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| Tapestry of Saints- Cathedral in Los Angeles |
Yesterday on the feast of St. Benedict, the Holy Father decreed that ‘offering of life’ is path to sainthood.
Pope
Francis has issued an apostolic letter decreeing that the oblatio vitae—the “offering of life”—has joined
martyrdom and the heroic exercise of the virtues as a recognized path to
beatification and canonization in the Church. Ah ha I said: one more way to become a saint, but alas it seems no easier than martyrdom!
The title
of the apostolic letter, Maiorem hac dilectionem (“Greater love than
this”), is a reference to Christ’s words in St. John’s
The
faithful who “have voluntarily and freely offered their lives for others and
have persevered until death in this intention are worthy of special esteem and
honor,” the Pope wrote in his motu proprio.
The Pope
wrote that five conditions must be met for a Servant of God’s beatification
under this category:
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| Br. Mickey McGrath |
“the free
and voluntary offering of one’s life and the heroic acceptance, on account of
charity, of a certain and near death”
a link
between the offering of life and a premature death
at least an
ordinary exercise of the Christian virtues before and after the offering of
life
the
existence, after death, of a reputation of sanctity and of (potentially
miraculous) signs
a miracle
obtained through the Servant of God’s intercession
The Pope’s
letter follows a September 2016 meeting of the Congregation for the Causes of
Saints, whose members offered a favorable opinion on the question of whether
the offering of life should become a new official path to beatification.
Still a lot of work to become a saint!
Still a lot of work to become a saint!
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