The Catholic Church is obsessed with death, and dead people.All sorts of things are done to dead people in the Catholic Church, they may get beatified, like the long dead-and-rotted Cardinal Newman was beatified by Pope Ratzinger during his just ended UK visit.Beatification is a step towards sainthood, and which rotten corpse would not aspire to sainthood !
Here’s how beatification works these days :
Since the Catholic Church reform of 1983, one miracle must be proven to have taken place through the intercession of the person to be beatified, though this requirement is not necessary for those who died a martyr, as their sanctity is already evident because they were killed distinctly out of hatred for the faith (“odium fidei”).
And what qualifies as a miracle ?
Phenomena investigated as miracles after a would-be saint’s death include the following:
* Healings attributed to intercession of the saint or contact with relics.
* Incorruptibility – the saint’s body does not decay after a long period in the grave. Example: St. Catherine of Siena (d. 1380) still has not decayed.
* Liquefaction – the dried blood of the saint liquefies every year on the day of his or her death. Example: St. Januarius (c.275-305), patron saint of Naples, September 19.
* Odor of sanctity – body exudes a sweet aroma instead of the normal stench of decay. Example: St. Teresa of Avila (1515-82) – sweet odor from her grave for nine months after her death.Miracles during the life of the saint that have been reported:
* Levitation – the saint floats in the air. St. Joseph of Cupertino (1603-63) often levitated during prayer.
* Stigmata – the saint’s body exhibits five wounds of Christ, which usually bleed during Mass. St. Francis of Assisi and Padre Pio are examples.
* Bilocation – the saint reportedly appeared in two places at once. Padre Pio (1887-1968) is an example.
So far, so completely ridiculous.
Then, there is canonization.
The veneration of saints has been a common practice since the early church, but it was only gradually that the identification of who is a saint came to be regulated by bishops and pope. Beginning in the 10th century, the Roman Church asserted that no one could be venerated as a saint without its approval. The first recorded canonization of a saint is Ulrich of Augsburg by Pope John XV in 993.
The process of canonization became a part of canon law in the Roman Catholic Church and developed into a long and complex process. This process was simplified by the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister of January 25, 1983.
And being a saint has great advantages for a rotting corpse:
The Significance of Canonization
The primary purpose of canonization is to officially authorize veneration and intercession of a particular saint. The investigation process that preceeds canonization seeks primarily to ensure that the person is in heaven and God is working through him or her.
Being canonized as a saint means that:
1. The saint’s name is added to the catalogue of saints (meaning that veneration is authorized)
2. The saint is invoked in public prayers
3. Churches may be dedicated in the saint’s memory
4. The Mass can be offered in the saint’s honor
5. Feast days are celebrated in the saint’s memory
6. Images of the saint are made in which his or her head is surrounded by a halo
7. The saint’s relics (remains) are enclosed in vessels and publicly honored.
Essentially, the whole thing is like having some former football great induced into the code’s hall of fame, show must go on and all that.As if a rotten corpse would care one way or another.
So, how does this process work, you might ask :
The process of declaring a deceased Christian to be saint was originally quite informal, but became increasingly regulated over the centuries and is now defined by canon law. The steps for becoming a saint are as follows:
1. Usually between 5 and 50 years after a would-be saint’s death, a formal request made to consider person as saint. The group making the request, called the Actor Causae, consists of people from the candidate’s church and community, and the request is directed to the bishop of the diocese where the person died. The request includes testimony of the person’s exceptional virtue and dedication to God.
2. The bishop decides whether the evidence is compelling enough to take it to Rome. If so, he asks the Congregation for the Causes of Saints for permission to open the cause.
3. If permission is granted, the bishop opens a tribunal and calls witnesses to attest to the quality of the person’s public life. The person must be shown to have been virtuous, devout, religious, and characterized by love, kindness, prudence and other virtues (concrete examples are required). Miracles are not necessary at this point, but they are recorded if mentioned. If the person passes this step, he or she is called a Servant of God.
4. The bishop sends a report to Rome, where it is translated into Italian. This step is called the Apostolic Process.
5. A summary called the Positio is presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
6. Nine theologians scrutinize the evidence and documentation. If majority pass it, goes to Congregation.
7. If they approve, the Prefect of the Congregation authorizes person to be called Venerable.
8. If any miracles are reported (which qualify the person for beatification or canonization), the Prefect presents the cause to the pope to decide. Canonization is considered a function of papal infallibility, as it is important that believers venerate and pray to only those who are actually in heaven.
9. The pope declares beatification or canonization at a special Mass in the saint’s honor.
So, on October 17, some long-decomposed catholic nun called Mary McKillop will be declared a saint.But hey, what’s with this ?
MacKillop was excommunicated by Bishop Sheil, who was against most of the things she had fought for, on the grounds that “she had incited the sisters to disobedience and defiance”.[citation needed] The rule of life MacKillop had adopted when she founded the Josephites was a source of tension between the order and the church hierarchy. Bishop Sheil did not approve of the sisters’ way of life[specify], while MacKillop believed that she was following a call from God.
I almost care about this now.A woman who fought for women to think for themselves and to have their work, and their poverty recognized, no wonder she was excommunicated !
Now, you might ask, what did the lady do to earn this kind of attention ?
In 1925, the Mother Superior of the Sisters of St Joseph, Mother Laurence, began the process to have MacKillop declared a saint and Michael Kelly, Archbishop of Sydney, established a tribunal to carry the process forward. After several years of hearings, close examination of MacKillop’s writings and a 23 year delay, the initial phase of investigations was completed in 1973. After further investigations, MacKillop’s ‘heroic virtue’ was declared in 1992. The process for determining this declaration is internal to the church, and conducted by those in senior positions.
That same year, it was considered that MacKillop’s intercession to God had been responsible for the recovery of an apparently dying woman in 1961; the patient was still alive and healthy in 1995. The decree on the miracle was read in 1993 and MacKillop was beatified on 19 January 1995 by Pope John Paul II.
Oh sure, no way the apparently dying woman could have survived, had it not been for the intercession to an imaginary sky fairy by some nun.It’s all show folks.Decomposed nuns are not saints, they’re worm fodder, as we all are going to be sometime.The whole catholic zombie hall-of-fame circus is just that, a circus.
