The process of beatification and canonization has undergone various reforms in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. For current practice, as well as a discussion of similar processes in other churches, see the article on canonization. This article describes the process as it was before the promulgation of the Codex Iuris Canonici (Code of Canon Law) of 1983.

The causes of martyrs were considered somewhat differently from those of confessors, for some points of the process.

Until after the Second Vatican Council, the conclusive acts of the canon practice and procedure of canonization were

  1. and the Pontifical High Mass of Canonization (Beatification) celebrated in the Vatican Basilica, during which the Pope officially proclaimed the martyr or the confessor to be Saint for the whole Catholic Church.

Bibliography

  • André Vauchez, La sainteté en Occident aux derniers siècles du Moyen Âge (1198-1431) [1], Rome, 1981 (BEFAR, 241) [Eng. Transl.Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages, Cambridge, 1987 and Ital. transl. : La santità nel Medioevo, Bologne, 1989].

References