--- [log in to unmask] wrote: >
>
> . . . what exactly means to be beatus?
>
>
> and WHEN was "beatus" first an officially recognized status?
I quote from the ODCC:
"Beatification: in the RC Church, the act by which the Pope permits
the public veneration after his death of some faithful Catholic in
parts of the Church. Before the 12th century, and less generally from
that date to the 17th century, it was customary for local bishops to
beatify people for their own dioceses. A person who has been beatified
receives the title of 'Blessed'. Although the [modern code of Canon
Law] distinguishes the Blessed from the Saints, there are indications
that, at least in its present form, beatification may not survive."
Thus, in my own parish, we have great devotion to our local martyr,
Blessed Nicholas Postgate, and look forward to his ultimate
canonization as a saint.
The relevant Canon, no. 1187, says: "Only those servants of God may be
venerated by public cult who have been numbered by ecclesiastical
authority among the Saints or the Blessed."
Which doesn't move matters forward very much. The Opus Dei commentary
on the code of Canon Law (which, whatever you've heard about Opus Dei,
is a very good and helpful commentary) says,
"Canon 1277, par. 2, of the [old code] made a difference between the
saints and the blessed; today, the difference will be made according
to liturgical laws"
The old canon was as follows:
In album Sanctorum canonice relatis cultus duliae debetur; Sancti coli
possunt ubique et quovis actu eius generis cultus; Beati vero non
possunt, nisi loco et modo quo Romanus Pontifex concesserit.
i.e. the Blessed could not be publically venerated everywhere, but only
in those places where the Pope permitted. He might, for example, have
allowed the veneration of Nicholas Postgate in Pickering and other
areas of his ministry, but not in the world-wide Church. However, as
the commentary explains, veneration of the blessed is now governed by
the liturgical laws, which are no longer part of the code of canon law,
but are found in the Missal and its various appendices.
Oriens.
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