How does someone become a saint of the church?

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

	Saints of North America Year of canonization and feast day: 2006: Mother Theodore Guerin, Oct. 3 2000: Katherine Drexel, March 3 1988: Rose Philippine Duchesne, Nov. 18 1977: John Neumann, Jan. 5 1975: Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, Jan. 4 1946: Frances Xavier Cabrini, Nov. 13 1930: Isaac Joques and the North American          Martyrs (eight saints in total), Oct. 19

With the canonization of Mother Theodore Guerin on Oct. 15, many have asked about the process of canonization. Mother Theodore, a missionary from France who founded the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods, is one of 14 people who can be called North American saints. Her canonization, along with four others on Oct. 15, brought to a close her sainthood process which had begun in 1909.

A saint is a holy person - sancti means "holy ones" - whose life on earth is recognized as virtuous and who the church believes is alive and present to God in heaven. Saints remain active in the life of the church, through the communion of saints, and we are encouraged to ask for their help and prayers.

In the early church, saints were recognized by popular acclaim - we saw shades of this in the call santo subito (sainthood now) at the funeral of Pope John Paul II. In the modern church, the declaration of saints has been reserved to the pope since Pope Urban VII in 1634.

The first formal saints were martyrs, those who died professing the faith. The next group to be widely acclaimed as saints were confessors, those early church leaders who had suffered for the faith in various manners, but had not been killed.

Today, the formal process for canonization begins in the diocese where the person proposed to be a saint died. A waiting period of five years after that person's death must be observed. (This can be waived by the pope, as it was in the cases of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Pope John Paul II.)

After the waiting period, the local bishop begins the sainthood cause. Testimony about the person's life is sought and their writings reviewed. If sufficient evidence of a virtuous life is found, the bishop refers the cause to Rome and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. All the documents pertaining to the sainthood cause are sent to Rome. At this point, the person may be called a "servant of God."

Next begins the more familiar part of the canonization process:

• Declaration as venerable. At this point, the investigation has shown that the proposed saint led a life of heroic proportion, worthy of imitation. The Congregation recommends to the pope that he declare the person as venerable.

• Beatification. At this point, we enter the consideration of miracles, which must have occurred after the death of the proposed saint. Once a miracle - today, this is most often an unexplained, medically documented cure - can be attributed to the intercession of one of the venerable, he or she can be declared among the Blessed by the pope. This requirement is waived in the case of a formally declared martyr. Beatification is at the discretion of the pope. Beatification allows a feast day to be celebrated in the home diocese - and their religious community, if applicable - of the person declared Blessed.

• Canonization. A second miracle, taking place after beatification, is needed for a declaration of sainthood. At this point, the person is recognized as a saint of the universal church and their feast day may be celebrated worldwide.

Vatican II told us that, by honoring the anniversaries of the saints, "the church proclaims achievement of the paschal mystery in the saints who have suffered and have been glorified in Christ. She proposes them to the faithful as examples who draw all to the Father through Christ, and through their merits she begs for God's favors" (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, n. 104).

St. Mother Theodore suffered from illness most of her adult life. Yet she was still able to journey to the wilderness of the Midwest and start the only girls' boarding school in the Indiana Territory. Through the paschal mystery shining in her life, that boarding school grew to become both a religious order and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College.