How do saints become canonized

The Pope makes the declaration during a special mass in honour of the new saint. If the person was martyred - suffered death or persecution in the name of their faith - he or she may be beatified and named Blessed without further investigation.

This is a locally recognised sainthood whereupon the person may be worshipped in his or her city, diocese, region, or religious community. If not martyred, the person must be responsible for the occurrence of a posthumous miracle verified by the congregation. At the age of 28, she was said to receive the stigmata. She died in , and more than six centuries later, many believe her flesh has not decomposed.

She died at the age of 33, and was canonised more than a century later. Patron of blood banks, and volcanic eruptions. He was born in Italy and as Bishop of Benevento visited two deacons and two laymen in prison. He was then also imprisoned. They were thrown to the wild beasts, but when the animals did not attack them, they were beheaded. It is believed to liquify and bubble when exposed in the cathedral.

Patron of headache sufferers, and Spanish Catholic writers, she was born in Avila, Spain. She is the founder of the Discalced, or barefoot, Carmelites, and was declared a doctor of the Church for her writing and teaching on prayer. Recently, the Pope declared Edith Stein a saint. Would you please let me know more about the process for being declared a saint? The official process for declaring someone a saint is called canonization. Prior to the year , the Church did not have a formal process as such.

Usually martyrs and those recognized as holy were declared saints by the Church at the time of their deaths. Before the legalization of Christianity in the year by Emperor Constantine, the tombs of martyrs, like St.

Peter, were marked and kept as places for homage. The anniversaries of their deaths were remembered and placed on the local Church calendar.

After legalization, oftentimes basilicas or shrines were built over these tombs. As time went on, the Church saw the need to tighten the canonization process. Unfortunately, sometimes figures of legends were honored as saints. Therefore, in the year , Pope Gregory IX established procedures to investigate the life of a candidate saint and any attributed miracles. The confirmation of a second miracle goes through the same scrutiny as the first.

The five-step process is a general outline for how someone becomes a saint. There are definitely exceptions to this process and situations that may change the process as well. Blog What is Ignatian Contemplation? A Brief Guide. Blog What is Divine Intimacy? How Does Someone Become a Saint? A 5-Step Process. October 30, Why does the Catholic Church choose one person over another to be a saint? John Paul II had also dispensed with the five-year period for Mother Teresa, beginning the process in , less than two years after her death.

Once the five years are up, or a waiver is granted, the bishop of the diocese where the person died can open an investigation into the life of the individual, to see whether they lived their lives with sufficient holiness and virtue to be considered for sainthood.

Other religious groups in the diocese can also ask the bishop to open the investigation. Evidence is gathered on the persons' life and deeds, including witness testimonies. If there is sufficient evidence, the bishop asks the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the department that makes recommendations to the Pope on saints, for permission to open the case.

Once the case is accepted for consideration, the individual can be called a "servant of God". The Congregation for the Causes of Saints scrutinises the evidence of the candidate's holiness, work and signs that people have been drawn to prayer through their example.

If the Congregation approves the case, it is passed to the Pope. If the Pope decides that the person lived a life of "heroic virtue", they can then be called "venerable". To reach the next stage, beatification, a miracle needs to be attributed to prayers made to the individual after their death. The prayers being granted are seen as proof that the individual is already in heaven, and hence able to intercede with God on others' behalf. Incidents need to be "verified" by evidence before they are accepted as miracles.

Her sudden cure had no logical medical explanation, the Vatican says. After beatification, the candidate is given the title "blessed".