OFFICIAL SAINTHOOD 101, PART 1
Many have asked me “why our African and Nigerian brother and priest, Blessed CYPRIAN Michael Iwene TANSI has not been made a saint?” Some go to the extent of concluding that it’s because of racism.
But I always tell them that there are procedures to official sainthood, such that even many of our deceased Christian/Catholic compatriots including past popes from Europe, who died many years before Tansi, hadn’t been made officially saints . The next question I hear is: what are the procedures/processes .
We shall therefore take these procedures in series and peice meal for better understanding.
Hence… welcome to “Official Sainthood 101 Part 1”
THE PROCEDURES FOR BEATIFICATION AND CANONISATION
FAME OF SANCTITY OR MARTYRDOM:
When a person who lives an examplary life dies, there is normally the aura or the fame of sanctity and/or the fame of Martyrdom (for one who died for the faith), that accompanies such a person. For instance, there was and still there is a fame of sanctity and martyrdom that surrounds the death of Fr. Ohai of the Archdiocese of Onitsha, and fame of Sanctity for Late Bishop Eneja of Enugu Diocese.
Such holy fame grows in an ever increasing manner in which people appeal to their intercessions in order to get special favors from God. People go to their graves and pray akin to how hundreds go to the burial ground of late Fr. Ohai, located at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, where deceased priests are buried.
In this case, what should the done? The bishop of the diocese in which the person died, if he deems it suitable, appropriate or proper, is to institute a process. This process is called the Ordinary Process.
ORDINARY PROCESS:
Here the bishop of the diocese establishes a tribunal to question thoroughly the witnesses who lived with, came in contact with, and knows something tangibly about the deceased person in order to gather evidences which the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican, Rome will use in ascertaining whether in fact or not there exists any fame of sanctity and, if so, its foundation and extent.
These evidences furnish the Holy See with the information necessary to determine whether it is advisable to formally introduce the cause, in order to verify whether the servant of God exercised virtues in a heroic manner or whether he died for the faith(martyrdom).
The original acts( details of the various deeds or actions) of this process are preserved in the archives of the diocese; and a faithful copy of them, called “transumptum,” duly authenticated and subsequently sealed, is transmitted to the Dicastery for the Causes of the saints.
PURITY OF DOCTRINE AND PUBLIC CULT:
For the advancement of the cause, it is necessary to
ascertain whether the teachings and writings of the servant of God (the deceased person) were pure, that is, without error. In addition, it must be verified that public cult was never accorded him.
For above twofold purpose, the bishop must conduct a thorough search of all the writings of the servant of God and institute a process aimed at establishing the absence or presence of a public cult.
A public cult here refers to outward religious practices in terms of devotions or veneration extended to a particular saint, which may be through pious and religious societies like St. Anthony society, St. Rita society, Tansi Solidarity group, etc.
STAY TUNNED FOR THE NEXT PROCESS…
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©Fada Henry Charles Umelechi
Truth Series.