Dicastery for the Causes of Saints
Palazzo delle Congregazioni in Piazza Pio XII (in front of St. Peter's Square) is the workplace for most congregations of the Roman Curia | |
Dicastery overview | |
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Formed | 22 January 1588 |
Preceding agencies |
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Type | Dicastery |
Headquarters | Palazzo delle Congregazioni, Piazza Pio XII, Rome, Italy |
Dicastery executives |
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Website | http://www.causesanti.va |
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Roman Curia |
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In the
History
The predecessor of the congregation was the Sacred Congregation for Rites, founded by
On 8 May 1969,
With the changes in the canonization process introduced by Pope John Paul II in 1983, a College of Relators was added to prepare the cases of those declared as Servants of God.[1] In January 2014, the Prefect of the Congregation announced that at the direction of Pope Francis those working on canonizations must adhere to financial guidelines to eliminate unfairness in the treatment of cases based on the financial resources provided.[3] According to L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis hoped to promote the causes of those less well-known, those from poorer regions, and those who were victims of 20th-century totalitarian persecutions.[4]
The former Prefect, Cardinal Giovanni Becciu, resigned on 24 September 2020, and was promptly succeeded on 15 October by Bishop Marcello Semeraro.[5] Since 18 January 2021, Archbishop Fabio Fabene has been Secretary and Bogusław Turek has been Under-Secretary.[6] The current Promoter of the Faith (Prelate Theologian) is Carmelo Pellegrino , formerly a Relator in the Congregation.[7]
Current process
The steps for the recognition of a miracle follow rules laid down in 1983 by the Apostolic constitution, Divinus Perfectionis Magister. That legislation establishes two procedural stages: the diocesan one and that of what is known as the Roman Congregation. The first takes place within the diocese where the prodigious event happened. The bishop opens the enquiry on the presumed miracle in which the depositions of the eyewitnesses questioned by a duly constituted court are gathered, as well as the complete clinical and instrumental documentation inherent to the case. In the second, the Congregation examines the documents sent and eventual supplementary documentation, pronouncing its judgment on the matter.[8]
Assessing miracles
The miracle may go beyond the possibilities of nature either in the substance of the fact or in the subject, or only in the way it occurs. So three degrees of miracle are to be distinguished. The first degree is represented by resurrection from the dead (quoad substantiam). The second concerns the subject (quoad subiectum): the sickness of a person is judged incurable, in its course it can even have destroyed bones or vital organs; in this case not only is complete recovery noticed, but even wholesale reconstitution of the organs (restitutio in integrum). The third degree (quoad modum) involves instantaneous recovery from an illness that treatment could only have achieved after a long period.[citation needed]
In 2016 Cardinal Parolin, under the mandate of Pope Francis, approved new Regulations for the Medical Board of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The Regulations were published and signed by Cardinal Amato and Archbishop Marcello Bartolucci. The current text, explains Archbishop Bartolucci, "is inspired by the previous Regulation approved by Paul VI on 23 April 1976 and, aside from the linguistic and procedural updating, introduces some new elements, such as: the qualified majority, to proceed ad ulteriora to the examination of a presumed miracle, is at least 5/7 or 4/6; the case cannot be re-examined more than three times; for the re-examination of the presumed miracle a Board of nine members is required; the term of office of the president of the Board can be renewed only once (five years, plus another five year term); all those who are occupied with a presumed miracle (promoters of the cause, tribunal, postulators, experts, officials of the Dicastery) are held to secrecy[.]"[9] These "new rules approved by Pope Francis and released by the Vatican on Friday are designed to make the process for approving a miracle in a sainthood cause more stringent, and also to ensure there's a clear paper trail behind who's picking up the tab and how much is being spent."[10]
Pre-Congregation
Martyrs
The decision as to whether
Confessors
The veneration of confessors, who died peacefully after a life of heroic virtue, is not as ancient as that of martyrs. It was in the fourth century, as is commonly held, that confessors were first given public ecclesiastical honour, though occasionally praised in ardent terms by earlier Fathers.[citation needed]
Individual confessors themselves were sometimes called martyrs.
Authority to canonize
For several centuries, the
Toward the end of the eleventh century the popes judged it necessary to restrict episcopal authority in this regard, and therefore decreed that the virtues and miracles of persons proposed for public veneration should be examined in councils, more specifically in general councils. Popes
Leadership
Prefect of Congregation for the Causes of Saints | |
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His Eminence | |
Member of | Roman Curia |
Reports to | The Pope |
Appointer | The Pope |
Term length | Five years, renewable |
Prefects of the Congregation for Rites
- Luigi Tripepi (7 January 1903 – 29 December 1906)
- Sebastiano Martinelli (8 February 1909 – 4 July 1918)
- Scipione Tecchi (8 November 1914 – 7 February 1915)
- Antonio Vico(11 February 1915 – 25 February 1929)
- Camillo Laurenti (12 March 1929 – 6 September 1938)
- Carlo Salotti (14 September 1938 – 24 October 1947)
- Clemente Micara (11 November 1950 – 17 January 1953)
- Gaetano Cicognani (7 December 1953 – 18 November 1954)
- Arcadio Larraona Saralegui (12 February 1962 – 9 January 1968)
- Benno Gut (29 June 1967 – 7 May 1969)
Prefects
This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2021) |
- Paolo Bertoli (1969–1973)
- Luigi Raimondi (1973–1975)
- Corrado Bafile (1976–1980)
- Pietro Palazzini (1980–1988)
- Angelo Felici (1988–1995)
- Alberto Bovone (pro-prefect 1995–1998, prefect 1998)
- José Saraiva Martins (1998–2008)
- Angelo Amato (pro-prefect 2008–2010, prefect 2010–2018)
- Giovanni Angelo Becciu (2018–2020)[25]
- Marcello Semeraro (2020–present)[26]
Secretaries
- Ferdinando Giuseppe Antonelli (7 May 1969 – 5 March 1973)
- Giuseppe Casoria (2 February 1973 – 24 August 1981)
- Traian Crişan(7 December 1981 – 24 February 1990)
- Edward Nowak (24 February 1990 – 5 May 2007)
- Michele Di Ruberto (5 May 2007 – 29 December 2010)
- Marcello Bartolucci (29 December 2010 – 18 January 2021)
- Fabio Fabene (18 January 2021 – present)
Relator Generals
- Ambrosius Eber (1990 – 10 October 2008)
- Vincenso Criscuolo (10 October 2008 – 13 January 2024)
- Angelo Romano (13 January 2024 – present)[27]
See also
- Chronological list of saints and blesseds, by century, by year of death
- List of canonizations, by pope, by date
- List of Catholic saints, by year
- List of saints, by name, in alphabetical order
- List of saints by pope
References
- ^ a b c "Congregation for the Causes of Saints". The Vatican.
- ^ Ojetti, Benedetto. "The Roman Congregations." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 13 October 2021 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Vatican introduces low-cost saints in the name of austerity". Vatican Insider. 14 January 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
- ^ "Vatican seeks to cut cost of canonizations". Catholic News Agency. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
- ^ "Rinunce e nomine (continuazione)" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
- ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 29.12.2010" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 29 December 2010. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
- ^ "Rinunce e Nomine, 05.11.2012" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
- ^ Pope John Paul II. Divinus Perfectionis Magister, 25 January 1983, Libreria Editrice Vaticana
- ^ "News from the Vatican - News about the Church - Vatican News". en.radiovaticana.va. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
- ^ "Vatican tightens rules on miracles and money in sainthood cases". Crux. 23 September 2016. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
- ^ Ruinart, Acta Sincera Martyrum, 19
- ^ Duchesne (1903), Origines du culte chrétien (in French), Paris, p. 284
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Orat. de laud., P.L., XXXVI, 602
- ^ Opp. II, 606
- ^ Poem., XIV, Carm. III, v, 4
- ^ Dial. III. xix
- ^ Acta SS., II, 11 May 306
- ^ Martigny, loc. cit.
- ^ Benedict XIV, loc. cit., vi
- ^ August., Brevic. Collat. cum Donatistis, III, 13, no. 25 in PL, XLIII, 628.
- ^ Gonzalez Tellez, Comm. Perpet. in singulos textus libr. Decr., III, xlv, in Cap. 1, De reliquiis et vener. Sanct.
- ^ C. 1, tit. cit., X, III, xlv.
- ^ Robert Bellarmine, De Eccles. Triumph., I, 8.
- ISBN 978-0-19-514863-3.
- ^ "Vatican Cardinal Angelo Becciu resigns from office and 'rights' of cardinals". Catholic News Agency. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
- ^ "Nomina del Prefetto della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi". Bolletino sala Stampa della Santa Sede. 15 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
- ^ "Dicastery for the Causes of Saints". GCatholic.org. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Beccari, Camillo (1907). "Beatification and Canonization". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company.