Introduction
On Sunday 27 April Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II will be canonised by Pope Francis in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome. In this special web feature to commemorate the canonisations you will find information on:
- The Process of Becoming a Saint
- The miracles attributed to Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II
- Life and ministry of John XXIII and John Paul II
- Events in Ireland
- Details of broadcast of the ceremonies
- Details of Irish cinemas showing the ceremonies live in 3D
- Special commemorative booklets from Veritas
The Process of Becoming a Saint
The official process for declaring someone a saint is called canonisation. Prior to the year 1234, the Church did not have a formal process as such. Usually martyrs and those recognised as holy were declared saints by the Church at the time of their deaths. Before the legalization of Christianity in the year 313 by Emperor Constantine, the tombs of martyrs, like St Peter, were marked and kept as places for homage. The anniversaries of their deaths were remembered and placed on the local Church calendar. After legalisation, oftentimes basilicas or shrines were built over these tombs.
In the year 1234, Pope Gregory IX established procedures to investigate the life of a candidate saint and any attributed miracles. In 1588, Pope Sixtus V entrusted the Congregation of Rites (later named the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints) to oversee the entire process. Beginning with Pope Urban VIII in 1634, various Popes have revised and improved the norms and procedures for canonisation.
Who Can Become a Saint?
— Everyone is “called to live a holy life”. Therefore, everyone has the potential to be a saint.
There are certain criteria; the person must:
- be deceased.
- have been a Catholic.
- have been in full communion with the Catholic Church.
- have led a morally upright life.
- have been an inspiration for others to lead a morally good life.
The Catholic Church recognizes or declares saints but does not make or create saints.
Step One – Diocesan Level
When a person dies who has “fame of sanctity” or “fame of martyrdom,” the Bishop of the Diocese usually initiates the investigation. One element is whether any special favour or miracle has been granted through this candidate saint’s intercession. The Church will also investigate the candidate’s writings to see if they possess “purity of doctrine,” essentially, nothing heretical or against the faith. All of this information is gathered, and then a transumptum, a faithful copy, duly authenticated and sealed, is submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.
StepTwo – The Vatican Level – Part One
The Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome further investigates the saintliness of the person. The Congregation examines if the person lived a life of “heroic virtue”. If the candidate was a martyr, the Congregation determines whether he died for the faith and truly offered his life in a sacrifice of love for Christ and the Church. Throughout this investigation the “general promoter of the faith,” or devil’s advocate, raises objections and doubts which must be resolved.
Once the Bishops of the Congregation determine that there is enough positive evidence, they ask the Pope to declare the person “Venerable”.
StepTwo – The Vatican Level – Part Two
After the Pope declares the person “Venerable”, evidence is gathered to determine if an indisputable miracle occurred through person’s intercession. A miracle is an immediate, complete and spontaneous cure of a serious and pathological disease or condition which medical science cannot explain or refute.
This process usually is the longest because of the number of people involved – from bishops and priests to doctors to those claiming to be cured. . In verifying the miracle, the Church looks at whether God truly performed a miracle and whether the miracle was in response to the intercession of the candidate saint.
Once beatified, the candidate saint may be venerated but with restriction to a city, diocese, region, or religious family. Accordingly, the Pope would authorise a special prayer, Mass, or proper Divine Office honouring the Blessed.
StepTwo – The Vatican Level – Part Three
After beatification, another miracle is needed for canonisation and the formal declaration of sainthood. Then evidence for a second miracle needs to be gathered and examined, following the same course as the beatification process. Once a second miracle is certified, the Pope declares the person “Saint”. A Canonisation Mass is then held and a Feast Day is determined for the person.
The Miracles
The first miracle attributed to Saint John Paul II, which led to his beatification, concerned the healing of a French nun who recovered from Parkinson’s disease in 2005. Sister Marie Simon-Pierre had said that her illness suddenly vanished when her order started praying on her behalf, and she wrote down Pope John Paul II’s name on a piece of paper. A second miracle involved a Costa Rican woman who was cured of a cerebral aneurysm the very day of John Paul II’s beatification.
Blessed John XXIII, who was pope from 1958 to 1963 and convened the Second Vatican Council. The first miracle attributed to him is the healing of an ailing nun of stomach ulcers in 1966, three years after his death. Pope Francis took the rare step of waiving the requirement of a second miracle, paving the way for his imminent canonisation. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters in July that a canonization without a second miracle is still valid. He noted the existing miracle that led to John XXIII’s beatification. He also pointed to ongoing discussions within the Church over whether it is necessary to have two distinct miracles for beatification and canonization.
Life and ministry of John XXIII and John Paul II
Pope John XXIII
Blessed Pope John XXIII was born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli at Sotto il Monte, Italy, in the Diocese of Bergamo on 25 November 1881. He was the fourth in a family of 14. The family worked as sharecroppers. It was a patriarchal family in the sense that the families of two brothers lived together, headed by his great-uncle Zaverio, who had never married and whose wisdom guided the work and other business of the family. Zaverio was Angelo’s godfather, and to him he always attributed his first and most fundamental religious education. The religious atmosphere of his family and the fervent life of the parish, under the guidance of Fr Francesco Rebuzzini, provided him with training in the Christian life.
He entered the Bergamo seminary in 1892. Here he began the practice of making spiritual notes, which he continued in one form or another until his death, and which have been gathered together in the Journal of a Soul. Here he also began the deeply cherished practice of regular spiritual direction. In 1896 he was admitted to the Secular Franciscan Order by the spiritual director of the Bergamo seminary, Fr Luigi Isacchi; he made a profession of its Rule of life on 23 May 1897.
From 1901 to 1905 he was a student at the Pontifical Roman Seminary. On 10 August 1904 he was ordained a priest in the church of Santa Maria in Monte Santo in Rome’s Piazza del Popolo. In 1905 he was appointed secretary to the new Bishop of Bergamo, Giacomo Maria Radini Tedeschi. He accompanied the Bishop in his pastoral visitations and collaborated with him in his many initiatives: a Synod, management of the diocesan bulletin, pilgrimages, social works. In the seminary he taught history, patrology and apologetics. He was an elegant, profound, effective and sought-after preacher.
These were the years of his deepening spiritual encounter with two saints who were outstanding pastors: St Charles Borromeo and St Francis de Sales. They were years, too, of deep pastoral involvement and apprenticeship, as he spent every day beside “his” Bishop, Radini Tedeschi. When the Bishop died in 1914, Fr Angelo continued to teach in the seminary and to minister in various pastoral areas.
When Italy went to war in 1915 he was drafted as a sergeant in the medical corps and became a chaplain to wounded soldiers. When the war ended, he opened a “Student House” for the spiritual needs of young people.
In 1919 he was made spiritual director of the seminary, but in 1921 he was called to the service of the Holy See. Benedict XV brought him to Rome to be the Italian president of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. In 1925 Pius XI named him Apostolic Visitator in Bulgaria, raising him to the episcopate with the titular Diocese of Areopolis. For his Episcopal motto he chose Oboedientia et Pax, which became his guiding motto for the rest of his life.
On 19 March 1925 he was ordained Bishop and left for Bulgaria. He was granted the title Apostolic Delegate and remained in Bulgaria until 1935, visiting Catholic communities and establishing relationships of respect and esteem with the other Christian communities. In the aftermath of the 1928 earthquake his solicitude was everywhere present. He endured in silence the misunderstandings and other difficulties of a ministry on the fringes of society, and thus refined his sense of trust and abandonment to Jesus crucified.
In 1935 he was named Apostolic Delegate in Turkey and Greece. The Catholic Church was present in many ways in the young Turkish republic. His ministry among the Catholics was intense, and his respectful approach and dialogue with the worlds of Orthodoxy and Islam became a feature of his tenure. When the Second World War broke out he was in Greece. He tried to get news from the prisoners of war to their families and assisted many Jews to escape by issuing “transit visas” from the Apostolic Delegation. In December 1944 Pius XII appointed him Nuncio in France.
During the last months of the war and the beginning of peace he aided prisoners of war and helped to normalise the ecclesiastical organisation of France. He visited the great shrines of France and participated in popular feasts and in important religious celebrations. He was an attentive, prudent and positive observer of the new pastoral initiatives of the Bishops and clergy of France. His approach was always characterised by a striving for Gospel simplicity, even amid the most complex diplomatic questions. The sincere piety of his interior life found expression each day in prolonged periods of prayer and meditation. In 1953 he was created a Cardinal and sent to Venice as Patriarch. He was filled with joy at the prospect of ending his days in the direct care of souls, as he had always desired since becoming a priest. He was a wise and enterprising pastor, following the model pastors he had always venerated and walking in the footsteps of St Laurence Giustiniani, first Patriarch of Venice. As he advanced in years his trust in the Lord grew in the midst of energetic, enterprising and joyful pastoral labours.
At the death of Pius XII he was elected Pope on 28 October 1958, taking the name John XXIII. His pontificate, which lasted less than five years, presented him to the entire world as an authentic image of the Good Shepherd. Meek and gentle, enterprising and courageous, simple and active, he carried out the Christian duties of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy: visiting the imprisoned and the sick, welcoming those of every nation and faith, bestowing on all his exquisite fatherly care. His social magisterium in the Encyclicals Pacem in terris and Mater et Magistra was deeply appreciated.
He convoked the Roman Synod, established the Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law and summoned the Second Vatican Council. He was present as Bishop in his Diocese of Rome through his visitation of the parishes, especially those in the new suburbs. The faithful saw in him a reflection of the goodness of God and called him “the good Pope”. He was sustained by a profound spirit of prayer. He launched an extensive renewal of the Church, while radiating the peace of one who always trusted in the Lord. Pope John XXIII died on the evening of 3 June 1963, in a spirit of profound trust in Jesus and of longing for his embrace.
Pope John Paul II
Karol Józef Wojtyła, known as John Paul II since his October 1978 election to the papacy, was born in the Polish town of Wadowice, a small city 50 kilometers from Krakow, on May 18, 1920. He was the youngest of three children born to Karol Wojtyła and Emilia Kaczorowska. His mother died in 1929. His eldest brother Edmund, a doctor, died in 1932 and his father, a non-commissioned army officer died in 1941. A sister, Olga, had died before he was born.
He was baptised on June 20, 1920 in the parish church of Wadowice by Fr Franciszek Zak, made his First Holy Communion at age 9 and was confirmed at 18. Upon graduation from Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in Krakow’s Jagiellonian University in 1938 and in a school for drama.
The Nazi occupation forces closed the university in 1939 and young Karol had to work in a quarry (1940-1944) and then in the Solvay chemical factory to earn his living and to avoid being deported to Germany.
In 1942, aware of his call to the priesthood, he began courses in the clandestine seminary of Krakow, run by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, Archbishop of Krakow. At the same time, Karol Wojtyła was one of the pioneers of the “Rhapsodic Theatre,” also clandestine.
After the Second World War, he continued his studies in the major seminary of Krakow, once it had re-opened, and in the faculty of theology of the Jagiellonian University. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Sapieha in Krakow on November 1, 1946.
Shortly afterwards, Cardinal Sapieha sent him to Rome where he worked under the guidance of the French Dominican, Garrigou-Lagrange. He finished his doctorate in theology in 1948 with a thesis on the subject of faith in the works of St John of the Cross (Doctrina de fide apud Sanctum Ioannem a Cruce). At that time, during his vacations, he exercised his pastoral ministry among the Polish immigrants of France, Belgium and Holland.
In 1948 he returned to Poland and was vicar of various parishes in Krakow as well as chaplain to university students. This period lasted until 1951 when he again took up his studies in philosophy and theology. In 1953 he defended a thesis on “evaluation of the possibility of founding a Catholic ethic on the ethical system of Max Scheler” at Lublin Catholic University. Later he became professor of moral theology and social ethics in the major seminary of Krakow and in the Faculty of Theology of Lublin.
On July 4, 1958, he was appointed titular bishop of Ombi and auxiliary of Krakow by Pope Pius XII, and was consecrated September 28, 1958, in Wawel Cathedral, Krakow, by Archbishop Eugeniusz Baziak.
On January 13, 1964, he was appointed archbishop of Krakow by Pope Paul VI, who made him a cardinal June 26, 1967 with the title of S. Cesareo in Palatio of the order of deacons, later elevated pro illa vice to the order of priests.
Besides taking part in Vatican Council II (1962-1965) where he made an important contribution to drafting the Constitution Gaudium et spes, Cardinal Wojtyła participated in all the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops.
The Cardinals elected him Pope at the Conclave of 16 October 1978, and he took the name of John Paul II. On 22 October, the Lord’s Day, he solemnly inaugurated his Petrine ministry as the 263rd successor to the Apostle. His pontificate, one of the longest in the history of the Church, lasted nearly 27 years.
Driven by his pastoral solicitude for all Churches and by a sense of openness and charity to the entire human race, John Paul II exercised the Petrine ministry with a tireless missionary spirit, dedicating it all his energy. He made 104 pastoral visits outside Italy and 146 within Italy. As bishop of Rome he visited 317 of the city’s 333 parishes.
He had more meetings than any of his predecessors with the People of God and the leaders of Nations. More than 17,600,000 pilgrims participated in the General Audiences held on Wednesdays (more than 1160), not counting other special audiences and religious ceremonies [more than 8 million pilgrims during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 alone], and the millions of faithful he met during pastoral visits in Italy and throughout the world. We must also remember the numerous government personalities he encountered during 38 official visits, 738 audiences and meetings held with Heads of State, and 246 audiences and meetings with Prime Ministers.
His love for young people brought him to establish the World Youth Days (WYD). The 19 WYDs celebrated during his pontificate brought together millions of young people from all over the world. At the same time his care for the family was expressed in the World Meetings of Families, which he initiated in 1994.
John Paul II successfully encouraged dialogue with the Jews and with the representatives of other religions, whom he several times invited to prayer meetings for peace, especially in Assisi.
Under his guidance the Church prepared herself for the third millennium and celebrated the Great Jubilee of the year 2000 in accordance with the instructions given in the Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio adveniente. The Church then faced the new epoch, receiving his instructions in the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio ineunte, in which he indicated to the faithful their future path.
With the Year of the Redemption, the Marian Year and the Year of the Eucharist, he promoted the spiritual renewal of the Church.
He gave an extraordinary impetus to Canonisations and Beatifications, focusing on countless examples of holiness as an incentive for the people of our time. He celebrated 147 beatification ceremonies during which he proclaimed 1,338 Blesseds; and 51 canonisations for a total of 482 saints. He made Thérèse of the Child Jesus a Doctor of the Church.
He considerably expanded the College of Cardinals, creating 231 Cardinals (plus one in pectore) in 9 consistories. He also called six full meetings of the College of Cardinals.
He organized 15 Assemblies of the Synod of Bishops – six Ordinary General Assemblies (1980, 1983, 1987, 1990, 1994 and 2001), one Extraordinary General Assembly (1985) and eight Special Assemblies (1980,1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998 (2) and 1999).
His most important Documents include 14 Encyclicals, 15 Apostolic Exhortations, 11 Apostolic Constitutions, 45 Apostolic Letters.
He promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church in the light of Tradition as authoritatively interpreted by the Second Vatican Council. He also reformed the Eastern and Western Codes of Canon Law, created new Institutions and reorganised the Roman Curia.
As a private Doctor he also published five books of his own: Crossing the Threshold of Hope (October 1994), Gift and Mystery, on the fiftieth anniversary of my ordination as priest (November 1996), Roman Triptych poetic meditations (March 2003), Arise, Let us Be Going (May 2004) and Memory and Identity (February 2005).
In the light of Christ risen from the dead, on 2 April A.D. 2005, at 9.37 p.m., while Saturday was drawing to a close and the Lord’s Day was already beginning, the Octave of Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday, the Church’s beloved Pastor, John Paul II, departed this world for the Father.
From that evening until April 8, date of the funeral of the late Pontiff, more than three million pilgrims came to Rome to pay homage to the mortal remains of the Pope. Some of them queued up to 24 hours to enter St Peter’s Basilica.
On April 28, the Holy Father Benedict XVI announced that the normal five-year waiting period before beginning the cause of beatification and canonisation would be waived for John Paul II. The cause was officially opened by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome, on June 28 2005.
Irish Bishops attending the canonisations
The following are attending the canonisation ceremonies in Rome:
- Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland who will concelebrate the Mass with Pope Francis
- Bishop Kieran O’Reilly, Bishop of Killaloe is leading a pilgrimage from the diocese of Killaloe to the canonisation in Rome.
- Bishop Brendan Leahy, Bishop of Limerick
Events in Irish Dioceses and Parishes
In the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise Masses of thanksgiving for the Canonisation John Paul II and John XXIII will be celebrated by Father Krzysztof Przanowski in Polish as follows:
St Mary’s Church, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim – Saturday 26 April at 6.00 pm
St Matthew’s Church, Ballymahon, Co. Longford – 27 April at 1.00pm
St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Athlone, Co. Westmeath – 27 April at 4.00pm
St Mel’s College, Chapel, Co. Longford – 27 April at 7.00pm
After each Mass a video presentation on the Popes will take place in Polish.
A Pilgrim Walk of thanksgiving for the Canonizations of the two Popes will take place during Easter Week from Dublin to Clonmacnois. It will commence at Saint Saviour’s Church, Dominic Street, Dublin on Tuesday 22 April after 8.30am Mass and will arrive in Clonmacnois on Saturday evening 26 April. The pilgrim walk will pass through Maynooth on Tuesday 22, Carbury on Wednesday 23 , Daingean on Thursday 24, Clara on Friday 25 and arrive in Clonmacnois on Saturday 26 evening to join in a local vigil and stay overnight for Mass on Sunday.
Bishop Francis Duffy will celebrate Mass in Clonmacnois on Sunday 27 April at 3.00pm.
On Sunday 27 April there will be a celebration at the Ballybrit Racecourse, Galway to mark the occasion. The outline of the event is as follows:
11.00am Short film of highlights of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Ballybrit in 1979.
11.15am Screening of the highlights of the canonization.
11:30am Break.
11:45am Lead into Mass of Thanksgiving.
12:00noon Concelebrated Mass. Bishop Martin Drennan will be chief celebrant.
1.00pm Break for lunch.
2.00pm Catechesis for Youth Groups. If youth groups wish to be part of this catechesis session, they must contact [email protected]
In the Diocese of Killaloe on Sunday 27 April there will be a concelebrated Mass in SS. John & Paul Church Shannon to celebrate the Canonisation of St. John Paul. Pope John Paul blessed the foundation stone of the Church during his Irish visit in 1979. At 1.30pm the Polish community in the Killaloe Diocese will celebrate the Canonisation of SS. John Paul in SS. John and Paul Church Shannon when the Polish Chaplain to the Killaloe Diocese, Fr Dariusz Plasek will celebrate Mass in Polish. There will be a prayer service in the Pope John Paul Jubilee garden in the grounds of the Church after Mass. This Jubilee Garden was created in 2005 to celebrate the silver Jubilee of SS. John & Paul Church and to honour the memory of Pope John Paul who died that year. The garden consists of an altar with the bust of John Paul and five stations where the five Mysteries of Light, created by Pope John Paul, are marked. To celebrate the beatification of St John Paul, the parish produced a prayer card and a book marker with photographs of Pope John Paul taken in Shannon on 1 October 1979 by Shannon parishioner Padraig O’Reilly. To celebrate the Canonisation, the parish in association with Shannon Airport is producing a car sticker with a photo of Pope John Paul, Blessing the people of Ireland as he boarded the plane at Shannon Airport at the end of his Irish visit. This photo is the last recorded photo of the Pope on Irish soil, blessing the people of Ireland. The sticker is being provided to parishioners and anybody who would like one as a Blessing of protection of St John Paul when travelling. As we know Pope John Paul travelled extensively and, with his intercession, we ask his help to keep us safe. The sticker also encourages people to fly through Shannon Airport as St John Paul did when here in Ireland. These are available free of charge from Shannon parish.
There will be a special Mass of Thanksgiving for Saints John Paul II and John XVIII on Sunday 27 April at 3.00pm in Knock Basilica. The principal celebrant and homilist will be His Excellency Archbishop Charles J Brown, Papal Nuncio.
A Diocesan Mass to celebrate the canonisation of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII will be held in Saint Eugene’s Cathedral, Derry on Sunday 27th April at 3.00pm. For all those who can’t make it to Rome, this Mass will be a wonderful opportunity to commemorate the life of these two great Saints. Bishop Donal McKeown will be the main celebrant. Young people who have completed or are currently taking part in the Pope John Paul II Award, are especially welcome. Refreshments will be served after Mass. For more information contact the Diocesan Catechetical Centre on +44 (0) 28 71264087.
On Divine Mercy Sunday 27 April a special Mass of Thanksgiving for Saints John Paul II and John XVIII will be celebrated from 5.30pm by Archbishop Eamon Martin in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh.
On Saturday 3 May at 5.00pm at the Pope’s Cross (Papal Monument) in Killineer, Co Louth, there will be a gathering to celebrate the canonisations. Archbishop Eamon Martin, Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh will be present for this gathering which will include prayers, music and excerpts from the address of Pope John Paul II when he spoke there in September 1979. Members of the Polish Community will participate in this event.
Pope John Paul II in Ireland
You can listen to some of the audio of Pope John Paul II’s addresses and homilies during his visit to Ireland in 1979 by clicking here.
RTÉ Broadcast of the Canonisation Ceremony
On Sunday 27 April from 0855-1100 on RTÉ One Television there will be live coverage of the Mass for the canonisation with commentary by Fr Dermod McCarthy and Mary Kennedy.
RTÉ will also be broadcasting a special edition of Beyond Belief at 10.30pm on RTÉ One television on Sunday 27 in which presenter Mick Peelo will remind viewers of the lives of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII and explore the meaning, purpose and process of sainthood. Bishop John Fleming, Bishop of Killala will be participating in the panel on this programme. Bishop Fleming was Vice Rector and Rector of the Pontifical Irish College in Rome.
Irish Cinemas showing the Canonisation Ceremony
Omniverse Vision in partnership with Nexo Digital and Sky 3D has announced that the double canonisation of John Paul II and John XXIII will be broadcast to cinemas across the UK & Ireland in 3D live from Vatican City on Sunday 27 April.
At a press conference in the Vatican, CTV chief Monignor Dario Vigano said the live transmission will require “more satellites than the Sochi Olympics.” Vigano underlined that the Vatican decided to offer the canonisation ceremony to the world in 3D in order to give people who would want to attend but cannot, for many reasons including economic ones, the chance to get a “fully immersive” experience. The production will use 13 3D cameras positioned in spots that will give a unique and exclusive vantage point of St Peter’s Square.
A number of cinemas in Ireland are showing the canonisation ceremonies live in 3D. The cinemas taking part are:
Dublin:
Cineworld
Movies @ Dundrum
Movies @ Swords
Waterford:
SGC Dungarvan
Wexford:
Movies @ Gorey
These screenings are free of charge but there will be a small charge of €1 for the 3D glasses. Please check with your local cinema for more information and booking.
Commemorative publications from Veritas
Saint John Paul II
A Pilgrim in Ireland
This booklet, written by Bishop Donal Murray, remembers the pope’s landmark three-day visit to Ireland in 1979. Giving a brief overview of his early life, it explores each day of the pope’s visit, with reflections on his homilies. Click here for more information on this booklet.
Saint John XXIII
Pope of Vatican II
This booklet, also written by Bishop Donal Murray, explores Angelo Roncalli’s life both before and during his pontificate as Pope John XXIII. Though his time as pope was brief it was marked by freshness and renewal, seen above all in his decision to summon the Second Vatican Council.
