Positio
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In the
Venerable
, the second of the four steps on the path to canonization as a saint.
Description
A positio is a formal brief arguing for the
Roman Catholic Church. Before canonization,[1] the formal declaration by the Pope that a person is a saint, there is a long process, with various intermediate steps. First, a person whose holiness is being investigated (by a postulator, appointed by the Pope) is referred to as a Servant of God. The very fact of appointing a postulator means that the process of beatification
has been activated.
If investigations reveal that the person was indeed holy enough, then a "formal argument for
Congregation for the Causes of Saints. This document contains the informatio, or life story, of the Servant of God under investigation, as well as a series of documents and testimonies to support the cause (summarium). In short, the positio collects the evidence obtained by a diocesan inquiry into a candidate's heroic virtues
.
Upon presentation, the positio is examined by a committee of expert historians and theologians, and if they find the evidence presented suitable, they may then make a recommendation to the
Catholic believers.[2]
A positio can run to over 1,000 pages in length. The time between the preparation of a positio and a recommendation by the committee of historians and theologians can often be decades.
References
- ^ "Congregation for the Causes of Saints".
- ^ "Truthmission.net » Breaking Catholic: Part 7–Saints". Archived from the original on 2013-12-09. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
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