Word: vaticans
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Kateri Tekakwitha is a good example. Her cult grew in upstate New York, where for 200 years after her death local Catholics prayed to her for intercession. But only in 1884 did an Albany priest propose her "cause" to the Vatican, with the hope of canonization. Decades passed in the gathering of evidence of Kateri's "fame of sanctity" and heroic virtues...
Kateri's cause was not presented to the Vatican's Congregation of Rites (now called the Congregation for the Causes of Saints) until 1932. Then it was placed in the hands of a "postulator," whose job is to review all positive evidence, and a "general promoter of the faith," informally known as the devil's advocate, who "challenges the evidence. Kateri survived this trial. In 1943 Pope Pius XII declared her "venerable...
Traditionally, for a venerable to be elevated further requires evidence of two personal miracles for beatification and two more for sainthood. "The miracle is considered a divine sign, an indication that the church is not making a mistake about this person," says a Vatican official. In Kateri's life there was much evidence of saintly living. She was stoned for becoming a Christian, and she seems to have lived out her life in total poverty and chastity. Though local tradition credits her with dozens of miracles, proof is lacking...
...recent years, too, the Vatican has been re-examining its lists of saints, removing many names from the calendar of saints' days observed during the liturgical year. Some were dropped because of doubts that they ever existed, among them such favorites as St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers, and St. Valentine. The new calendar issued a decade ago includes only 58 saints important to Catholics the world over. Others are "optional," on the basis of local loyalties. Says a Vatican official: "St. Patrick is fine in Ireland but holds little interest for the Cambodians...
...church is also relaxing long standing requirements about miracles. "The conviction is growing," a Vatican official told TIME Correspondent Wilton Wynn, "that other, 'signs' should be accepted, such as a great number of extraordinary 'favors' or 'graces' that can be proved and attested by serious investigation." All those beatified last week, including Kateri Tekakwitha, took a giant step toward sainthood without benefit of any fully authenticated miracles...