On Jan 14th Pope Benedict XVI authorized the Congrgation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate decrees for sainthood and beatification. Among the pending beatified is – Venerable Servant of God John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla), Polish Supreme Pontiff (1920-2005). What is notable about the company John Paul II is joined by is that his life is the only one extending into the new millennium (see the second VIS post below for the full list).
The following are excerpts from the Vatican Information Service on Jan 14th:
VATICAN CITY, 14 JAN 2011 (VIS) – On 1 May, the second Sunday of Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday, Benedict XVI will preside at the rite of beatification for John Paul II in the Vatican.
According to a note released by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, “today 24 January, Benedict XVI, during an audience granted to Cardinal Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, authorised the dicastery to promulgate the decree of the miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable Servant of God John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla). This concludes the process which precedes the rite of beatification.
“It is well known that, by pontifical dispensation, his cause began before the end of the five-year period which the current norms stipulate must pass following the death of a Servant of God. This provision was solicited by the great fame of sanctity which Pope John Paul II enjoyed during his life, in his death and after his death. In all other ways, the normal canonical dispositions concerning causes of beatification and canonisation were observed in full.
“Between June 2005 and April 2007 the principal diocesan investigation was held in Rome, accompanied by secondary investigations in various other dioceses, on his life, virtues, fame of sanctity and miracles. The juridical validity of these canonical processes was recognised by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints with a decree of 4 May 2007. In June 2009, having examined the relative ‘Positio’, nine of the dicastery’s theological consultors expressed their positive judgement concerning the heroic nature of the virtues of the Servant of God. The following November, in keeping with the usual procedure, the ‘Positio’ was submitted for the judgement of the cardinals and bishops of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, who gave their approval.
“On 19 December 2009, Benedict XVI authorised the promulgation of the decree on John Paul II’s heroic virtues.
“With a view to the beatification of the Venerable Servant of God, the postulator of the cause invited the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to examine the recovery from Parkinson’s disease of Sr. Marie Simon Pierre Normand, a religious of the ‘Institut des Petites Soeurs des Maternites Catholiques’.
“As is customary, the voluminous acts of the regularly-instituted canonical investigation, along with detailed reports from medical and legal experts, were submitted for scientific examination by the medical consultors of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 21 October 2010. The experts of the congregation, having studied the depositions and the entire documentation with their customary scrupulousness, expressed their agreement concerning the scientifically inexplicable nature of the healing. On 14 December the theological consultors, having examined the conclusions reached by the medical experts, undertook a theological evaluation of the case and unanimously recognised the unicity, antecedence and choral nature of the invocation made to Servant of God John Paul II, whose intercession was effective in this prodigious healing.
“Finally, on 11 January 2011 the ordinary session of the cardinals and bishops of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints took place. They expressed their unanimous approval, believing the recovery of Sr. Marie Simon Pierre to be miraculous, having been achieved by God in a scientifically inexplicable manner following the intercession of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, trustingly invoked both by Sr. Simon herself and by many other faithful”.
CCS/ VIS 20110114 (570)
DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS
VATICAN CITY, 14 JAN 2011 (VIS) – Today, during a private audience with Cardinal Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pope authorised the congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
MIRACLES
– Venerable Servant of God John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla), Polish Supreme Pontiff (1920-2005).
– Venerable Servant of God Antonia Maria Verna, Italian foundress of the Institute of the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception (1773-1838).
– Venerable Servant of God Giuseppe Toniolo, Italian layman and father (1845-1918).
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Marija Jula (nee Kata Ivanisevic), Marija Bernadeta (nee Terezija Banja,) Marija Krizina (nee Jozefa Bojanc), Marija Antonija (nee Jozefa Fabjan) and Maria Berchmana (nee Karoline Anna Leidenix), professed religions of the Institute of Daughters of Divine Charity, killed in hatred of the faith in Bosnia-Herzegovina between 15 and 23 December 1941.
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Antonio Franco, Italian bishop of Santa Lucia del Mela (1585-1626).
– Servant of God Franziskus Maria vom Kreuze (ne Johann Baptist Jordan) German priest and founder of the Society of the Divine Saviour and of the Congregation of Sisters of the Divine Saviour (1848-1918).
– Servant of God Nelson Baker, American diocesan priest (1842-1936).
– Servant of God Faustino Perez-Manglano Magro, Spanish student and postulant of the Marianist Fathers (1946-1963).
– Servant of God Francisca de Paula de Jesus, (also called Nha Chica), Brazilian laywoman (1810-1895).
CSS/ VIS 20110114 (250)