In 1234, it was decided that formal papal approval was required before someone could be called a saint. Before that, according to Robert J Barro, a professor of economics at Harvard University, there was an “unregulated saints market”.
Barro and his colleagues have studied trends in sainthood from 1590 to 2009, a study partly based on hagiography (the biographies of saints) and partly on statistics. Their research suggests that since 1590, popes have named an increasing number of saints.
The process of canonization (approval for sainthood) first requires beatification (recognition that the deceased has entered heaven). Barro and company also found that beatification has risen over time. This is partly due to a relaxation of some of the rules that must be met if a person is to be declared to be a saint.
The Catholic church collects documents and conducts interviews about candidates for sainthood, before passing the material on to the pope. Before 1983, to be beatified, someone had to perform two or more miracles; now it is only one. (Mother Teresa is claimed to have performed several, including curing a Brazilian man of multiple brain tumors in 2008 – 11 years after her death).
These days, beatification can take place anywhere in the world and does not require the physical presence of the pope.
That is not to say this is a quick process. Barro’s researchers found that since 1590, the time between death and canonization averaged 181 years – 49 years of that was the time between beatification and canonization. Given that Mother Teresa died in 1997 and was beatified in 2003, her canonization next year will have been a relatively swift one.
It will also sidestep a rule set out in 1917, that a minimum of 50 years should pass between beatification and sainthood, in order to weed out any potential imposters and ensure that sainthood choices are not based on popularity contests.
The fact that Teresa is a female saint was also considered in the academic analysis. In the last decade, just over 40% of those who were canonised were female. By comparison, only one in five people named a saint in the 17th century were women. Beatification looks even better: 50% of those formally recognised to have entered heaven are women.
Popes are not guaranteed entry. When John Paul II and John XXIII became saints in 2014, they were the 79th and 80th heads of the Roman Catholic Church to do so. Overall, only 30% of popes end up as saints.
Barro’s academics offer a suggestion as to why announcing a saint has become more common overall: competition. John Paul II sought to protectCatholicism from rising Protestantism; Benedict XVI was preoccupied with secularism in Europe and wanted to re-evangelise countries that had been.
COMMENTS