Beatification

Local bishops had the power of beatifying until 1634, when Pope Urban VIII, in the apostolic constitution Cœlestis Jerusalem of 6 July, reserved the power of beatifying to the Holy See.A. De Meester, Juris Canonici et Juris Canonico-Civilis Compendium Nova Editio, Tomus Tertius, Pars Secunda (Brugis: Desclée de Brouwer et Sii, 1928) p. 86 (citing the canonist Pope Benedict XIV, De Servorum Dei Beatificatione et Beatorum Canonizatione)Beccari, Camillo (1907). "[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02364b.htm Beatification and Canonization]." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Via New Advent. newadvent.org. Accessed 1 November 2015.

Since the reforms of 1983, as a rule, (for non-martyred Venerables) one miracle must be confirmed to have taken place through the intercession of the person to be beatified. Miracles are almost always unexplainable medical healings, and are scientifically investigated by commissions comprising physicians and theologians.{{Cite web |last=Ghose |first=Tia |date=9 July 2013 |title=The Science of Miracles: How the Vatican Decides |url=https://www.livescience.com/38033-how-vatican-identifies-miracles.html |access-date=2019-09-15 |website=livescience.com |language=en}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2000/04/20/miracles-under-the-microscope|title=Miracles under the microscope|date=2000-04-20|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=2019-09-15|issn=0013-0613}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/08/31/491937448/how-the-catholic-church-documented-mother-teresas-two-miracles|title=How The Catholic Church Documented Mother Teresa's 2 Miracles|publisher=NPR|language=en|access-date=2019-09-15}}

The requirement of a miracle for beatification is waived in the case of someone whose martyrdom is formally declared by the church.{{Cite web |url=http://www.archokc.org/rothercause/process-of-canonization |title=Sarno, Robert J., "Process of Canonization", Archdiocese of Oklahoma City |access-date=5 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180608134449/http://www.archokc.org/rothercause/process-of-canonization |archive-date=8 June 2018 |url-status=dead }}

The feast day for a beatified person is not universal, but is celebrated only by territories, religious institutes, or communities in which the person receives particular veneration. For instance, Kateri Tekakwitha was especially honored in the United States and Canada during her time as Blessed. John Duns Scotus was honored among the Franciscans, in the Archdiocese of Cologne and other places. Similarly, veneration of Chiara Badano is particular to the Focolare movement.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

The blessed, elected by popular acclamation (the vox populi) enjoyed only local veneration. While the procedure of canonization was taken in hand from the twelfth century by the papacy in Rome, that of beatification continued on a local scale until the thirteenth century before settling at the Council of Trent, which reserved to the pope the right to say who could be venerated.{{Citation |last=Vincent-Cassy |first=Cécile |title=Les joyaux de la Couronne Sainteté et monarchie en Espagne après le concile de Trente |date=2016 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4000/books.pulg.8977 |work=Dévotion et légitimation |pages=41–56 |publisher=Presses universitaires de Liège |doi=10.4000/books.pulg.8977 |isbn=9782875621061 |access-date=2022-08-05|url-access=subscription }}

Pope John Paul II (1978–2005) markedly changed the previous Catholic practice of beatification. By October 2004, he had beatified 1,340 people, more than the sum of all of his predecessors since Pope Sixtus V (1585–1590), who established a beatification procedure similar to that used today.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}}

John Paul II's successor, Pope Benedict XVI (2005–2013), personally celebrated the Beatification Mass for his predecessor at St. Peter's Basilica, on the Second Sunday of Easter, or Divine Mercy Sunday, on 1 May 2011, an event that drew more than one million people.

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• Canonization (delineates the process of beatification)
• Chronological list of saints and blesseds
• List of saints
• List of venerated Catholics
• List of Servants of God
• List of beatified people
• List of people beatified by Pope Francis
• List of people beatified by Pope Benedict XVI
• List of people beatified by Pope John Paul II

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• {{cite encyclopedia |last=Beccari |first=Camillo |year = 1907 |title=Beatification and Canonization |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |at=Vol. 2 |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |via=New Advent. newadvent.org |url = http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02364b.htm }}
• {{CathEncy |wstitle = Beatification and Canonization |url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080606235621/http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Beatification_and_Canonization |last=Beccari |first=Camillo }}
• De Meester, A., J.C.D., Juris Canonici et Juris Canonico-Civilis Compendium Nova Editio, Tomus Tertius, Pars Secunda (Brugis: Desclée de Brouwer et Sii, 1928)
• Saunders, Rev. William (2003). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140210131718/http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0136.html The Process of Becoming a Saint]". Reprinted from Arlington Catholic Herald. Via Catholic Education Resource Center. catholiceducation.org.
• [https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/csaints/documents/rc_con_csaints_doc_20050929_saraiva-martins-beatif_en.html Vatican website, with new procedures]

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• [http://www.gcatholic.org/saints/bxvi-blesseds2.htm List of all Blesseds in the Catholic Church] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140204030324/http://www.gcatholic.org/saints/bxvi-blesseds2.htm |date=4 February 2014 }} by GCatholic.org.

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Category:Catholic theology and doctrine

Category:Posthumous recognitions

Category:Canonization