Equivalent canonization

Through an Equivalent canonization or equipollent canonization (Latin equipollens canonizatio) a pope can choose to relinquish the judicial processes, formal attribution of miracles, and scientific examinations that are typically involved in the canonization of a saint. This can take place when the saint has been venerated since ancient times and continuously by the faithful.

History

The veneration of martyrs and other saints is attested from the first centuries of the Church. However, canonization as an ecclesiastical procedure was not outlined until the 11th century with the aim of seeking to define those Christians who would deserve the universal reverence of the Church, thus avoiding confusion between local churches and seeking that the virtues of the deceased were fully proven. Already during this time the authority of the pope was appealed to claim to him or to the synods the power to determine said cult.^[1]

In the 17th century, Urban VIII began to make pontifical declarations of canonization through papal bulls, the first canonized saints being Philip Neri, Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, and in other bulls Urban would decree the beatification of other Servants of God. Similarly, in 1634, through the bull Caelestis Hierusalem cives, he established such powers of beatification and canonization as exclusive to the Holy See.^[2]

In the first half of the 18th century, Bishop Prospero Lambertini, before being elected as pope under the name of Benedict XIV, published his maximum liturgical work entitled De servorum Dei beatificatione et de beatorum canonizatione, where he expounded the procedure of equivalent canonization and described the possibility of establishing public veneration for a person whose reputation for holiness and heroic virtue has long been proven by tradition and for whom there was already a prior veneration in the Church.

This has been reiterated since then by various pontiffs up to modernity without the most recent provisions regarding the canonization process having repealed it as a valid practice, exclusive to the pope.

Various saints have been included in the martyrology in this way, including Romuald, Norbert of Xanten, Bruno of Cologne, Peter Nolasco, Raymond Nonnatus, John of Matha, Felix of Valois, Margaret of Scotland, Stephen I of Hungary, and Pope Gregory VII.^[1] Some of the most recent cases of equivalent canonization were that of Hildegard of Bingen on 10 May 2012, 833 years after her death;^[3] that of Angela of Foligno on 9 October 2013, 704 years after her death;^[4] that of Peter Faber on 17 December 2013, 467 years after his death; and that of Joseph of Anchieta on 3 April 2014, 416 years after his death.

List

As examples, prior to his pontificate, of this mode of canonization, Pope Benedict XIV enumerated the equipollent canonizations of saints:

Romuald – 9 July 1595
Norbert of Xanten – 7 September 1621
Bruno of Cologne – 6 October 1623
Pope Gregory VII – 25 September 1728
Duke Wenceslaus of Bohemia – 14 March 1729
Gertrude of Helfta – 20 July 1738

Further equipollent canonizations include those of saints:

Guillaume Pinchon, Bishop of Saint-Brieuc – 24 March 1247
Gottfried von Cappenberg, OPraem – 8 March 1728
Peter Damian – 1 October 1828
Guido, bishop of Acqui – 22 September 1859
Vibiana – February 1854
Cyril and Methodius – 30 September 1880
Cyril of Alexandria – 28 July 1882
Cyril of Jerusalem – 28 July 1882
Justin Martyr – 28 July 1882
Augustine of Canterbury – 28 July 1882
John of Damascus – 29 August 1890
Sylvester Gozzolini – 29 August 1890
Bede the Venerable – 25 May 1899
Ephrem the Syrian – 5 October 1920
Albert the Great – 15 December 1931
John Fisher – 19 May 1935
Thomas More – 19 May 1935
Gregorio Barbarigo – 26 May 1960
Berthold of Garsten – 8 January 1970
Meinhard of Livonia – 8 September 1993
Hildegard of Bingen – 10 May 2012

Pope Francis added:

Angela of Foligno^[5] – 9 October 2013
Peter Faber – 17 December 2013
Joseph of Anchieta – 3 April 2014^[6]^[7]
Marie of the Incarnation – 3 April 2014^[7]
François de Laval – 3 April 2014^[7]
Joseph Vaz – 14 January 2015
Bartholomew of Braga – 5 July 2019
Margaret of Castello – 24 April 2021

References

^ ^a ^b "Beatification and Canonization". Catholic Encyclopedia. 1907. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
^ "Pope Urban VIII". Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. XV. 1912. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
^ "Una gran intelectual". L'Osservatore Romano. 12 May 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
^ "La canonización equivalente de la mística Ángela de Foligno". L'Osservatore Romano. 12 October 2013. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
^ Angelo Amato, "La canonizzazione equipollente della mistica Angela da Foligno" in L'Osservatore Romano (12 October 2013).
^ "Pope Canonizes Jose de Anchieta, Known as Brazil's Apostle". Fox News Latino. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c Wooden, Cindy (3 April 2014). "Pope declares by decree three new saints for the Americas". Catholic News Service. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2014.