SAINTS

Saints 5.5.2011

Posted

There is actually a training course to teach people how to investigate the cause for sainthood. Being the point person for promoting sainthood cause requires the combined qualities of a private investigator, a theologian, a lawyer, a historian and a medical examiner.

Teaching new people to navigate the process is the job of the “Studium,” s two-month course offered in Rome annually by the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. The congregation conducts the course because it’s the only entity that can teach both the theory and the practice. The 2011 “Studium”sessions ran from Jan. 10 to March 11, and brought together 80 students from a dozen countries.

Since most of the sessions are taught by officials of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, the students are offered plenty of solid tips. Except in the case of martyrs, one miracle is needed before a candidate can be beatified and another is needed before he or she can be declared a saint. The church’s criteria for determining a miracle are based on the conditions established in 1734 by Pope Benedict XIV. The illness must have been serious; it must not have been an illness that is known to clear up spontaneously; the healing cannot be attributed to any drugs or treatment administered; and the healing must be complete and lasting.