Making of a saint

Making of a saint
x
Highlights

The canonisation ceremony of Mother Teresa is taking place on Sunday, August 4. The Roman Catholic Church will officially recognise Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Kolkata) as a saint. She will join a group of over 10,000 people recognised by the church as being holy because of the way they lived. Beatification and canonization are acts of the Roman Catholic Church declaring that a deceased person led

The canonisation ceremony of Mother Teresa is taking place on Sunday, August 4. The Roman Catholic Church will officially recognise Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Kolkata) as a saint. She will join a group of over 10,000 people recognised by the church as being holy because of the way they lived. Beatification and canonization are acts of the Roman Catholic Church declaring that a deceased person led a holy life.

People still living can then request the blessed (if beatified) or saint (if canonized) to intercede with God on their behalf. The blessed or saint is honored and revered due to their actions while living, but they are not worshiped as God is. Honors may include feasts and masses performed in their name, as well as images and relics displayed to inspire the worshipers.

Canonisation is the act by which the Orthodox, Oriental Orthodoxy, Roman Catholic, or Anglican Church declares that a person who has died was a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, people were recognized as saints without any formal process. Beatification (from Latin beatus, "blessed" and facere, "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name.

The process of documenting the life and virtues of a holy man or woman cannot begin until 5 years after death. This waiting period insures that the person has an enduring reputation for sanctity among the faithful. It can be waived by the Supreme Pontiff, and has been done on two occasions. Pope John Paul II waived 3 years of the waiting period in the case of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Pope Benedict XVI waived all five years in the case of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

After the five years have concluded, or earlier if all or some of the period is waived, the Bishop of the diocese in which the individual died can petition the Holy See to allow the initialization of a Cause for Beatification and Canonization. If there is no objection by the Roman Dicasteries, in particular the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the permission, or nihil obstat (nothing stands in the way), is communicated to the initiating Bishop, according to ewtn and wikipedia.

Show Full Article
Print Article
Next Story
More Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENTS