To Oriens's helpful information, I might add that John Paul II reformed the process of canonization in 1983 to place more authority and more of the initial workload with the local bishop. The double-blind procedure in Rome by which all the materials were examined twice under an adversarial court-room like procedure (Promotor Fidei/Devil's Advocate) was reduced to a single, largely historical examination. Kenneth Woodward's book, _Making Saints_ is helpful, though not always accurate and often rather tendentious in his "political assumptions"--as a journalist he can be rather breathlessly conspiratorial about what are rather mundane realities. The documents can be found in Michael Freze, _The Making of Saints_ (Our Sunday Visitor, ca. 1985, now out of print). Parts of the 18thc manual for investigation of causes of saints were translated by Thomas F. Macken, _The Canonisation of Saints_ (early 1900s).
The main factor is heroic virtue. Once this is established by historical research, including, of course, oral history by interviewing witnesses, alleged miracles are examined, the body is exhumed to establish positive identity should the cause proceed to beatification, in which case relics will be needed--the authentication of eventual relics is established already at this stage. Two miracles used to be required for beatification and two more for canonization; the 1983 reform reduced this to one miracle for each. After beatification, the only additional factor, really, is a second miracle. Once that miracle is authenticated (it must take place after the beatification) is authenticated (by a panel of experts, usually medical experts, specialists in the disease for which a miraculous cure has been alleged, chosen for their medical expertise, regardless whether they are religious believers or not), the cult can be extended from merely the diocese and/or religious order of the Servant of God to the universal church. That is what canonization signifies--the universalizing of religoius cult.
Since Urban VIII in 1644, any public liturgical cult of an alleged saint has been forbidden until the proper procedures have been followed. Far froma power grab by Rome, this was largely a response to Protestant and later Enlightenment challenges to the very idea of veneration of saints and to belief in miracles. (Benedict XIV, who, as Prosper Lambertini, had been the postulator of the cause of Joseph of Cupertino before becoming pope), wrote the manual for the investigation of causes of saints in the 1740s, the second major stage in the modern approach to this matter. He too was responding to Enlightement challenges and sought to create a rigorously scientific approach that would mee tthose challenges, hence the idea of going over everything twice and the court-room adversarial procedures.
Contrary to David Hume's rather silly arguments, the basis for authenticating miracles is strictly empirical, based on before-and-after medical case histories. The church is not saying that miracles "violate" the "laws of nature" since, strictly speaking, what we know as "laws" are merely observed patterns. We have not seen every instance of a phenomenon that ever has or ever will occur and, unless one has observed that comprehensively, the pattern deduced from the observations will always have some degree of indeterminacy--unlike the "laws" of mathematics or logic. For the reasoning upholding this, I recommend Stanley Jaki, _Miracles and Physics_ (Front Royal, Va.: Christendom Press, 1989, reprinted 2000) and G. K. Chesterton, _Orthodoxy_, ch. IV and IX (various editions). Jaki has doctoral degrees in both natural sciences and theology, is a Benedictine monk, and has given the Gifford Lectures etc. Benedicta Ward, _Miracles and the Medieval Mind_ is, of course, excellent. Louis Monden, _Signs and Wonders_ (Desclee) is a theological treatment that undersells the empriical nature of the church's approach but is nonetheless helpful. Alexis Carrel, _Voyage to Lourdes_ should be read alongside Monden.
Dennis Martin
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