Pope
John Paul II, a recent pope of the Catholic Church, will soon be canonized
around April 2014. Canonization is the
recognition that a person lived a holy life and is in heaven. As attention is
turned toward this upcoming canonization, it also brings to focus many other
saints who lived in modern times. This
is inspiring, since it is easier to relate to a saint who has undergone similar
challenges in a similar time.
Saints
are real people, and contrary to what many think, the Church does not make saints. The Church merely recognizes that saints lived in obedience to God’s will and are now
in heaven. It is still possible to live
the life of a saint. But how do people
become recognized as saints? And who are
some 20th century saints?
The
Church teaches that to attain the gift of heaven everyone must become a saint. Some people are able to become saints on
earth, whereas others must become saints in
purgatory.
Before the Church
recognizes that an individual is in heaven, there are many steps to go
through. Usually this process is begun
no sooner than five years after a candidate’s death. This allows for a more objective look at a
person’s life.
First, as soon as
a person is accepted for consideration of sainthood, they’re known as a Servant
of God. This process begins with a local
bishop investigating the candidate’s life and writings for evidence of heroic
virtue. This information is sent to the
Vatican.
The Congregation
for the Causes of Saints, a division of the Roman Curia (governing body of the Church),
then determines if the Servant of God lived a life of heroic virtue. If so, the candidate is granted the title of Venerable. Heroic virtue does not mean sinless and
perfect. It means that the person worked
hard on their spiritual life and always tried to be obedient to God’s will.
The
last step, canonization, includes a second posthumous miracle. A posthumous miracle is a miracle that occurs
after a saint’s death, through the saint’s intercession in heaven. The Blessed
candidate’s case is presented before the pope again to determine that the
evidence is clear and reports to the contrary are not credible. This step rests on the pope’s judgment; if he
chooses, the canonization procedure begins and that person will become a Saint!
(canonization mass)
To
be declared a saint, one must have at least two posthumous miracles attributed
to them (as discussed in Beatification
and Canonization). There are four types of miracles:
Healing – For this to count in the canonization
process, a group of Italian doctors (
Consulta
Medica), Catholic and non-Catholic, must stipulate “No scientific or medical
explanation for the cure can be found.”
Incorruptibility – After having been dead for a
long time, the saint is found free of decay and decomposition when they are
exhumed.
Liquefaction – The dried blood of a saint long
dead which liquefies on their feast day.
Odor of Sanctity – When a saint’s body releases
a sweet aroma, like roses, instead of the typical stench of decay.
Read below for
examples of three 20th century saints. The first, St. Maximillian Kolbe, has been a
saint recognized by the Church for about 30 years. The second, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, has been a
saint for almost one year. And the last, Blessed Pope John Paul II, is a soon-to-be
saint.
Maximilian Kolbe
(1894 – 1941)
Maximilian Kolbe, a priest
killed at Auschwitz in 1941, was canonized on October 10
th, 1982.
Pope John Paul II proclaimed him a saint and martyr, attributing two miracles
to him. A 1948 cure of intestinal tuberculosis of Angela Testoni, a disease
Kolbe himself suffered from, and a 1950 cure of calcification of the
arteries/sclerosis of Francis Ranier.
Kolbe was taken to Auschwitz, a German concentration camp,
during World War II. He died when he took the place of a man whose family was
condemned to die in a starvation bunker. The man, upon being
sentenced, cried out thinking of his wife and children. Kolbe acted. He stepped
forward and told the SS guard that he would die in the place of this man. And
so, along with nine other men, Kolbe was placed in the starvation bunker and
starved to death for two weeks.
Kolbe is the only saint who ran
an amateur radio station, during his time on earth. The station existed in the
late 1920’s. He also published a
newspaper regularly and used both of these to communicate his message of hope
to a broken world, especially his home country of Poland.
Kateri Tekakwitha (1656 – 1680)
St. Kateri
Tekakwitha, the first Native American to be
canonized a saint, is known for her
devotion to Christ as well as her personal sacrifices. Kateri’s mother, a Christian Algonquin woman,
was captured during a raid. She was born in 1656 to her and a Mohawk father in
the village of Ossernion, now known as Auriesville, New York. When she was four years old, Kateri and her
mother fell ill with smallpox. Her
mother died, but Kateri survived with many scars on her face as well as bad
eyesight. She was then adopted by two of
her aunts and her uncle. When she was in
her late teens, she converted to Catholicism after learning from French Jesuit
priests. Her family saw this as
betrayal. After she refused to marry a
Mohawk man, she was forced to leave. She
walked hundreds of miles to Quebec, Canada, and joined a community of Christian
women. There she took vows of chastity
and devotion to the Lord. Her devotion
soon turned into self-inflicted penances: whipping herself with reeds until she
bled, walking barefoot in the snow, praying for hours on her knees in an unheated
chapel and sleeping on a bed of thorns.
Soon her health began to weaken, and at age 24 she died. Some witnesses claim that following her
death, the small pox scars on her face disappeared. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in
1980, and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. Saint Kateri is the patroness of the
environment and ecology, and her feast day is celebrated on July 14th.
Pope John Paul II
(1920 – 2005)
Within the next
few months, Pope Francis will be performing the canonization ceremony for
Blessed Pope John Paul II. This canonization ceremony is certainly unique as
the usual five year waiting period was waived, making this ceremony one of
the fastest canonizations in history.
Pope John Paul II earned
a special place in the hearts of many as an advocate for human rights and by
showing compassion for people. He was especially passionate about ending suffering
in the world while opposing capital punishment, abortion, and
contraception. He was the first Polish
pope and the first non-Italian pope since Pope Adrian VI in 1522 (more than
four hundred years).
As Pope, John Paul
II visited more than 100 countries and learned to speak eight languages.
Working hard was nothing new to him: as a young man, he was an excellent student
and was very athletic. He participated in soccer, backpacking, and hiking.
John Paul II
served on the Vatican II council shortly before he became a cardinal in 1967. As
pope, he made changes to several traditions, including speaking to audiences in
addition to waving and praying for them. He wanted to teach everyone about
peace and love. He wrote books on human love and how love and marriage is a
sign that we have for the Trinity and God's love for us.
Born Karol
Wojtyla, he started his life in Poland and lost his mother and brother, Edmund,
before the age of twelve. He challenged
himself and knew where he stood on the issues he and the Church faced. Pope John Paul II truly was a rock people
could look to for guidance and encouragement, which may be why Time Magazine
named him
“Man of the Year” in 1994.
It is inspiring to
see saints who lived in the same world we do.
It shows that “being a saint” is not something that happened only
hundreds of years ago. In fact, with
Pope John Paul II soon to be canonized, saints are happening as we speak,
encouraging us all to strive for sainthood.
