 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture A bibliographic footnote for the procedural side of the question: E.W. Kemp, Canonization and Authority in the Western Church (Oxford, 1948). For Alexander's decree, see: Corpus Iuris Canonici, ed. E. Friedberg (reprint Graz, 1955), 2.650: X 3.45.1, De reliquiis et veneration sanctorum,c. Audivimus. Tom Izbicki At 04:52 PM 12/5/2001 -0600, you wrote: >medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > >Miracles are not required for canonization of martyrs, but evidence that >the death was truly martyrdom rather than the victim of political violence >etc. has to be provided via historical research. In the case of English >Catholic martyrs, the government line was that they were political >traitors; the legislation making certain acts of Catholic religious cult >or belief treasonous crimes does make it fairly clear that the martyrs >under Elizabeth and Henry VIII were dying for religious beliefs. They >always insisted that they could accept Elizabeth or Henry as their >rightful sovereign but could not accept the Elizabethan settlement which >made the church in England a state church or, in the case of the martyrs >prior to the Elizabethan settlement, could not accept the preamble to the >Act of Succession and Act of Supremacy, which denied the authority of the >bishop of Rome over the church in England. The excommunication of >Elizbeth by Pius V complicated things even more. > >Most of the English martyrs were beatified in the 1880s on the basis of >existing cult, not on the basis of martyrdom, because, as I've mentioned >before, of fears of inciting anti-Catholicism in western European >governments. This leads to the next point: most of the beatifications in >the 19thc were in fact on the basis of recognition of long-standing >cult. When Urban VIII forbade in the 1640s public liturgical veneration >for anyone whose case had not been investigated via the Congregation of >the Rites (finally making stick what popes since Alexander III had >attempted to make standard, namely, a uniform Roman investigation before >elevation to liturgical veneration) and when Benedict XIV worked out in >detail the procedures to be followed in such investigations, they exempted >from the historical, canonical investigation process (interviewing >witnesses etc. regarding a life of heroic virtue, examining alleged >miracles based on seven criteria of empirical scientific evidence) saints >who were already long dead in 1640 and for whom one could demonstrate >(again by historical investigation) a long-standing cultus prior to the >1640s cutoff point but who had not at that point yet been accorded >universal liturgical veneration. The simple reason for this was that one >could not subject such cases to the same sort of witness interrogation and >investigation that one could subject people who died at or after the >1640s. Nor could one subject claims for miracles worked by such long-dead >saints long ago to the same investigation that one could subject recently >occurring miracles. Hence at least beatification (carrying with it >official public liturgical veneration in a single diocese or within a >single religious order, sometimes in several dioceses, but not >universally) could be approved if it could be shown that people had >venerated this person for a long time in a particular locality without the >rigorous procedrues which had not yet existed. > >But proceeding to canonization (universal liturgical veneration) still >would not take place without at least 2 more recent (hence capable of >rigorous investigation) miracles. Hence a lot of these 19thc >beatifications on basis of longstanding cult never moved beyond that stage >because no new miracles either were alleged or, if alleged, passed >scrutiny (Benedict XIV's rules for investigating miracles are extremely >rigorous). > >In the case of the English martyrs, after beatification on the basis of >cultus existing., e.g., at Douai among the English Catholic exile >community from the 16thc onward in the 1880s, historical investigation of >their martyr status was carried out in the 1960s, resulting in their >canonizations in 1970. The report of the investigation of martyrdom is >very interesting, including among other documentation, the expense report >submitted by the executioner for one of the executions. See Archdiocese >of Westminster, Cause of the Canonization of Blessed Martyrs John >Houghton, Robert Lawrence, Augustine Webster, Richard Reynolds, John >Stone, Cuthbert Mayne, John Paine, Edmund Campion, Alexander Briant, Ralph >Sherwin, and Luke Kirby, put to Death in England in Defence of the >Catholic Faith (1535-1582), Official Presentation of Documents on >Martyrdom and Cult, Sacred Congregation of Rites, Historical Section, vol. >148 (Vatican City: Vatican Polygott Press, 1968). > >The reforms of 1983 reduced the number of miracles for beatification and >canonization of non-martyrs to one each rather than the two (total of >four) required under Urban VIII/Benedict XIV. > >Thus, while it is possible for a non-martyr to be beatified without any >miracles being proven, no non-martyr is to be canonized without at least >one miracle. Even in the case of beatifications on the basis of existing >cult, of course normally many miracles would have been reported, >otherwise, no local cult is likely to have emerged. But in those cases, >the alleged miracles would not have been investigated according to >Benedict XIV's criteria. > >In all these cases we are talking about miracles performed after death, >since, it is possible for a person to perform a miracle during his >lifetime yet before death to apostasize, given free wil. Declaring >someone a saint is a declaration that this person is truly present in >heaven (many others are present in heaven but their presence is not >clearly known to those on earth) enjoying the beatific vision, enjoying >the presence of God who is utterly holy, hence, they would be holy >themselves (sancti), since nothing unholy can abide God's presence. > >Martyrs are exempt from the requirement altogether because the point of >miracles is to demonstrate that the person is truly in God's presence in >heaven and capable of acting as an intercessor with God. One may have >lived a very holy life up to the point of death and at the last moment, >turn away from God. Two ways of being sure that someone did not turn away >from God at the last moment (since no human being can be sure what is >going on in a dying person's heart) are (1) miracles performed by >intercession in heaven after the person's death and (2) martyrdom. A >martyr clearly has remained faithful to God up to and into death, since he >not only says he's wililng to die for his faith but he actually goes ahead >and does, acts out, his belief. That's as close as observers can get to >seeing into his heart at the point of death. Hence from the earliest >martyrs onward, Christians were convinced that someone who truly died a >martyr would immediately enter God's presence. However part of the >Christian understanding of martyrdom was that one does not seek out >martyrdom but lets it come to one. Polycarp, for instance (the oldest >surviving detailed martyrdom account, from about AD 165) initially fled to >the country but when the police came after him, did not >resist. Polycarp's story became exemplary (and includes all the elements >of the cult of saints, relics etc.). Moreover, church leaders like Origen >and others denounced those who deliberately sought out >martyrdom. (There's a very practical reason invovled here: someone who >deliberately seeks to become a martyr probably is operating out of pride >and, in the first place, is more likely to get cold feet and apostasize, >causing harm to himself and scandal to everyone else, and, second, if >operating out of pride, is sinning.) True martyrs are those who do not >seek it out but who don't flinch when it comes to them. Robert Bold got >it right in _A Man for All Seasons_ when he has Thomas More say to his >daughter Margaret: (I'm paraphrasing, Bolt's rhetoric is far better) >do everything we can to avoid martyrdom, that's what God gave us brains >for; if there's a way I can swear the oath I must swear it and you, >Margaret must do the same; but if it comes to it that there's no way out >that does not sinning, then we must stand to our tackle, "if we have the >spittle for it" (that much at least, I think is verbatim). He had asked >Margaret, who, in Bolt's poetic license, has learned of the act of >Parliament before he had, what the precise wording of the oath was; she >asked, what does the wording matter, we can't take it. At that point he >tells her that the wording matters greatly; something similar occurs in >the scene where his family visits him in the tower and he says that if the >government opened a tiny crack he'd fly through it like a bird but if it >comes to it, he believed he could stand up to death like a man, if he knew >that his family understood why he was doing it. At that point Bolt has >Alice More say that that's precisely what angers her: she doesn't see why >it had to come to this. This of course, is what a lot of people still say >about More: he was stubborn, proud etc. and it need not have come to his >death. I mention this to illustrate how the question of pride is involved >on all sides of the question of martyrdom and how the Church at least, has >tried to distinguish martyrdom from suicide. > >Finally,as regards Pius X (another posting on this thread), I don't know >his case in detail, but there would have had to have been authenticated >miracles involved. One has to get ahold of the official _positio_ and the >dossier for his beatification and canonization. The miracles will be >dealt with there. He certainly was not canonized on the basis of martyrdom. > >I must underscore, however, once more, that most of the dossier of any >saint in modern times (after Urban VIII) will deal with evidence for a >life of heroic _caritas_ and other virtues. > >Dennis Martin > > > >>> [log in to unmask] 12/05/01 03:38PM >>> >medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > > > >I have always understood Thomas More to have been canonized without > >miracles because of his willingness to die for his convictions. > >Tom Izbicki > > >I believe that martyrs always get a free pass or is that just martyrs before >formal canonization procedures were set up? > >Jo Ann > >********************************************************************** >To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME >to: [log in to unmask] >To send a message to the list, address it to: >[log in to unmask] >To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion >to: [log in to unmask] >In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: >[log in to unmask] >For further information, visit our web site: >http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html > >********************************************************************** >To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME >to: [log in to unmask] >To send a message to the list, address it to: >[log in to unmask] >To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion >to: [log in to unmask] >In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: >[log in to unmask] >For further information, visit our web site: >http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html Thomas M. Izbicki Collection Development Coordinator Eisenhower Library Johns Hopkins University 3400 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218 Telephone: 410-516-7173 Fax: 410-516-8399 ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html