevations in person. Gradually, papal canonization gained greater consistency and canonical validity; a stricter procedure was established, and finally it became the exclusive and uniquely legitimate form of canonization.One may therefore distinguish three periods in the development of papal canonization: a) up to the time when the decretal Audivimus (1170) of Alexander III was included in the Decretals of Gregory IX (1234); b) up to Sixtus V, who entrusted the Sacred Congregation of Rites with the task of preparing papal canonizations; c) the period of papal canonization according to the practice of said Congregation.
a) First period: up to the time of Gregory IX. — It should be noted that the dates in parentheses following the names of individual saints refer to the year of their death.
The first pope to intervene in authorizing a cult outside Rome is said to have been Innocent I (401–17),
CANONIZZATION. — Process of canonization (1266–67) of St. Emma of Gurk (d. 27 June 1045). Fol. 120 of the contemporary fine copy — Gurk (Austria), archive of the Cathedral.
to which would have been transmitted the acts of the martyrdom of St. Vigilius of Trent (26 June 405), “ut sacris martyrum memorialibus inserantur”; but the authenticity of the acts, or at least of this notice, is disputed. Certain, however, is the final translation of the body of St. Severinus (d. in 482 in Noricum and carried by his disciples to Montefeltro, thence to Castellum Lucullanum [Pizzofalcone] near Naples), which was carried out “tunc sancti Gelasii sedis romanae pontificis auctoritate” (Eugippius, Vita Severini [ed. P. Knöll: CSEL, IX] 65). More or less uncertain are the following notices: Boniface IV (608–15), according to a forgery, would have approved “sua auctoritate” the life of St. Maurus the Abbot (15 January 584); Leo III, at the request of Charlemagne, on the occasion of his visit to Verdun, would have elevated the body of St. Suitbert (1 March 713). To Pope Zachary (741–52) is attributed the permission for the elevation of the martyrs Kilian, Coloman, and Totnan (8 July 689) at Würzburg; Adrian I (772–95) would have approved the cult of St. Alban, protomartyr of Britain (under Diocletian), at the request of King Offa. John VIII (872–82) would personally have elevated the bodies of Sts. Agricola, Sylvester, and Desiderius, bishops of Chalon-sur-Saône of the 4th century. More reliable is the notice that Bishop Hugo of Würzburg proceeded, on 14 October 983, to the elevation of the body of St. Burchard (2 February 754) “permisso Benedicti papae” (Benedict VII [974–83]). Finally, John XV (985–96) would have authorized the elevation of the body of St. Landoald (687 or 688), celebrated at Ghent on 19 March 982 (though the chronology is erroneous!).
Setting aside other similar notices, difficult to verify, we come to the first certain papal canonization of which the papal document still exists, that of St. Ulrich, bishop of Augsburg (4 July 973), carried out by John XV on 31 January 993, during the synod celebrated at the Lateran. Among the prelates present was also the bishop of Augsburg, who asked and obtained permission to read before the assembly the life and miracles of Ulrich, and received general applause. The Pope, on the same date, drew up an act, setting forth what had occurred and declaring Ulrich worthy of veneration. All of this fits perfectly into
CANONIZATION - Decoration of St Peter’s Basilica for the canonization of the Blessed Isidore the Farmer, Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Teresa of Avila and Philip Neri, performed by Gregory XV (12 March 1622).
Gregory V is credited with the canonization of St Adalbert, bishop of Prague and martyr (23 April 997), performed in the same year; it is certain that he erected and dedicated a church to him on the Tiber Island (later St Bartholomew’s).
Benedict VIII, at the request of Count Boniface, permitted the construction of a church in honour of St Simeon, a monk at Polirone near Mantua (26 October 1016). The Pope replied: “Tractate eum ut sanctum.” This would be the swiftest canonization, occurring one or two months after the death of the servant of God.
John XIX permitted, around 1024, the elevation of St Adalard, abbot of Corbie (2 January 826), and two years later that of St Bononius, abbot of Lucedio (30 August 1026).
Benedict IX granted, around 1032, the elevation of St Romuald (16 June 1027). Much more important is his other intervention which, in every respect, constitutes historically the true first and perfect act of papal canonization, namely the canonization of St Simeon, recluse at Trier (1 June 1035). In a letter to the German people the Pope explains how he had repeatedly received accounts of the life and miracles of the Saint, and how Poppo, bishop of Trier, had directly asked him “ut quod nobis visum fuisset de celebratione eiusdem sanctissimi viri, salubri definitione nostrae apostolicae auctoritatis statueremus atque decerneremus.” At a solemn assembly of “our Roman clergy brethren,” on the occasion of Christmas (1041), the Pope, by common consent, decreed: “eundem virum Simeonem... ab omnibus populis, tribubus et linguis sanctum procul dubio esse nominandum,” establishing that his feast be celebrated annually and his name inserted in the martyrology. It is evident how much this act differs from the simple papal permissions for elevations previously granted, above all for the express intention of a definition of universal and obligatory scope for the whole Church. Yet the times were not yet ripe for such decisions, and the canonization of St Simeon in fact did not exceed the limits of the usual episcopal canonizations.
Noteworthy also is the case of St Wiborada, recluse at St Gall (2 May 926). Abbot Hitto had solemn vigils celebrated and offered Mass over her tomb on the day of deposition; later, as Ekkehard recounts, “in sanctam eam levari iam bis nostris temporibus per duos papas decretatum est, et sub Norberto tandem impletum.” Abbot Norbert, indeed, supported by Emperor Henry III, obtained from Clement II on 5 January 1047 “ut canonizaret et pro sancta haberi praecipere et anniversarium diem ipsius solemnizandum institueret.” As can be seen, two previous papal concessions were not followed up, and only a third succeeded; from this one may deduce the real value of papal concessions of elevation.
More important for the history of papal canonization, however, is the pontificate of St Leo IX, whose frequent travels gave him occasion to perform in person various solemn elevations. At the beginning of 1049, on the occasion of the customary Lateran Synod, after the reading of the life, he permitted in the usual way the elevation of St Deodatus, bishop of Nevers (19 June 679). In the summer of the same year, at the Synod held at Mainz, he likewise permitted the cult of St Gervasius, bishop of Liège. On 3 December following, Archbishop Hugh of Besançon, by special mandate of the Pope, solemnly performed the elevation of the bodies of the abbots St Romaric of Luxeuil (c. 635) and Amatus of Remiremont (c. 625), as well as of Adelfus, bishop of Metz, dedicating to them the rebuilt church of Remiremont. Very interesting is the case of St Gerard, bishop of Toul, predecessor of the Pope in that see (23 April 994). The Pope himself took the initiative; at the Lateran Synod on 2 May 1050 he presented the case to the assembly, spoke of the life and miracles of the Saint, and, to general applause, decreed: “ut ex hoc sanctus habeatur... ubique terrarum, sicuti ceteri sancti,” announcing that he would personally perform the elevation; which he actually did on 21 October of the same year at Toul. Here we are again faced with a formal papal canonization in the sense of full papal authority; indeed the Pope addressed a letter “cunctis Ecclesiae catholicae filii,” signed by all the members of the Roman synod. Thus begins to emerge a distinction between the papal definition and the act of elevation, which until then, especially in episcopal canonizations, had been considered the fundamental act. At Toul the Pope also performed the elevation of a Bishop Romanus of Toul, whose name, however, is not found in the authentic lists of that see. During his great journey through Germany, in the presence of Emperor Henry III, the Pope personally celebrated at Ratisbon (8 October 1052) the elevation of the bishops St Erard (8th century) and St Wolfgang (31 October 994). Benedict XIV, in his well-known great work on canonization, also accepted as credible the report of the elevation performed by Leo IX at Padua in 1053 of SS Bellinus, Fidelis and Maximus, or, as others claim, Julian, Maximus, Felicity and three Innocents; but this is very inaccurate, like some other reports of this kind, easily explained by the notable activity of St Leo IX in the field of canonization.
Alexander II, while passing through Milan in 1067, is said to have performed the elevation of St Arald, martyr (27 June 1066), but the report is not entirely certain. In 1070 he permitted the elevation of St Theobald, hermit at Salanigo (30 June 1066), and gave the bishop of Burgos the faculty to proceed to the solemn elevation of the abbot Iñigo of Oña (1 June 1057).
Gregory VII permitted (1073) the solemn elevation of the relics of St Paschasius Radbertus, abbot of Corbie (26 April 860), by Bishop Wino; in 1083, at the request of King Ladislaus, he granted the solemn elevation of SS Gerard Sagredo, bishop of Csanád, apostle of the Hungarians (24 September 1046), Stephen, first king of Hungary (15 August 1038), and his son Emeric (2 September 1031).
Urban II permitted the elevation of St Godeleva, martyr at Gistel (6 June 1070); while passing through Milan in 1095 he is said to have personally performed the elevation of St Erlembald, martyr (10 April 1076). At the Roman Synod of 1098 the life of the pilgrim St Nicholas of Trani (2 June 1094) was read and Archbishop Bisantius of that city asked for his name to be inserted in the catalogue of saints: the Pope commissioned Bisantius himself to carry out what had been decided, once he had returned to Trani. The Roman Martyrology also lists St Attilanus, bishop of Zamora (5 October 1009), as canonized by Urban II himself.
Paschal II canonized St Angilbert, abbot of St-Riquier (18 March 814) in 1100, authorizing his elevation. He also authorized the elevation of the body of St Canute, king of Denmark (10 July 1086), which took place on 19 April 1101. On 4 June 1109, at Segni, after the usual reading of the life, he permitted the bishops of the region to venerate as a saint Peter, bishop of Anagni (4 August 1105).
Callisto II, elected at Cluny on 2 February 1119, on the Epiphany of 1120 proceeded to the elevation of St Hugh, abbot of Cluny (28 April 1109), whom he had known. In the same year he commissioned the cardinal of Palestrina, his legate at the Synod of Beauvais, to proceed with the elevation of St Arnulf, bishop of Soissons (14 August 1087). As for a supposed canonization of St Conrad, bishop of Constance (26 November 976), the Pope is said to have declined it by referring the matter to a general council. Noteworthy is the case of St Gerard, bishop of Potenza (30 October 1119). His successor Manfred relates that a delegation from the people went to Rome to request his canonization. The case was brought before the consistory, where Callisto read the life of the deceased and pronounced the canonization viva voce, without further document; but to attest its authenticity he ordered the bishops present—Peter of Acerenza, Guido of Gravina, Leo of Marsico—and together with the cardinal of Palestrina, William, to go to Potenza to proclaim the canonization that had taken place and the granting of an indulgence of 49 days. All this was to occur between the first months of 1123 or 1124. The granting of an indulgence on the occasion of canonizations became customary only about a century later.
Innocent II, present at the plenary council of Reims on 29 October 1131, after the usual reading of the life and miracles, permitted the Church of Hildesheim to venerate its own bishop, St Godehard (4 May 1038). On 22 April 1134, after preparations for the Council of Pistoia, the Pope, having first read the life and miracles, authorized the veneration of St Hugh, abbot of Chaise-Dieu, bishop of Grenoble (1 April 1132). The same procedure was followed at the Lateran Council of 1139, on 19 April, for St Sturm, abbot of Fulda (17 December 779).
Eugenius III, in a solemn assembly of the clergy in Trastevere on 4 March 1146, proceeded to the canonization of St Henry, emperor (13 July 1024). In his letter the Pope recalls having commissioned two cardinal-legates in Germany to gather information at Bamberg, where he was buried in the cathedral of that see, which he had founded.
To Alexander III is commonly ascribed the reservation of the exclusive right of canonization to the Supreme Pontiff alone. The matter, however, is quite different. On 6 July 1170 Alexander addressed to Canute I, king of Sweden, to the bishops, clergy and people of Sweden the lengthy letter Aeterna et incommutabilis (Jaffé-Wattenbach, II, 13546: PL 200, cols. 1259–61); towards the end of this letter the Pope comes to speak of a particular case: “denique quiddam audivimus...”, namely of a man who, killed in a state of drunkenness, had been venerated by some as a holy martyr. On this point the Pope teaches that: “etiamsi signa et miracula per eum plurima fierent, non liceret vobis pro sancto absque auctoritate Romanae Ecclesiae eum publice venerari.” It was thus a particular case for which the Pope gave a directive, as supreme pontiffs are wont to do in many other instances. But scarcely a decade later, certainly after 1179, an English canonist, a diligent collector of papal decisions, inserted in his collection, known as the “Cottoniana prima,” also the “Audivimus” passage from the letter Aeterna et incommutabilis, with some textual adjustments. Through several other private collections of this kind, the text eventually reached around 1206 the private collection of Master Alan, an Englishman, professor of law at Bologna. Finally, St Raymond of Peñafort, entrusted by Gregory IX with the official edition of the Decretals, included the “Audivimus” of Alexander III, so that this text, by virtue of its insertion (5 September 1234), became universal law. The final and definitive fortune of the “Audivimus” came in the subsequent interpretations of the great canonists, especially Sinibaldo Fieschi (Innocent IV) and Henry of Susa, known as the “Cardinal Hostiensis,” who in his Summa Aurea (1253) and in his Commentaria (after 1268) interpreted the “Audivimus” as a fundamental law of the papal right of canonization. This most important point in the history of canonization has only recently been given its due by S. Kuttner, La réserve papale du droit de canonisation, in Revue historique du droit français et étranger (new series, 17 [1938], pp. 172–228; offprint, Paris 1938).
The canonizations of Alexander III do not differ in any way from those of his predecessors; only half a century later did papal canonizations acquire such splendor and universal resonance that canonistic elaborations could graft onto the text of the “Audivimus,” itself very succinct, the idea of a universal law reserving the right of canonization to the Supreme Pontiff alone.
The first canonization of Alexander III was that of St Edward the Confessor, king of England (4 January 1066), performed at Anagni (7 February 1161), where, in the presence of his court, after examining the “liber miraculorum” and seeing the letters of his predecessor Innocent on the matter, he proceeded to the procla
CANONIZZATION — Decree super Tute for the canonization of the martyrs of Gorkum (9 Oct. 1874) — Vatican City, archive of the Sacred Congregation of Rites.
The following are two similar canonizations: at Tours on 9 June 1163 the Pope entrusted to Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury (the future martyr), after the reading of the life and miracles in a special council, with the canonization of St Anselm of Canterbury (21 Apr. 1109). From Siena, where he was residing, in 1164 the Pope gave a similar mandate for the elevation of St Helena of Skövde, a Swedish martyr (c. 1160). By way of incident, in December 1165 the canonization of Charlemagne (28 Jan. 814) was carried out by Paschal III, the antipope whom Emperor Frederick Barbarossa had set up against Alexander III. Paschal entrusted Rinaldo of Dassel, archbishop of Cologne, the noted imperial chancellor, with the solemn elevation of Charles. It is the only case of a canonization performed by an antipope that did not go beyond the bounds of a “local” canonization. In 1169, at Benevento (8 Nov.), followed the canonization of St Canute (Knud Lavard), a Danish martyr (7 Jan. 1131). Of far greater importance, however, was the canonization of St Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury (29 Dec. 1170). The fact of his martyrdom produced an enormous impression throughout Europe; the Pope, in 1173, issued from Segni two letters of identical tenor, one of which was directed to all the prelates of the Church. He says that he had known Thomas personally and that he wished to await the report of two cardinal legates, especially regarding the miracles. Finally, “in capite ieiunii” (21 Feb. 1173), in the presence of very many ecclesiastics and laity, “praefatum archiepiscopum solemniter canonizavimus.” It is the first time that this precise term appears in a papal document. Equally important is the canonization of St Bernard of Clairvaux (20 Aug. 1153). After repeated petitions from the Cistercians, on the feast of the Chair of St Peter (18 Jan. 1174), at Anagni, in the presence of a large gathering of prelates, after the life of Bernard had been read, the Pope decreed: “Beatorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli meritis confisi, sanctorum cathalogo duximus adscribendum.” It is the first time that we become aware of a formula referring to apostolic authority being used in this act.
Lucius II in 1181, in the usual form, granted the elevation of St Bruno, bishop of Segni (18 July 1123).
Celestine III, on 4 March 1192, at the repeated petitions of the bishop of Gubbio and after many reports on the subject “de communi fratrum consilio,” and “Beatorum Petri et Pauli Apostolorum auctoritate,” canonized St Ubald, bishop of Gubbio (14 May 1136), ordering that his feast be celebrated “apud vos.” Of similar tenor is the apostolic letter for the canonization of St Bernard (better Bernward), bishop of Hildesheim (26 Oct. 1023), carried out in Rome at St Peter’s on 8 Jan. 1192. Identical is the canonization of St John Gualbert (13 July 1073) on 24 Oct. 1193. Of 27 Apr. 1197 is the canonization of St Gerald, abbot of Sauve-Majeur near Bordeaux (2 Apr. 1105). To the same Celestine is also ascribed the canonization of St Bernard degli Uberti, cardinal bishop of Parma, Vallombrosan (4 Dec. 1133), but Clement XI in 1714 refused to extend his feast to the whole Church because it was not possible to prove historically that a formal canonization had taken place. More certain appears the canonization of St Rudesind, bishop of Dumnium in Galicia (1 March 977), probably carried out in 1196.
Innocent III, on 12 Jan. 1199, canonized St Homobonus of Cremona (13 Nov. 1197), and in his letter the Pope for the first time in an official document gave a brief summary of the life of the Saint and of the miracles, attesting that it had been composed on sworn testimony. On 3 Apr. 1200 he canonized St Cunigunde, empress, wife of St Henry (5 March 1040).
Of 1202 is the canonization of St Gilbert, abbot of Sempringham (4 Feb. 1189). Of very special interest is the case of St William, hermit of Malavalle, near Grosseto (10 Feb. 1157). Already Alexander II had ordered, at the petition of the bishop of Grosseto, that in his diocese the solemn office for the said Saint be celebrated “ad interim,” without proceeding to the act of explicit canonization. Innocent (1202, 8 May) after repeated petitions renewed the permission to continue to celebrate the feast. Benedict XIV denies in this fact the character of canonization; nonetheless we believe that it still concerns a local canonization. On 14 May 1203, at Ferentino, he canonized St Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester (10 Jan. 1095). The Pope had entrusted a commission of two bishops and two abbots to go to Worcester, to proclaim a three-day fast and then to proceed to the examination of the miracles. Account was taken of a life written a hundred years earlier in Old English, authenticated and sealed. All this was brought to Rome for examination. On the basis of this the Pope celebrated the canonization and also published the oration of the new Saint. On 2 July 1204 the elevation of the body of St Procopius, abbot of Sazawa, was carried out by Cardinal Guido of S. Maria in Trastevere, on the order of the Pope “ut corpus beati viri solemnizatum canonizetur.”
Honorius III, on 17 May 1218, at St Peter’s in the Vatican, canonized St William, archbishop of Bourges, later Cistercian monk and abbot (10 Jan. 1209). On 18 Feb. 1220 from Viterbo he announced to the whole Christian people the canonization of St Hugh, Carthusian, bishop of Lincoln (17 Nov. 1200), after the now customary “commissio inquisitionis.”
On 8 Jan. 1222 the concession was given to the Cistercian monks of Molesme to venerate “tamquam sanctum” their abbot St Robert (14 Apr. 1111). On 21 Jan. 1224 at the Lateran he proceeded to the canonization of St William, Cistercian abbot of Roskilde in Denmark (6 Apr. 1203). A case of special interest is the canonization of St Laurence O’Toole, archbishop of Dublin (14 Nov. 1181), celebrated at Rieti on 11 Dec. 1225. At his tomb, at Rouen, many miracles had occurred: therefore the Pope ordered the archbishop of that city to carry out the usual inquiry together with other ecclesiastics, who collected the necessary testimonies. But as regards the life of the Saint, the commissioners transmitted their commission to the archbishop of
the traditional form. The same must be said of the canonization of St Anthony of Padua (13 June 1231) carried out at Spoleto on 1 June 1232 and published with three letters in which the Pope refers to the “commissio inquisitionis.” On 18 June 1232 at the Lateran an ancient saint with a centuries-old cult was canonized: St Virgil, bishop of Salzburg (27 Sept. 780), with the concession of an indulgence for the feast and the octave. This case is interesting because it confirms the value that the institution of papal canonization had come to acquire. This is followed by the canonization of St Dominic of Guzman (6 Aug. 1221), carried out at Rieti on 3 July 1234 with the feast extended to the universal Church and with an indulgence of one year. Another canonization of a figure famous throughout the world
CANONIZZATION — Apparatus of St Peter’s basilica for the canonization of the Blessed Pius V, Andrew Avellino, Felix of Cantalice, Catherine of Bologna, performed by Clement XI (22 May 1712) — Vatican City, archive of the Sacred Congregation of Rites.
(from the same Canonizationes sanctorum Pii V str., Rome 1/38, p. 591)
which, detained at the English court, delegated other dignitaries who conducted the inquiry at Dublin, sealed it and sent it to Rouen; from there all the material passed to Rome for verification and decision. In this case we have the first instance of what is today called a “rogatorial process.” On 18 March 1226, at the Lateran Council, the canonization of St William Fitzherbert, archbishop of York (8 June 1154), took place after the usual petitions and inquests. Honorius III is also credited with the canonization of Hugh, Cistercian abbot of Bonnevaux (1 Apr. 1191), and of John the Hermit, prior of Santa Maria di Gualdo. The inquiries now deemed necessary were held for the first on 2 Dec. 1221 and for the second on 3 June of the preceding year, but no document survives attesting that the canonization actually occurred. Another similar case is that of John Cacciafronte, Benedictine abbot of Vicenza, slain on 16 March 1183. Honorius ordered a “commissio inquisitionis,” and a process was also held at Cremona, where he had been born, but matters did not proceed further.
Gregory IX. Universal echo attended the canonization of St Francis of Assisi (4 Oct. 1226); the Pope proclaimed it at Perugia and announced it in two letters, one to the clergy and the other to the universal people (16 July 1228 and 21 Feb. 1229); the related ceremony was performed by the Pope at Assisi in early July 1228. In the square before the church he delivered the sermon, and after the body was brought into the church, at the singing of the Te Deum, he celebrated the Mass of the new Saint. The formula of this canonization is preserved and is certainly the oldest known. The feast of the Saint was imposed on the whole Church and was immediately accepted universally. Although the Pope had been his friend, he nevertheless required that the usual process of inquiry into the life and miracles be instituted (the first canonization process fully preserved and published) and that everything proceed according to the Christian usage of the time.
The first canonization of a woman is that of St Elizabeth of Thuringia (19 Nov. 1231), performed in the church of the Dominicans at Perugia on 27 May 1235. The papal letter is dated 1 June following, and on this occasion too the feast was extended to the universal Church “districte praecipiendo,” though without real effect. Under Gregory IX the process was also instituted for Odo of Novara, Carthusian abbot (14 Jan. 1230). The “commissio inquisitionis” of 10 Dec. 1240 and the related process are known; but everything came to a halt, perhaps owing to the Pope’s death. Finally, and also very instructive, is the case of St Hildegard, Benedictine abbess (17 Sept. 1233). Her fame during her lifetime was already universally known, and after her death a large number of miracles were reported to have occurred through her intercession. Gregory IX appointed the commission and, on 16 Dec. 1233, ordered the process, which was sent to Rome sealed. Finding the depositions insufficient, a new examination of witnesses was ordered, of which no record has come down to us. Innocent IV then, in 1243, renewed the commission, but without practical effect. After renewed petitions, John XXII, in 1317, issued new letters of commission, but the matter had become increasingly difficult owing to the lack of oral testimony and to the ever-growing demands of the processes. Thus the famous Saint was never formally canonized. A similar case is that of St Bruno, bishop of Würzburg (27 May 1045). Gregory IX issued the usual commission for him on 1 May 1238, but the process brought to Rome was judged unsatisfactory. Innocent IV therefore ordered a new inquest (Lyon, 5 Nov. 1245), yet a formal canonization never took place. Undoubtedly Gregory IX, an eminent canonist, gave new importance to papal canonization.
After the very brief pontificate of Celestine IV, the great figure of Sinibaldo Fieschi, Innocent IV (1243–54), ascended the papal throne. Already a professor of law at Bologna, as Pope he wrote the Apparatus super V libros decretalium, a commentary that immediately enjoyed wide diffusion and renown, although he expressly declared that he had written it as a private individual. The observations and definitions of Fieschi regarding canonization therefore became the basis for all subsequent canonists. He definitively established the “Audivimus” of Alexander III as the fundamental law of papal canonization, of which he also gave the first precise definition, which became classic among canonists. It consists in “canonice et regulariter statuere quod aliquis sanctus honoretur pro sancto,” i.e., with all the prerogatives of public and universal cult. In this universality, Innocent IV recognized the root of the papal reservation of canonization: “Solus Papa potest canonizare sanctos,” since only the Pope exercises universal jurisdiction over the whole Church. Yet to arrive at canonization, juridical proofs “de fide et excellentia vitae et miraculis” are required. He himself canonized, on 16 Dec. 1246 at Lyon, the archbishop of Canterbury, St Edmund Rich, a native of Abington (16 Nov. 1240), and at Easter 1247, still at Lyon, St William Pinchon, bishop of St-Brieuc (29 July in an uncertain year between 1254 and 1241). More grandiose was the canonization of St Peter Martyr (6 Apr. 1252), whose ceremony was celebrated at Perugia in the square before the church of the Dominicans at Easter 1253. The Pope published two letters of general tenor, one from Perugia on 24 March 1253 and the other from Anagni on 8 Aug. 1254. Important is the Pope’s statement that he had proceeded to canonization “post inquisitionem sollerem, studiosam examinationem, discussionem solemnem... auctoritate beatorum Petri et Pauli Apostolorum ac nostra.” At Assisi, on 8 Sept. 1253, followed the canonization of St Stanislaus, bishop of Cracow, martyr (8 May 1079). The entire solemn celebration took place completely in the great basilica of St Francis. From now on canonization would unfold entirely as a liturgical rite. Subsequently, following the commission given by Innocent IV, processes were constructed between 1251 and 1254 for John Buono (23 Oct. 1249), a hermit, but, for reasons unknown to us, the canonization never took place.
Urban IV canonized at Viterbo on 22 Jan. 1262 St Richard of Wych, bishop of Chichester (3 Apr. 1253). As the Pope states in the letter concerning the cause, the inquisitio had been ordered by Innocent IV and “diligenti examine discussa” first by the cardinal bishop of Frascati, Otto of Châteauroux, and finally “per nos et per fratres,” that is, by the cardinals. One sees how the procedure was becoming ever more stringent.
Clement IV proceeded to the canonization of St Hedwig, duchess of Silesia (15 Oct. 1243), performed at Viterbo on 26 March 1267.
This period closes with the great figure of the cardinal of Ostia, of whom we have already spoken. His Summa aurea and especially his Commentarium constitute the culmination of a centuries-long development. From the middle of the 13th century one may date the second period in the history of canonization, de facto and de iure now reserved to the Holy See. Yet this reservation did not prevent the rise of new local liturgical cults that never reached canonization.
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As has been seen, from the first, sporadic interventions of some popes, more by chance than anything else, there was a gradual shift toward attributing a higher and exclusive value to papal canonization. While at the outset this consisted mainly of permissions or pontifical commissions to proceed with the elevation of a saint, this element, which had hitherto been of capital importance, receded into the background; instead, the simple and formal papal declaration of canonization began to prevail. Thus the procedure, which was at first quite rudimentary, acquired a true juridical consistency by incorporating the various elements of canonical procedure that had developed for the various curial processes.
At the beginning, it sufficed to read a life and the miracles before the Pope and a synod or some other solemn assembly of the clergy to prompt, by common consent of those present, the papal permission for the elevation. But in the respective papal letters, a tendency soon emerges to give greater emphasis to the papal act, conferring upon it a universal value. The examination of miracles, which in some way pertained to a definition of divine intervention, led to the idea that canonizations were a “negotium maius Ecclesiae,” belonging to the Pope and his Curia. The mere reading of a simple life was no longer enough; the Holy See took the initiative and requested more extensive information from the parties involved. In 1146, with regard to Eugenius III and St. Henry, it is known for the first time that the Pope made use of his legates for this purpose. In 1189, under Clement III, the term “commissio” appears for the first time—that is, the explicit mandate given by the Pope to certain persons for the inquisitio into the life and miracles.
Under Innocent III (for St. Homobonus), we are informed for the first time that the inquiry was based on sworn testimony. Rapidly, all the juridical safeguards then in use for other processes were introduced into the preparatory procedure for canonization, as masterfully expounded, for example, by the renowned William Durandus, bishop of Mende, in his Speculum iuris, published in 1272 and 1287. In the canonization process, too, there appear the oath called “de calumnia,” the “interrogatoria,” and the “articuli,” prepared ex officio by the papal Curia and transmitted, together with the “commissio,” to the commissioners. The sealing of the acts after each session dates from this same period. Likewise, as with other processes, those for canonization were entrusted to the clerics of the Curia, generally to the papal chaplains, for review and rubrication; this was followed by a preliminary examination by a cardinal and, finally, the proposal in consistory.
The liturgical celebration of canonization also underwent substantial evolution during this period. At the beginning, it consisted of a simple juridical act, a papal sentence pronounced in synod, without further liturgical celebrations. These—that is, the solemn elevation with Mass, etc.—took place at the place where the relics of the saint rested. Only in 1131, under Innocent II (canonization of St. Godehard), do we learn that the proclamation of the canonization concluded with the singing of the “Te Deum laudamus.” In 1192 (with the canonization of St. Ubaldo), we have the first record that Celestine III, following the canonization, also celebrated Mass in honor of the newly canonized saint. From various hints contained in the papal letters for canonizations, it can be deduced that a certain ritual formula had developed for the proclamation of a saint; the names of the Apostles Peter and Paul were inserted (the first hint in 1174, under Alexander III, for St. Bernard); in 1228 (for St. Francis), the complete formula is preserved: “Ad laudem et gloriam omnipotentis Dei, Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, et gloriosae Virginis Mariae, et beatorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, et ad honorem Ecclesiae Romanae.” Under Honorius III (1218), the first grants of indulgences on the occasion of a canonization appear: 40 days (for St. William of Bourges). Gregory IX granted, in 1228, for St. Anthony, the first time an indulgence of one year. For St. Elizabeth (1235), the indulgence rose to one year and 40 days. From 1228 (St. Francis), it became the rule that the Pope would deliver a sermon to the people, then read or have read the miracles, and finally pronounce the formula of canonization, concluding the celebration with Mass. Moreover, it is known that in that period the singing of the “Veni, Sancte Spiritus” was already customary to implore divine aid, so that “Deus non permittat ipsum (papam) errare in hoc negotio,” as the Ostian author notes.
b) Second period: up to Sixtus V. — Gregory X ordered the inquiry for the process of St. Margaret of Hungary (18 January 1270) to three Hungarian prelates. In 1271 the process was closed, but judged insufficient in Rome (the process has been lost); Innocent V therefore commissioned two Italian experts of the Curia to institute a second process (1276) with the “interrogatoria” sent from Rome. The process is preserved, but it was never followed up. Only recently (1943) Margaret was canonized aequipollenter by Pius XII (see below, canonizatio aequipollens). Honorius IV, shortly before his death (3 April 1287) in the convent of Santa Sabina in Rome, upon receiving news of the death of Ambrose Sansedoni, a Sienese Dominican (20 March 1287), surrounded by a reputation for holiness and extraordinary miracles, immediately ordered four Dominicans to go to Siena to begin the necessary investigations. The commissioners, after the Pope’s death, continued—albeit without the form of a formal process—to gather material on the matter. But everything stopped there. When, in 1442–1443, Eugenius IV was urged to proceed with the canonization, he promised to do so in Rome. Meanwhile, on 16 April 1443, he granted the Roman province of the Dominicans permission to celebrate the feast of Ambrose “as if he had been canonized”: but a formal canonization never took place.
Boniface VIII, on 11 July 1297, at Orvieto, canonized St. Louis IX, King of France (25 August 1270). This canonization had a certain political flavor, as it was carried out by the Pope following his reconciliation with Philip IV, King of France.
Clement V, on 5 May 1313, canonized, in Avignon, St. Peter of Morrone, Pope Celestine V (19 May 1296).
John XXII, on 7 April 1317, canonized St. Louis, Bishop of Toulouse (19 August 1297); on 17 April 1320, St. Thomas Cantelupe, Bishop of Hereford (3 October 1282); and on 18 July 1323, St. Thomas Aquinas (7 March 1274), all in Avignon.
Clement VI, also in Avignon, on 26 June 1347, canonized St. Ivo Hélory (19 May 1303) and, on 19 September 1351, St. Robert de Turlande, Abbot of Chaise-Dieu (17 April 1067).
Urban V, on 15 April 1369, canonized, in Avignon, St. Elzéar of Sabran, Count of Ariano (27 September 1323). The bull of canonization was published by Gregory XI on 15 January 1371. It was the last canonization outside Rome.
Under Gregory XI, the case of Charles of Blois, Count of Brittany, who fell in the Battle of Auray on 29 September 1364, is noteworthy. The canonization process was regularly constructed at Angers in 1374 and sent to Avignon. According to the report of the Venetian ambassador, the Pope, already on the point of departing for Rome, decided to perform the solemn canonization at Marseille on the day before his departure, which actually took place on 2 October 1376: but no source attests that the canonization actually occurred.
The canonization of St. Catherine, daughter of St. Bridget, placed by various authors in 1378 under Urban VI, lacks any historical foundation; her feast, permitted by Sixtus IV, was fixed by Leo X on 21 March 1512 to 25 June, “donec ad eius canonizationem deveniatur.” At the same time, in France the reputation of the thaumaturge Peter, Count of Luxembourg (2 August 1387), was alive. The antipope
Canonization is a definitive act or sentence by which the Supreme Pontiff declares that a servant of God is to be venerated by the universal Church as a saint on the basis of heroic virtue or martyrdom and of certain miracles wrought through his intercession.
The earliest canonizations were carried out by the popes themselves, as in the case of St Martin I (655), who canonized St Maximus the Confessor. From the 12th century onwards, however, the popes began to delegate the preliminary inquiries to bishops or to commissions of cardinals, reserving to themselves the definitive sentence. The solemn rite of canonization, which took place in St Peter’s, was accompanied by a consistory in which the acts of the process were read and the virtues and miracles of the new saint were expounded to the faithful. The canonization Mass was celebrated by the Pope himself, and the new saint’s feast was inscribed in the Roman Martyrology.
Boniface IX, on 7 October 1391, canonized St Bridget (23 July 1373) in the chapel of the Vatican palace, and the following Sunday celebrated a solemn Mass in her honour.
Martin V canonized, on 26 March 1425, St Sebald, hermit (19 August, 7th or 8th century). He also ordered an inquiry into the cause of St Hedwig, queen of Poland (17 July 1399); in 1426 Albert Jastrzembiec, archbishop of Gniezno, as apostolic visitor to the kingdom of Poland, appointed a sub-commission to collect testimony concerning the queen; in 1450 the royal chancellor John Długosz noted resignedly that there was no longer any hope for the cause.
Eugenius IV celebrated, on 1 February 1447, the canonization of St Nicholas of Tolentino (10 September 1306), and, since the new saint belonged to the Order of Hermits of St Augustine, after the function in St Peter’s the Pope proceeded in grand procession to the church of St Augustine to celebrate Mass there.
Nicholas V, on 24 May 1450, canonized St Bernardino of Siena (20 May 1444).
Callistus III, on 1 January 1456, canonized St Osmund, bishop of Salisbury (4 December 1009); on 29 June 1456, St Vincent Ferrer (5 April 1419). The bull was published under Pius II on 1 October 1458. On 15 October 1457 he canonized St Albert of Trapani, Carmelite (7 August 1307); the bull was published by Sixtus IV on 31 May 1476.
Pius II, on 29 June 1461, canonized St Catherine of Siena (29 April 1380).
Paul II in 1466 ordered the process for St Emma of Gurk (29 July 1045). In a letter to the emperor Frederick III (1467) he stated that he intended to proceed to canonization, but only in 1938 was the cult approved with the title of “saint.” Paul II also intervened in the cause of St Andrew Corsini (6 January 1373), a case of great interest for the history of canonization. Andrew was immediately venerated in Florence, and in the war of Florence against Milan in 1440 he was credited with the city’s salvation. On the anniversary of the deliverance his body was solemnly exposed. The Pope visited his tomb and readily consented to all the manifestations of veneration that had become customary. Finally, at the instance of Florence, Paul II formed the commission of three cardinals then required to initiate the canonization process. The cause was resumed under Clement VIII and Paul V, but only under Urban VIII in 1629 was formal canonization possible. It will be seen how Urban VIII put an end once and for all to certain claims of cult that seemed not entirely free from inconvenience.
Sixtus IV. The special case of the protomartyrs of the Franciscan Order in Morocco—Bernard, Peter, Otto, Accursius and Adjutus (16 January 1220)—is noteworthy. The Pope had granted “vivae vocis oratio” for the celebration of their feast in the churches of the Franciscan Order; but when various objections were raised, the Pope issued a brief on 7 August 1481 in which he expressly declared that the Friars Minor “ubicumque et solemniter ac publice” might celebrate this feast. This concession therefore falls perfectly within the papal grants of limited cult, but with all the prerogatives of a canonized saint’s cult: a “minor” canonization, if one will, but still a canonization. On 14 May 1482 he canonized St Bonaventure (14 July 1274).
Innocent VIII solemnly canonized, on 6 January 1485, St Leopold III, duke of Austria of the House of Babenberg (15 November 1136).
To Julius II (1508) is ascribed a case similar to that of Sixtus IV, concerning the Camaldolese martyrs Benedict, John, Matthew, Isaac and Christian (10 November 1003, near Poznań). This story, however, is an invention of the 17th century. On 12 December 1512 he approved the cult long paid to Notker of St Gall, called the Stammerer (6 April 912), for the monastery of St Gall and the diocese of Constance, but with the clause “quod... propterea canonizatus aut alias approbatus non censeatur,” thus explicitly excluding any effect of formal canonization, unlike similar previous concessions already mentioned. Formal canonization had become so firmly established as the supreme act of the Pope that it was necessary to forestall possible misunderstandings arising from concessions of lesser degree.
Leo X, on 1 May 1519, canonized St Francis of Paola (2 April 1507) and, in 1521, St Casimir, son of Casimir IV the Great, king of Poland (4 March 1484).
Boniface VIII, cardinal in 1295, died in 1341, left an account of the canonization of St Celestine V and of St Thomas Canteloupe in prose; a second in verse on St Celestine; and a third on St Louis of Toulouse, inserted in the Ordo Romanus XIV (chaps. III and 115). In the canonical procedure there appears a novelty that was not subsequently maintained, namely a whole series of consistories for the study of the process, and the selection of seven or eight prelates of the Curia charged with expounding, on the day of canonization, the contents of the process in the form of a sermon to the people. Of interest is the notice that on the last consistory the Pope appointed two cardinals, generally religious, with the task of preparing the liturgical texts, one for the lessons, the other for the antiphons, the
CANONIZZATION — Pontifical of Pius XII for the canonization of Catherine Labouré (27 July 1947) — Latin Gospel chant.
ADRIAN VI, on 31 May 1523, canonized, in the first instance of this kind, two saints together in a single canonization: St ANTONINUS, Archbishop of Florence (2 May 1459) and St BENNO, Bishop of Meissen (16 June 1105 or 1107); the bull, however, was promulgated by Clement VII on 26 November 1523.
PAUL III, in 1537, commissioned the nuncio of Sicily to construct the process of canonization of William Cuffitella, hermit at Scicli (4 April 1411). Having examined it, on 26 February 1538 the Pope permitted for the moment the existing cult, but with the clause: “quod dictus Guglielmus, propter praemissa, canonizatus non censeatur”; the formal canonization never took place. These and similar cases are the first indications of beatification (v.).
During the second period of papal canonizations, one immediately notes a decisive and complete affirmation of such canonizations as the only legitimate form for the establishment of universal cult. Yet even though in the papal bulls the feast of the new saint is generally prescribed in categorical terms, in reality few of these feasts entered into general use throughout the Church; the cults remained, de facto, confined to more or less limited territories. Sometimes, moreover, even in the same papal bulls such limitation is expressly established, without thereby derogating from the status of “saints” of those canonized. On other occasions, however, papal intervention occurred with the express exclusion of the full effect of the canonization; these are the first indications of the future formal beatification distinct from canonization.
The procedure and rite of canonization in this period are known to us above all through some precise descriptions. G. Gaetani Stefaneschi, nephew of
the responsories and the Oremus. A new figure then appears: the procurator of the cause of canonization, ordinarily the ambassador of a Catholic state. He is to ask the Pope to deign to listen to the prelates who will plead the cause of the one to be canonized; this is followed by the sermons of the seven or eight prelates to the people; the Pope, after the chanting of the Confiteor, gives absolution and publishes the indulgence. At a later moment, in church, the Pope himself delivers the sermon and asks that prayers be said. The Veni Creator is intoned; after the chant, silent prayer continues; then the Pope pronounces the formula of canonization, sings the Te Deum, with the Oremus of the new saint. This is followed by the Confiteor, with an indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines, and the solemn Mass.
About a hundred years after Stefaneschi, the Patriarch of Grado, PETER AMELY (Petrus Amelii; d. 1403), in 1395 drew up a report on the canonization of St BRIDGET, included in the Ordo Romanus XV (ch. 153). From this report other innovations are known to have been introduced: after the proclamation of the canonization, the procurators ask the Pope to draw up the public instrument of the act. While the Te Deum is sung, torches of different weights are distributed according to the rank of the person to whom they are destined, and a grand procession is made toward the Vatican Palace. In the chapel the function concludes with the Oremus and the indulgence. Finally, during the Mass, another novelty, which even today constitutes one of the most curious attractions of canonization for the public. After the Gospel, the three cardinal commissioners of the cause emerge from the sacristy of St Peter bearing the offerings: the first carries two large gilt torches, the second two loaves of bread, covered with cloths bearing the arms of the three cardinals and of
St Bridget, the third two small gilt casks, full of wine and with the same arms. They are followed by five procurators and the advocate of the cause, and each offers a green basket with two white doves and two turtle-doves. In the case of St Bridget, the Pope, out of respect for the saint so venerated, granted the indulgence in the form of a jubilee, that is, a plenary indulgence. Important is the notice of Amelii that the cause had three cardinal commissioners; from other later sources we know that they were chosen from the three orders: of bishops, priests and deacons. The cardinal commissioners, in their turn, had appointed sub-commissioners (bishops, abbots or other dignitaries) with the necessary faculties for the construction of the apostolic process. During the 15th century, the examination of the canonization processes, the rubrication, etc., passed to the auditors of the Rota, appointed since the time of Innocent III for the study and treatment of certain causes. After Boniface VIII the auditors, who already formed a well-defined college, were entrusted with examining the canonization processes. In the canonization of St Bonaventure the singing of the litanies of the saints is mentioned for the first time. For the canonization of St Francis of Paola the well-known papal ceremonier Paris de Grassis revised the entire ceremonial in the now traditional forms, which remained in use, in broad outline, down to the present day.
c) Third Period. — Evolution of procedure and treatment of causes by the Sacred Congregation of Rites.
In the general reorganization of the Curia decreed by Sixtus V in 1588, by which fifteen cardinalitial Congregations were established, the Sacred Congregation of Rites occupied the fifth place. To this Congregation the Pope entrusted, among other things, also the task: “diligentem quoque curam adhibeant cardinales circa sanctorum canonizationem.” With this simple phrase, the entire preparation of the causes of saints until their full maturity, when they could be presented to the Pope in the usual consistories for the final formal examination, was officially and permanently entrusted to the new Congregation. Up to this moment the immediate study of the processes sent to Rome had been entrusted to the auditors of the Rota; however, the auditors did not function, in the causes of saints, as a college, but individually. A permanent organ that would supervise and accompany each cause through its various phases until its conclusion was lacking. It happened not infrequently that a process, brought to the Curia and deposited in the house of one of the three usual cardinal commissioners, was lost through the death of one of them. Moreover, the processes were constructed according to very disparate criteria. Now, Sixtus V, by entrusting the entire matter of canonization to the new Congregation of Rites, laid the foundations for the definitive formation of that procedure which justly enjoys deserved fame throughout the world.
It was too evident that at the outset the Congregation needed to find the right path, to gather experience, to establish a stable practice, to find solutions, norms, and generic applications in such a variety of matters. This period of orientation and stabilization lasted from 1588 until the end of the pontificate of Urban VIII (1623–44). To him belongs the credit for having directed the canonical procedure of canonization toward that austerity and security which still prevail. In 1642 he had all the decrees and subsequent clarifications issued during his long government in matters of canonization published in a small volume of 63 pages; it bears the title: Urbani VIII Pont. O. M. Decreta servanda in canonizatione et
(ed. Enc. Cncl.)
CANONIZZATION
Decree on the heroicity of the virtues of the Venerable Servant of God Caterina de’ Ricci (7 March 1727) — Città (Vatican City, archive of the Sacred Congregation of Rites).
beatificatione sanctorum. Accedunt Instructiones et declarationes quas Emi et Rmi S. R. E. Cardinales praesulesque romanae Curiae ad id numeris congregati ex eiusdem Summi Pontificis mandato condiderunt.
The celebrated brief Caelestis Hierusalem civitas (5 July 1634) follows, in which the prescriptions of the Inquisition of 1625 are inculcated, adding then further incisive norms for the canonical procedure of canonization. First of all, private information on the life, virtues, miracles, or martyrdom of a Servant of God, gathered by any authority for the purpose of a future canonization, is forbidden. Instead, as a first step there must be a particular canonical process on obedience to the Urbanian decrees de non cultu; for cults formed legitimately, as was said above, the norm of a space of 100 years before the year 1634 is introduced. Every interpretation of the Urbanian decrees is reserved to the Holy See. The formulas for the various protests of authors, mentioned above, follow; in consequence to the decrees themselves, a twofold canonical path of canonization is established, per viam cultus and per viam non cultus; the latter is henceforth the ordinary path, the former the path of exception: casus exceptus [from the decreta urbaniana], a fundamental distinction still in force today. Urban VIII also establishes the progressive order of the fundamental acts. Three times a year (January, May, September) Congregations will be held “coram Sanctissimo” (the present-day General Congregation), in the presence of the cardinals of the Rites, the protonotary of the Congregation, the sacristan of the Pope, the Promoter of the Faith, the secretary, and the auditors of the Rota on duty for the causes under discussion. Fifteen days before the papal Congregations, particular Congregations (the present-day Preparatory Congregations) will be held in the house of the senior cardinal, to prepare the matter for the papal Congregation; the cardinal ponens will report on the merits of the cause. The papal Congregation will treat the validity of the processes, the virtues, and the miracles. Should a General Congregation prove insufficient to exhaust the matter set before it, the discussion will continue in the subsequent Ordinary Congregations and a report will be made to the Pope. The Ordinary Congregations, on the other hand, will be competent in the causes of the saints for everything relating to obedience to the Urbanian decrees, the opening of the processes, the appointment, substitution, etc., of judges and similar matters, provided that everything is reported to the Pope. The office secret is then imposed (p. 24) with the various formulas of the relative oath.
Another point which caused many delays and was not always well interpreted was the prescription of Urban VIII according to which (p. 27) one could in no way proceed “to the effect of canonization or beatification or declaration of martyrdom, unless fifty years had elapsed since the death of the person in question”; and even after fifty years only with an express permission of the Pope. It was permitted, however, to construct the ordinary processes, both those “in genere” as well as those “in specie, ne pereant testes,” even before the fiftieth year, but these processes had to be sealed and kept closed. This was a very severe but most wise measure; the fame of holiness arising around a recently deceased person had, so to speak, to undergo the test of its real consistency.
On pp. 28–56 the canonical procedure relating to causes is rapidly described: postulatory letters from princes and prominent persons as the basis, the “signatura Commissionis” and the formula of the relative decree; the judgment on obedience to the Urbanian decrees on the non cultu, the granting of the “litterae remissoriales” for the formation of the ordinary process “in genere” and the formula of the remissorial letters; after a summary judgment made “coram Sanctissimo,” new remissorial letters are granted for the ordinary process “in specie.” Should it happen to be instructed in Rome itself, the cardinal vicar is to be delegated for this purpose; he, in turn, will appoint a dignitary residing in Rome, assisted by the protonotary of the Congregation of Rites, a practice still in force. To the auditors the Pope especially recommends a thorough investigation into the death of the Servant of God and its circumstances, the origin of the fame of holiness, and any writings left by him, which, if any, must be collected and examined to see whether they contain anything that might obstruct the cause. From this arose the particular procedure still in force regarding the writings of Servants of God, another very important point requiring systematization. Finally it is established that, after all examinations of the processes and after the study of the entire procedure followed in a cause, before proceeding to canonization a particular Congregation must be held before the Pope to deliberate, all things considered, “whether it is expedient to proceed to canonization”; this is the Congregation now called “super tuto.”
The last pages of the Urbanian booklet contain the texts of circular letters to nuncios, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, minor prelates, etc., with a renewed formal prohibition against assuming, in the causes of the saints, private, extra-juridical information. It is then ordered that the originals of the processes be preserved sealed in the respective curiae, while authenticated copies, the “transumptum,” must be sent to Rome. Finally the Pope declares that when the Holy See has taken up a cause, it is withdrawn from any interference by Ordinaries unless they receive particular authorization from the Congregation. The book closes with a series of minute prescriptions for auditors, the Promoter of the Faith, advocates, etc. This collection of 1642 constitutes the “magna charta” in the matter of canonization, perfected later in various points; in substance, however, it is still today the foundation of the canonical procedure of canonization.
BIBL.:
Urbani VIII Pont. O. M. Decreta servanda in canonizatione et beatificatione sanctorum. Accedunt Instructiones et declarationes quas Emi et Rmi S. R. E. Cardinales praesulesque romanae Curiae ad id numeris congregati ex eiusdem Summi Pontificis mandato condiderunt. Romae 1642.
PASCHALIS MARINI
After the single canonization celebrated by Urban VIII in 1625, following the severe norms issued by him, there was a lull until Alexander VII (1658); it was necessary to adapt practice to the norms and to render the entire procedure more efficient and organic. Various further prescriptions served this end, of which we present only the most important. Up to Innocent X (Urban VIII’s successor), the processes were entrusted to the auditors of the Rota, who studied them “at home”; but now the Congregation of Rites took charge of this examination, especially through the office of the Promoter of the Faith and the Sub-Promoter. From the time of Alexander VIII, the series of “Congregations” was completed with a Congregatio antepraeparatoria; the first recorded in the protocols of the Congregation of Rites date to 1691, both for virtues and for miracles. From now on, therefore, there would be: 1° the Congr. antepraep., in the presence of the consultors and prelates of the Congregation of Rites, at the home of the cardinal ponens, for the purpose of providing him with the necessary knowledge of the cause; 2° the Congr. praepar., in the Vatican (and at times at the Quirinal), in the presence of all the cardinals of the Congregation of Rites, the consultors and prelates, for the information of the cardinals; and finally, 3° the Congr. generalis, in the presence of the Pope, to inform him regarding the merits of the cause. These three Congregations take place both for the discussion of the virtues or martyrdom and of the miracles, and this series concludes with a final general Congregation, “super tuto,” which opens the way either to beatification or to canonization, according to the stage reached by the cause. With this, the consultors of the Congregation came increasingly to the fore. Together with the Promoter and Sub-Promoter of the Faith, in a mutual rivalry of examinations and discussions regarding the weak points of the causes—points precisely exposed by the Promoter, acting as it were as a prosecutor or public minister to safeguard, on behalf of the “Faith,” that is, the Church, the integrity of rights and of moral and doctrinal interests—they brought the cause, through continuous and progressive clarification, to the stage of perfect maturity for the definitive sentence of canonization. Following the practice introduced by Urban VIII and within his century, a full separation was created between beatification and canonization (v. BEATIFICATION).
Alexander VII (2 Oct. 1655) prescribed that in the letters remissorial granted to Ordinaries, a precise term of validity be expressed, beyond which an explicit renewal of the mandate would be necessary. Innocent XI (15 Oct. 1675) issued a series of new decrees, after long preparation (Decreta novissima... servanda in causis beatificationis et canonizationis sanctorum), with not a few improvements. Among other things, mention should be made of the institution, in the processes, of “testes ex officio,” to be chosen by the judges independently of the postulators, to better guarantee the truthfulness of matters. Severe measures were introduced to ensure absolute secrecy of the interrogations, with sealing and locking after each session and with renewed oaths at every opening. Notable was the introduction of a ten-year interval between the submission of a process to the Congregation and the signing of the Commission, a further tightening of the fifty-year rule of Urban VIII. Detailed norms followed regarding the specific duties of the Sub-Promoter, and prescriptions concerning the advocates of the causes. The same Innocent XI, with a decree of 18 Apr. 1682, also gave a new and clearer form to the signing of the Commission. By now the original idea had been completely transformed. Henceforth this signing would have as its purpose the transfer of a cause from the hands of the Ordinary to the Holy See, and this following a preliminary judgment regarding the general reputation for sanctity, the miracles, or the fact of martyrdom, to determine whether the cause merits consideration by the Apostolic See. Therefore this act took the new term of Introductio causae and was juridically fixed by means of a specific decree. From this determination arose the custom of conferring upon the persons whose cause had been introduced the honorary title of “venerabilis.” However, in 1913 (26 Aug.), Pius X, for reasons of greater security, established that in the future this title would be reserved only for Servants of God whose heroic virtue or martyrdom had been declared; this determination later entered into the Code of Canon Law as well.
Clement XII (11 May 1733) suppressed various and not insignificant abuses and interferences, determined the incompatibility between the offices of consultors, advocates, postulators, etc., and excluded religious consultors from voting in a cause concerning a member of their own religious congregation.
Benedict XIV (23 Apr. 1741), especially in the cause of Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal—which was based not so much on eyewitness accounts as on second-hand information and historical documents—established that in such causes, not two but three or even four miracles should be required before proceeding to beatification, an ordinance that also passed into the Code of Canon Law.
Within this same period, between Urban VIII and Benedict XIV, a fundamental element for the judgment on the sanctity of a person had also come to be more precisely defined: namely, the concept of “heroic virtue.” Certainly, even in the Middle Ages a certain “excellentia virtutum,” a “multiplex excellentia vitae,” was required, as attested by the canonization bulls of that era and the works of canonists. But lacking, so to speak, a kind of measure of sanctity consonant with human possibilities of assessing supernatural realities. This measure was precisely found in the concept of the heroicity of virtues, which derived from Aristotelian ethics; the literature
ascetico-mystical and theological literature had applied it to Christian virtues; the College of the Salmanticenses in a petition to Clement VIII for the canonization of Teresa of Jesus (2 Feb. 1602) first introduced the concept of the heroicity of the virtues into the causes of the saints. Even the auditors of the Rota began (c. 1614–16) to follow this idea in their reports, summarizing it in the now classic formula: “itaque ad hunc effectum (i.e., for canonization) virtutes heroicae in canonizandis requiruntur.” Urban VIII in his various decrees does not use this term; instead, he speaks of it in apostolic letters granting, “ad interim,” the title of blessed to Gaetano da Thiene (1629) and to Giovanni di Dio (1630).
The heroicity of the virtues is nothing other than a state of perfection or holiness that enables the person who possesses it to perform acts of virtue with a certain permanent facility, in a superior degree, and in a habitual and normal manner. This presupposes a complete transformation of the interior of the soul, the restoration, as far as possible, of man to the state of innocence, under the influence of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now, we are not given to make a direct introspection into souls, but we can infer from external acts the internal state. Here lies the practical, concrete foundation for the judgment on the heroicity of the virtues: the witnesses examined in the processes provide the material, namely the account of a quantity of facts and episodes in the life of the Servant of God; the comparison of these allows a valid conclusion about the internal motive from which they spring.
For these reasons the idea of the heroicity of the virtues quickly entered into the treatment of canonization causes, and all the inquiry conducted through the three now ritual assemblies—antepreparatory, preparatory, and general—converges to ascertain the existence, in the subject, of the virtues “in gradu heroico.” Even in the second half of the 17th century, theological discussion and elaboration of this concept reached its apex: the treatise by Brancati da Lauria, De virtute heroica (1668), has remained a classic (v. bibliography); Lappi (1671) deduced its consequences for the causes of the saints, and Benedict XIV, in his monumental work on canonization, gathered all the pertinent elements on the subject definitively.
At first, after the discussion of the virtues of a Servant of God, when the judgment had been favorable and the Pope had given his consent, the matter was simply noted among the acts of the Congregation of Rites; but soon the papal decision on this point presented itself in all its fundamental importance for a cause; therefore, a certain ceremonial developed around II. In the time of Clement XI (1700–21) it was already customary for the Pope to defer his decision for some time, and only after a certain interval of prayer and reflection, on a forthcoming festive occasion, to disclose his “mind” in the presence of the secretary and the Promoter General of the Faith, summoned for this purpose, and to order the publication among the acts. Benedict XIV
CANONIZZATION — Explicit wording of the printed bull of canonization of St Catherine de’ Ricci (29 June 1746) — Vatican City, Archive of the Sacred Congregation of Rites.
Sometimes the Pope dictated the text himself “verbum ad verbum.” The Apostolic Printing House then saw to its printing and the text was affixed to the doors of the churches of Rome. After 1760 the decrees became less formalistic in tone and took on a more solemn character, often beginning with a biblical quotation. The reading of these decrees was rendered even more solemn when the Pope had them read in public after a papal chapel or a papal visit to one of the churches of Rome. From 1870 onwards the reading generally took place in the hall of the Consistory, in the presence of a large gathering of invited guests and representatives of those concerned in the cause; on these occasions the Pope was wont to deliver an address. Famous are those of Pius XI. But after his illness (1938) this custom ceased and was not resumed; now the reading takes place in private form, in the presence of the cardinal relator, the secretary, the Promoter General of the Faith and the postulator of the cause. It should be noted that even the decrees on the introduction of the cause, on miracles and on the “Tuto” were customarily read with similar solemnity (at least after 1800). At present, however, even these decrees are published in private form.
Among the various more recent decrees concerning causes of beatification and canonization we may recall only that of Pius X (26 Aug. 1913; AAS, 5 [1913], pp. 436-38), by which he restricted the use of the title generabile to servants of God whose heroic virtue or martyrdom had been recognized; he prescribed that in recent causes all contrary witnesses were to be heard in the processes, poena nullitatis; and finally he established wise norms to ensure better collection and examination of documents in ancient causes. Finally, with the motu proprio “Già da qualche tempo,” Pius XI, on 6 Feb. 1930, instituted within the Congregation of Rites the Historical Section, a permanent body charged with all that pertains to the preparation of ancient causes and, in any case, with everything connected with history and historical criticism in relation to matters to be dealt with in the Congregation (revision of historical readings, revision of liturgical books, and the like).
Throughout this period the place of celebration of canonizations has been the Vatican Basilica; this usage has prevailed since the return of the popes from Avignon. Boniface IX, on account of indisposition, celebrated the canonization of St Bridget in the inner chapel of the Vatican Apostolic Palace; the following day, however, he descended to the Vatican Basilica for the solemn Mass. Alexander VII, when he prescribed solemn beatification as the concluding act of the first phase toward canonization, wished it to take place in St Peter’s: “ut ibi fieret beatificatio, ubi fit canonizatio.” Benedict XIII, when he solemnly consecrated the basilica of the Lateran (1729), to save expense since the basilica was magnificently adorned, celebrated there the canonization of St John Nepomucene and the beatification of St Fidelis of Sigmaringa (19 and 24 March). Clement XII, a great patron of the said basilica, there celebrated the sole canonization of his pontificate (1736) and the beatification of St Joseph of Leonessa. Benedict XIV (13 Dec. 1741) issued a constitution in which he laid down that canonization and beatification, if the Pope were present in Rome, were to be celebrated exclusively in the Vatican Basilica. The canonizations of the years 1881 and 1888, under Leo XIII, however, were held as best they could in the Hall of Blessings above the atrium of St Peter’s, on account of the political events of 1870 and the years following; only in 1897 did they return to the basilica.
It should also be noted that in a single canonization several saints were canonized. Under Gregory XV, the first instance of a quintuple canonization, it was resolved and concluded to preserve the order of antiquity, namely the date of death, preferring only St Ignatius of Loyola, as founder, to his spiritual son St Francis Xavier, so that the following order resulted: Isidore the Farmer, Ignatius, Francis, Teresa of Avila and Philip Neri. Under Clement X, however, the celebrated canonist G. B. De Luca was consulted, and he proposed the hierarchical order, a principle accepted by the decree of 6 Dec. 1670: “servandum esse ordinem hierarchiae ecclesiasticae; et si plura sint eodem ordine, praeferatur dies mortis.” Finally, under Clement XII (decree of 17 Apr. 1737), precedence was granted, within the same hierarchical order, to a religious founder. All are preceded, however, by a martyr, since martyrdom is the most exalted testimony to Christ.
Let us now give some details concerning certain particular aspects of the celebration of canonization. The solemn procession that precedes the Pope when he descends from the papal apartments to St Peter’s is in some respects very ancient, for the Pope was already solemnly received on his arrival in the Middle Ages. But since canonizations were constantly celebrated in St Peter’s, the Pope was accompanied by the entire court and the papal household. We are certain of this already from the 15th century. The procession for the canonization of St Hyacinth opened with the singing of the Ave Maria Stella, a custom that has remained to this day. The custom of carrying a banner with the image of the newly canonized saint dates from the canonization of St Stanislaus, bishop and martyr (1253), and is attributed even to a miracle; it is said that the image of the saint suddenly appeared before the procession, which led in time to the use of a huge banner, as is still the practice. The display of another