Canonization

Canonization is the Catholic Church’s formal declaration that a deceased person is a saint and may be publicly venerated throughout the Church.

Dicastery for the Causes of Saints: The Vatican department responsible for examining causes of beatification and canonization. It investigates causes and advises the pope on whether they meet the Church’s standards.
Cult of saints: The Christian practices of honoring saints through prayer, feast days, relics, and pilgrimage. Canonization formalized and regulated an older practice of honoring holy people.
Pope: The bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church. The pope authorizes canonization and makes the Church’s formal declaration.
Beatification: The Catholic Church’s declaration that a deceased person may be publicly venerated in a limited context, usually a region or religious community. Unlike canonization, beatification does not ordinarily authorize universal public veneration.
Calendar of saints: A calendar assigning feast days to saints and other figures commemorated in Christian worship. Canonization can establish a person’s feast day in the Church’s liturgical calendar.
Positio: A formal dossier presenting evidence and arguments in a Catholic cause for beatification or canonization. It gathers the historical and theological case examined during the process.
Martyrdom in Christianity: The death of a Christian because of adherence to the faith, historically treated as a powerful witness to holiness. Early Christian recognition of saints often began with the public memory of martyrs.
Promoter of the Faith: An official in a canonization cause who examines evidence and raises objections to the proposed case. The office historically tested a cause by challenging its evidence and arguments.
Sainthood: The condition of being a saint, understood in Christianity as holiness and union with God. Canonization formally recognizes a person as a saint; it does not create that person’s holiness.
Feast day: A date set aside in a religious calendar to commemorate a saint or sacred event. A canonized person may receive an annual liturgical commemoration.

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