Making New Saints

by Editor · May 15, 2013

Recent reports of the approval of a new miracle attributed to Bl John Paul II gave rise to overexcited announcements on the social media that the Polish-born pontiff would be canonised on October 20.

No official announcement to that effect had been made and reports of the date of a canonisation were premature. However, the enthusiastic reception which the rumour received on the social media does suggest that among Catholics there remains a thirst for the public celebration of models of sanctity.

Pilgrims hold a sign that reads “santo subito” (“sainthood now”) during a vigil on the eve of the beatification of Pope John Paul II at the ancient Circus Maximus in Rome in 2011. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

There is no doubt that Bl John Paul II merits his seat in the College of Saints; his personal holiness is not in dispute.

Though his friendship with the disgraced abuser and fraud Fr Marcial Maciel would surely be picked up in the secular media and cast an unwelcome shadow over a canonisation ceremony, most Catholics will rejoice at the sound of the title Saint John Paul II, fulfilling the wish of the people at his funeral who chanted, Santo Subito (Make him a saint now).

This call echoed the ancient practice of sainthood by acclamation, when all that was required was the peoples consensus on the sanctity of a holy person who had died.

The practice of sainthood by acclamation also gave rise to abuses, and the calendar became filled with saints whose sanctity, or even existence, was not beyond doubt.

In 1170 the Holy See began instituting a formal process by which official recognition of sanctity would be granted only after due investigation. In time, this would require the performance of medically inexplicable miracles that could be attributed to a candidates intercession.

The process remains imperfect, however.

The speed with which Bl John Pauls sainthood cause has proceeded stands in stark contrast to those that seem to have stalled.

When we mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Bl John XXIII next month, the question will arise how this saintly pope has so far eluded canonisation (never mind by what curious political device his cause became twinned with that of Bl Pius IX).

The election of Pope Francis has reportedly unblocked another stalled cause: that of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated by agents of El Salvadors military regime on March 24, 1980 while saying Mass.

Unlike Bl Johns course, Archbishop Romeros sainthood cause should require no miracles to proceed, if he is recognised a martyr. However, there remains disagreement over whether he actually was martyred.

The recognition of martyrdom requires that the candidate was killed for his faith by people who acted in hatred of the faith (odium fidei).

Surely Romero was murdered because of his prophetic witness, demanded by the Gospel, in standing with the poor and victimised. And the murder of an archbishop while he was saying Mass ought to suffice as evidence that his killers were acting in odium fidei.

Pope Francis reportedly is an admirer of Romero, so the archbishops cause may now be accelerated.

Benecict Daswa

In South Africa, in the diocese of Tzaneen, there is a sainthood cause which should also qualify as a case of martyrdom: that of Benedict Daswa, who was horrifically murdered in 1990 because he would not betray his faith.

There is no dispute of Daswas exemplary personal holiness, and there can be little prevarication over his martyrdom.

But sainthood causes, with their bloated bureaucratic requirements, are prohibitively expensive, and the diocese of Tzaneen, like most dioceses in South Africa, has limited funds. In a contest for resources, programmes for the poor invariably trump expenditure on bureaucratic processes.

And yet, a beatification and eventual canonisation of Benedict Daswa and, indeed, of Abbot Franz Pfanner would have an enormous impact on the South African Church and its evangelising mission, more so even than the potential canonisation of Popes John Paul II or John XXIII.

Is that not a good reason to review the protocols that govern sainthood causes?