Saturday, October 02, 2004
So you wanna know about saints?
Just trying to clear up a few misconceptions :-).
To the number of these sainted sovereigns, we must also add approximately sainted popes, who are also accounted among the monarchy of Europe. From St. Peter to St Gelasius, the first 53 popes all are saints. Then from 590 to 1294, 23 popes have been canonized. Pius XII canonized Pius X in 1954 and John Paul II beatified Pius IX and John XXIII on September 3, 2000. All told there have been 78 canonized popes.
To date, Pope John Paul II (bio - news), is the largest "saint maker" in the history of the papacy. On Sunday, he will preside over his 147th ceremony of beatification, adding up to 1,342 beatifications and 483 saints. On average, the Holy Father has proclaimed 54 blessed and 19 saints per year since the beginning of his pontificate.
Between 1588, the year in which a particular organization of the Roman curia was created to deal with the causes of beatification, and 1978, the popes proclaimed 302 saints and 1201 blessed. Until the 11th century, many saints were proclaimed without the intervention of the pope, but by the will of only one bishop. The monopoly on canonizations by the Vatican was enacted only in the 12th century and the procedure was fixed in 18th century. John Paul II reformed the procedure in 1986 by returning to the bishops the initial responsibility to gather files to show evidence of holiness.
To the number of these sainted sovereigns, we must also add approximately sainted popes, who are also accounted among the monarchy of Europe. From St. Peter to St Gelasius, the first 53 popes all are saints. Then from 590 to 1294, 23 popes have been canonized. Pius XII canonized Pius X in 1954 and John Paul II beatified Pius IX and John XXIII on September 3, 2000. All told there have been 78 canonized popes.
To date, Pope John Paul II (bio - news), is the largest "saint maker" in the history of the papacy. On Sunday, he will preside over his 147th ceremony of beatification, adding up to 1,342 beatifications and 483 saints. On average, the Holy Father has proclaimed 54 blessed and 19 saints per year since the beginning of his pontificate.
Between 1588, the year in which a particular organization of the Roman curia was created to deal with the causes of beatification, and 1978, the popes proclaimed 302 saints and 1201 blessed. Until the 11th century, many saints were proclaimed without the intervention of the pope, but by the will of only one bishop. The monopoly on canonizations by the Vatican was enacted only in the 12th century and the procedure was fixed in 18th century. John Paul II reformed the procedure in 1986 by returning to the bishops the initial responsibility to gather files to show evidence of holiness.
