The Roman Catholic Hall of Fame: Sainthood

WHAT?
• A saint is anyone whose "soul is in heaven"
• When the church officially declares someone a saint it means the Catholic Church has no doubts the person is in heaven
• The process recognizes lives of "great charity and heroic virtue"

STEPS
• Venerable: title given to someone recognized as having lived heroic virtues
• Beatification: person is declared "blessed" (need one miracle proven after death to qualify)
• Canonization: person is officially declared a saint (need 2 miracles attributed to their intercession, unless the person is a martyr)

WAITING PERIOD
• The investigation into whether someone might be saint material does not start (traditionally) until 5 years after death and often took centuries
• The pope can put someone on a fast track for sainthood (ex: John Paul II put Mother Teresa on the fast track- the process started one year after her death)
• First canonization was in 993 St. Ulrich, bishop of Augsburg, Germany
• Local bishops canonized saints in the early church (such as St. Nicholas and St. Patrick)
• Formal investigations by the Vatican began in the 13th century