February 2012 - Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn

y Chorbishop John D. Faris
On Sunday, February 5, 2012, the
Maronite Church recalled and
celebrated its "finest product:"
the Righteous and the Just, the saints of
the Church. Referring to saints as
"products" might seem crass and make
one pause, but upon reflection one
realizes that the Church makes saints.
Indeed, making saints is the purpose of
the Church: through the work of the
Holy Spirit, countless followers of
Christ have responded to the inspiration
of grace and led heroic lives of virtue,
in short, have become saints.
Martyrs and Confessors
Some holy women and men have been
canonized, that is, included in the
canon, or list, of recognized saints. In
the early Church, the first Christians to
be honored as saints were the martyrs.
One notes that in the Roman Canon of
the Latin Rite, the only saints that are
mentioned are martyrs, with the
exception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and, since 1962, Saint Joseph.
Because Christianity was illegal in the
Roman Empire and punishable by
death, the first three centuries of the
Church have been called the "age of
martyrs." Those who suffered death
for their faith were known as martyrs.
(The word martyr comes from the
Greek, meaning "witness.") After
Emperor Constantine gave legal
recognition to Christianity, the age of
martyrs ended. Nevertheless, Christian
martyrdom continues: Christians today
continue to sacrifice their lives for the
faith.
After the age of martyrs, Christians
gave witness or confessed their faith by
their lives, words and deeds; therefore,
they are venerated as confessors by the
Church. The reason for the veneration
of these confessors is that their lives of
self-denial and suffering were truly
"prolonged martyrdoms." Early
confessors included Saint Martin of
Tours (316-397) and Saint Hilary of
Poitiers (300-368) in the West;
examples of confessors in the East are
Saint Ephrem (306-373) and Saint
Hilarion (291–371).
Making Saints
Chorbishop John Faris
Canonization
How does one become a canonized
saint? At first the process of
canonization was a simple one: Some
holy men and women were
spontaneously venerated as holy by the
faithful: Vox populi, vox Dei. ("The
voice of the people is the voice of
God.") We witness such a popular
acclamation of sanctity with the passing
of Blessed John Paul II; mourners in
Saint Peter's Square carried placards
with the words Santo Subito
("Sainthood right away") calling for the
quick canonization of this beloved
pope. Similar calls for canonization
were made after the passing of Blessed
Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Despite - or perhaps because of - the
fervor of the faithful, it became
apparent that some kind of process was
needed. In the case of the martyrs, it
was the responsibility of the bishop in
the place where the martyrdom
occurred to verify the circumstances of
martyrdom. If he found that the person
died a martyr, an altar could be erected
over the saint's tomb, relics could be
transferred to a church and the name of
the saint would be listed in the canon or
diptychs. This type of canonization
was a local matter, but often the bishop
would send testimony of the martyrdom
to other bishops in the region. In the
case of confessors, approval of the
bishop was again required before a
person could be publicly venerated.
In the case of both martyrs and
confessors, approval of the Bishop of
Rome was required in order for the
veneration of the saint to be for the
entire Catholic Church.
Abuses began to creep in, perhaps
because of local fervor or laxity on the
part of the local bishop to conduct a
rigorous investigation. At the end of
the eleventh century, popes called for
broader investigation of the lives of
men and women proposed for
veneration. These directives had a
limited effect and abuses continued
(one "saint" was intoxicated when he
was killed). Pope Urban VII in 1634
issued an order reserving the
declarations of sanctity to the Bishop of
Rome.
Modern Procedures
Today, the Vatican has a special office,
the Congregation for the Causes of
Saints, to investigate the lives of
persons proposed for veneration. A
cardinal heads the office, assisted by a
staff of 25. This Congregation was
established as a separate office by Pope
Paul VI in 1969 and currently operates
according to norms established by Pope
John Paul II in 1983, followed by
1
additional specific norms.
The process towards canonization
begins at the eparchial / diocesan level.
The local bishop can, either on his own
initiative or in response to a request,
authorize the investigation into the
virtues of an individual. The general
rule is that the process is to begin no
sooner than five years after the death of
the person to be investigated.
However, the pope can waive this
requirement as was the case of Mother
Teresa and Pope John Paul II. The
investigation involves an exhaustive
1
Pope John Paul II, Apostolic
Constitution, Divinus Perfectionis Magister,
January 25, 1983; Congregation for the
Causes of Saints, New Laws for the Causes
of Saints, February 7, 1983; Id. Notice of
the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
on New Procedures in the Rite of
Beatification, September 29, 2005;
Instruction for Conducting Diocesan or
Eparchial Inquiries in the Causes of Saints,
May 17, 2007.
The Maronite Voice Volume VIII Issue No. II Page 10 February 2012