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According to the provisions of the apostolic constitution
Divinus
perfectionis magister and its
Normae
(promulgated respectively on 25 January and 07 February 1983), a
beatification cause may be initiated by a promoter five years after
the death in fama sanctitatis (with reputation for holiness)
or in odium fidei, uti fertur
(presumably killed out of hatred for the faith) of one or a group of
professed Catholics. This promoter, or actor, may be an
individual or, as commonly practiced, a group (e.g., a parish, a
religious congregation, a diocese, an association of lay faithful,
or even a civil body) duly recognized by ecclesiastical authorities
whose task is to finance and promote this enterprise. Only a papal
intervention could shorten the waiting period (such as in the case
of Mother Teresa of Calcutta).
It is the task of the actor to
request the bishop (technically known as competent bishop) of
the diocese where the Servant/s of God died to launch a formal
diocesan inquest into his/her/their life. In case the ordinary of
another diocese, for a legitimate reason, were to act as the
competent bishop of a beatification cause, he would have to obtain
the decree competentia fori
from
the Congregation of the Causes of Saints
(CCS), the Vatican office that has universal competency
over such matters. The competent bishop must also obtain from the
CCS the decree nulla osta, which would certify that nothing
in the records of
any Vatican office would merit a suspension
of the investigation. All communications from the CCS concerning the
cause are to be classified according to an assigned protocol
number.
The actor must also name a
postulator who needs to be recognized legitimately by the
competent bishop. A postulator is the lawyer of the cause and
representative of the actor before the CCS. He/she may also appoint
a vice-postulator who acts in his/her behalf within the sponsoring
diocese.
Upon obtaining the decree nulla
osta, the competent bishop would institute a diocesan commission
for the beatification cause. It has two tasks: (1) to scrutinize the
writings of and about the Servant/s of God; (2) to
summon and examine witnesses before a formal ecclesiastical tribunal. When the diocesan investigation is accomplished, the commission
shall send a certified copy of all the commission's acts, called the
transumptum, to the CCS.
At this point, the CCS appoints a relator to the cause. An official from
the CCS, the relator's task is to supervise the writing of the positio by
a collaborator (who may or may not be the postulator himself/herself). In the
positio is collated the findings of the diocesan commission. It is also that
valuable reference which will be examined by a body of consultors, theologians,
and prelates of the CCS and on whose merit the final outcome of the cause is
determined. When these three bodies unanimously give a favorable decision on the
heroic exercise of virtues or on the martyrdom of the servant of God (depending on how the cause is
prioritized, it may take years for this to come out), the cause is presented to
the pope for his approval. The decree is formally promulgated on a scheduled
date, after which the servant of God is referred to as Venerable.
In the case of
martyrs, what follows is the designation of the date for the solemn
beatification. For non-martyrs, however, another decree is needed. The Vatican
requires that one exceptional miracle be proven to have been wrought
through the venerable's intercession. When this is found, the postulator and the
bishop of the diocese where the miracle occurred must petition the CCS to
authorize its investigation. All records gathered during this inquiry are to be
sent to the CCS, which then appoints a body of qualified physicians or
scientists, the consulta medica, to judge its extraordinariness. A
favorable judgment from this body is presented to the pope who formalizes his
recognition of the miracle by a decree. Only then can the non-martyr's
beatification be finally scheduled.
The beatification normally takes
place in Rome. In several cases, the pope has celebrated it in the
diocese that sponsored the cause. After the solemn act, the
venerable is referred to as Blessed. However, his/her/their
cult is canonically limited within a particular ecclesiastical
jurisdiction or religious community.
For the blessed to be canonized, the
actor of the cause must again find one extraordinary miracle
that took place after the beatification.
The very procedure for investigating a miracle before the
beatification is to be repeated. When the decree over this miracle
is promulgated, a special consistory consisting of the pope and
cardinals is later called to determine the date of canonization
itself. After this ceremony takes place, the blessed is henceforth
to be called Saint and is presented to the entire
church for veneration and emulation.
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