medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I believe the short answer is "no." It's not enough merely to have died in a
state of grace, even doing heroic acts, to merit canonization. If that were
the case, we'd have even more saints than John Paul II managed to produce!
The Cath En has this to say: "The Catholic Church canonizes or beatifies
only those whose lives have been marked by the exercise of heroic virtue,
and only after this has been proved by common repute for sanctity and by
conclusive arguments." As a Catholic, I must sadly mention that politics
plays a role in canonization. Religious orders, for instance, are very eager
to have their founders canonized and go to a great deal of effort to make it
happen. Personal preferences of popes also are involved. And one may
legitimately wonder why Joan of Arc was canonized in 1920. I wonder if it
had anything to do with WWI... I have pondered her case at length and find
the subject interesting. I pose this question not because I'm anti-Joan but
because I have an "enquiring mind": what exactly was her heroic virtue in
the religious sense? One could argue that she saved France, but was this a
religious project in any sense? Was God on the side of the French and was
she therefore carrying out his will at the cost of her own life? She "heard
voices," but of two saints whose very existence has been seriously
questioned, one of whom (Catherine of Alexandria) has, I believe, been
removed from the canon. Saint Margaret is also, I believe, of dubious state
of existence. On the religious side, she was a very pious girl who had
dedicated her virginity to God. This describes thousands, if not millions,
of women. Really mean folks describe her as a bi-polar transvestite. And on
and on...
www.newadvent.org has a lengthy article on the subject of canonization which
you might use as a start.
MG
>From: "V. Kerry Inman" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
> culture <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [M-R] saints of the day 11. September
>Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2005 14:56:52 -0400
>
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>Quoting John Dillon <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>culture
> >
> > Today (11. September) is the feast day of:
> >
>I am not a Catholic, but as an American I ask: is there anyone who was
>killed in
>American on September 11 who is on the fast track to sainthood? Surely
>among
>all the Irish police and firemen who died there was a zealous Roman
>Catholic
>whom we could see as a Saint.
>
>--V. K. Inman
>
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