§ 173. Sacred Persons

Just as the life of the church is shown forth in the sacred rites (§.172), so that life is shown forth also in the veneration of the memory of the sacred persons concerned, the pleasers of God. Christians ground this veneration of the memory of the saints on faith in the intercession of those saints with God, whom they pleased by their life on earth, and who as such are acceptable to God, who hears and heeds their prayers, which they offer on behalf of men. And the church expresses this veneration of the saints in the praise and glorification of their deeds on earth, on account of which they were deemed worthy to become companions of God; in the invocation of their intercession with God, that they may pray for men; in the yearly celebration of their memory; in the building of churches in their honor and the like.[1] But which sacred persons are worthy of this veneration is decided by the church herself. At first, without any formalities, this veneration was rendered to the martyrs who laid down their lives for the faith; the names of these holy men were entered in the diptychs, they were commemorated at the Holy Liturgy, and their deeds were glorified as those of God’s servants. This took place first in the churches of the region where these holy men had ended their lives, and then it spread also to other church regions, so that the veneration of these saints became general. From the eleventh century the so-called canonization of saints was introduced.

The canonization of saints belongs exclusively to a council of bishops, which proceeds in this matter as cautiously as it does with the utmost strictness. The following norm applies to it. If a person has distinguished himself in all things and always by an exemplary holiness of life; if all the Christian virtues have always adorned him; if his deeds have always been such as to show a living inner striving to approach the ideal of holiness, and have always served as a model of love and piety; if traits of prophecy and wonderworking were present in that person, or if his body gave signs of sanctity after death—in a word, if a person was in life and in death such as only a saint can be—then the thought arises among the higher church authority that this person ought to be given church veneration, that is, that he ought to be recognized and proclaimed a saint and a servant of God. The most thorough investigation is then made into everything concerning that person, and if it is proven by manifest testimony that he lived and died as a saint, and this is shown in such a way that no one in the world can say anything[…]