The Canonization Process – Simplified

So, you want to be a canonized saint.  Make sure you put this document with your will so that your heirs will know what to do.  The most important thing is that you be dead, so take care of that first.  Then make sure your heirs do the following:

1.       WAIT for FIVE YEARS.  The candidate has to have been dead for five years.  This is to allow time for “cooler heads to prevail. It allows more objectivity. 

2.       GET YOUR FRIENDS TOGETHER. The cause is started in the diocese where the candidate lived.  A promoter group, for example, the parish, religious congregation, or pious association asks the bishop to open an investigation. The bishop asks Rome who sends a letter of “nulla osta” or “no impediment” and a tribunal is formed.

3.       PRESENT THE FACTS and WRITE ‘EM UP and GET ‘EM TO ROME. The tribunal calls witnesses to recount the facts of the candidate's life and how the candidate exercised Christian virtue especially; prudence, justice, temperance, faith, hope, and charity. Documents are gathered and sent to Rome, to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.  If the Candidate has made it this far, he (she) is entitled to the title “Servant of God.”

4.       WIN THE ELECTION. The documents and evidence are examined in Rome by nine theologians. If the Servant of God gets at least five votes the congregation presents the results of the Pope who will give his approval (or not) and authorizes a public decree which is publically read and distributed.

5.       PERFORM A MIRACLE. For beatification a miracle, verified after his (her) death is necessary. This miracle is investigated and if it is shown to be a miracle, a decree is read. The candidate is now called “Blessed.”

6.       PERFORM AN ENCORE. For final canonization another miracle occurring AFTER his beatification.  It is investigated as was the virtues and the first miracle 

Oh, I almost forgot about expenses.  There are costs involved in the canonization process. Documents need to be prepared, canon lawyers engaged, and you probably will want a ceremony or two.  Here is an accounting from a canonization that took place in 1913 – The amounts are in Italian Lire.   The prices have gone up since 1913 I am sure. A 1913 dollar is the equivalent of $3.36 of today’s dollars. 

Please understand, all of the above can take years and years and there is no guarantee that you will make it all the way through. The process is meant to provide us with examples to follow.  Pope John Paul II made it clear that it is the goal of EVERY CHRISTIAN to become a saint, as a matter of fact, the saddest fate for a human being is to go through life and end up not becoming a saint. Canonization is optional, becoming a saint is required!