Becoming a Saint and miracles

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Oscar Romero is slated to become a saint. One of the criteria to become a saint is a “verified miracle”. The miracle attributed to him was regarding a terminally ill pregnant woman whose family prayed to Romero. The woman survived and gave birth. I wonder how such an anecdote from a Third World country (El Salvador) can be properly investigated and “verified”. Apparently 99.9% of verified miracle are medical miracles. It is not uncommon for “terminally ill” people to survive. Are these saint miracle investigations a rubber stamp? I wonder if any saint prospects fail the miracle test.
 
For the most part, the Vatican sends 3rd-party scientists/doctors to investigate saintly miracles.
 
KevinK said:
wonder if any saint prospects fail the miracle test.
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Yes.

Many of the supposed miracles are rejected after examination, which is one of the reasons why some holy souls take so long to be Beatified and finally Canonized.

It most certainly isn’t a rubber stamp.
 
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I can’t find any information on how many saint prospects have been rejected for lack of a miracle. Anybody know of a resource?
 
I don’t think any of them are truly rejected, but simply postponed until a miracle occurs…
 
Yeah they don’t “disqualify” the person in question, just that particular “miracle” is discarded, and then they move on to the next reported miracles.

Often no new reports come in though, and that particular person’s cause ends up in a sort of “canonization limbo” - there are people who have been Servants of God and Venerables for centuries now - some even Popes - which should prove to you that no “rubber stamping” is going in within the Congregation.
 
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Thank you for bringing this to my attention! I am thrilled he is becoming a saint. It took long enough. I have been praying for his canonization for a while as I remember when he was killed.

Next step is to get the four female mission workers (Sister Maura Clarke, Sister Ita Ford, Sister Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan) who were martyred around the same time in El Salvador on the path to canonization. I sometimes wonder if anyone remembers them. One of my churches back home has a little stained glass memorial to them.
 
Spyridon said:
Often no new reports come in though, and that particular person’s cause ends up in a sort of “canonization limbo” - there are people who have been Servants of God and Venerables for centuries now - some even Popes - which should prove to you that no “rubber stamping” is going in within the Congregation.
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There have been a number of cases where the miracle requirement then in force was changed or waived or the Vatican found some alternate way to speed along someone’s canonization if they really wanted to. St. Hildegarde of Bingen was made a saint through an “equivalent canonization” process after four past attempts to canonize her had failed. St. Elizabeth Seton’s canonization originally required four miracles and when they could only rack up three, the Pope canonized her without requiring the fourth miracle.

I think the “no miracles” is a convenient excuse for cases that are not a priority to advance, to be honest.
 
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Three miracles were submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome in October 2016 that could have led to Romero’s canonization. But each of these miracles was rejected after being investigated.

A fourth (concerning the pregnant woman Cecilia Maribel Flores) was investigated in a diocesan process in San Salvador that was opened on 31 January 2017 and which concluded its initial investigation on 28 February before documentation was submitted to Rome via the apostolic nunciature; the C.C.S. validated this on 7 April.[92] Medical experts issued unanimous approval to the presented miracle on 26 October with theologians also confirming their approval on 14 December. The C.C.S. members likewise approved the case on 6 February 2018.[93] Pope Francis approved this miracle on 6 March 2018; this allows for Romero to be canonized and it shall be celebrated sometime in late 2018 pending confirmation of the date.
 
Is the Church in such a short supply of saints that it would proclaim a saint without sufficient documentation ?
 
The requirement of “miracles”. I would think that a very good investigation into the person’s life and background and the way they died and so forth would be sufficient, without needing somebody to pop up who was miraculously cured of cancer by praying to the saint and only to the saint.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
The requirement of “miracles”. I would think that a very good investigation into the person’s life and background and the way they died and so forth would be sufficient, without needing somebody to pop up who was miraculously cured of cancer by praying to the saint and only to the saint.
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Why would you think that? And why do you choose to say that someone “pops up”?
 
If you are looking for a “miracle” you will probably find it, especially if it is medical in nature. I am curious who the “medical experts” are since they are not referred to as doctors.
 
I thought the Church considered the miracles to be God-sent physical signs that a person is an actual saint in heaven. There could be millions and millions of saints in heaven but for some reason, God has not allowed miraculous events to be associated with their intercession.
 
Arbovirus said:
for some reason, God has not allowed miraculous events to be associated with their intercession.
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We will never know this because a whole lot of them will never be the subject of a sainthood cause, which requires money and dare I say it, lobbying, as well as an interest from the Vatican in moving the case on to canonization since they most likely have way more open causes than they can possibly address.
 
I remember these events too. I was young, but it made a lasting impression on me. I have prayed for these womens’s & Abp. Romero’s canonization for a long time. One down, four to go! 😉
 
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