Why hasn't Michelangelo been declared a saint of the Church?

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Art321

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This is a simple question but one that I am taking seriously. Why hasn’t he? Although he was an artist, many of his works truly did influence the church for the better. He showed the beauty of the gospel through his work that very few artists have been able to do so in such a profound way and I’m sure that he unknowingly helped bring people into the church through his art. Even Bishop Barron mentions him in his trailer for the pivotal players of Catholicism.
youtube.com/watch?v=RhPx8uhJtjo

For me, he has helped me see the beauty of the bodies God have given us, male and female. Beautiful and holy as his works. Just my thoughts.
 
There more to it than just the words of the person. There has to be evidence of miracles and intercessions.
 
Aren’t there specific criteria necessary according to the Church for someone being declared a saint, such as performing two miracles, or is the latter a more recent requirement?
 
We do not earn sainthood by our works, no matter how beautiful they may be.
 
Michelangelo’s art is stunning. I went to Rome last year and saw it in person. No doubt that his art has inspired and consoled countless souls. But his artwork has nothing to do with his personal holiness. I certainly hope that he was a holy man and went to Heaven, but we really don’t know.

The Church cannot canonize him on just his art. When someone is being considered for canonization their personal life is scrutinized to see if they were genuinely holy. There is also the requirement of certified miracles as this signifies that the person is indeed in Heaven.

Hope this helps. God bless you.
 
The first step would be for someone to take up the cause for canonization - often it’s the diocese in which the person lived/died. That generally involves gathering lots of documentation that the person lived a life of heroic virtue.

The question isn’t why Michaelangelo hasn’t been “declared” a saint but whether a cause for his canonization was ever opened. I don’t believe it has. I also don’t know much about his personal life. Was he someone who was known to live a life of heroic virtue?
 
Art321 said:
This is a simple question but one that I am taking seriously. Why hasn’t he? Although he was an artist, many of his works truly did influence the church for the better. He showed the beauty of the gospel through his work that very few artists have been able to do so in such a profound way and I’m sure that he unknowingly helped bring people into the church through his art. Even Bishop Barron mentions him in his trailer for the pivotal players of Catholicism.
youtube.com/watch?v=RhPx8uhJtjo

For me, he has helped me see the beauty of the bodies God have given us, male and female. Beautiful and holy as his works. Just my thoughts.
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The was an article at CA about that, noting how few artists have actually been canonized. Creative people are hard to have a good opinion about.
 
JurisPrudens said:
The was an article at CA about that, noting how few artists have actually been canonized. Creative people are hard to have a good opinion about.
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Do you suppose that is because creative people are often driven by personal ambition in displaying their G-d-given talent?
 
meltzerboy said:
Do you suppose that is because creative people are often driven by personal ambition in displaying their G-d-given talent?
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Not so much that as they were considered mere craftsmen doing their job at Michelangelo’s time, most especially. Most were anonymous except to those who paid them. Think of all the stained glass, the statues, murals, and other artwork done by hundreds of people who we will never hear about. Their work inspires, as well–it was meant to, but it wasn’t considered a prerequiste for sainthood.

Also, unless a person was the member of a religious order, that had the resources to promote someone, or he was proclaimed by the people, such a person got little attention.

No one is guaranteed formal canonization by the Church, which is why we celebrate “All Saints Day”–because there are thousands, if not millions of undeclared saints in heaven.
 
Today is the anniversary of the unveiling of ceiling art of the Sistine Chapel. Which he didn’t want to do, but the Pope insisted. He claimed to be a sculptor, not a painter. He was on 60 foot scaffolding…and had to complete each section of painting before the fresh plaster dried. He lived on bread and wine.
God bless him.
 
pianistclare said:
Today is the anniversary of the unveiling of ceiling art of the Sistine Chapel. Which he didn’t want to do, but the Pope insisted. He claimed to be a sculptor, not a painter. He was on 60 foot scaffolding…and had to complete each section of painting before the fresh plaster dried. He lived on bread and wine.
God bless him.
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Exactly!! He was an extremely talented man! And yes as others mentioned, you need to have miracles under your belt to be declared a Saint… but this is Machelangelo!! He seems to me to have been a very devout man to do such beautiful works of art and dedicated them to God!! I guess I’m starting to be a bit biased. Such a man that had such an influence on the Church as Bishop Barron seems to suggest should get some recognition!! At least the title Servant of God, no??🤷
 
I’m curious, OP: outside of his art, which may or may not be a comment on his piety, what do we know about Michelangelo’s personal sanctity? Was he a holy man?
 
Well, I think one reason is because of certain aspects of Michelangelo’s life. He was said to have been a devout Catholic and lived a frugal lifestyle (he was at one time even claimed to have a “monk-like chastity”) but he seemed to have had liaisons with younger men - often his models - like Tommaso dei Cavalieri or Cecchino dei Bracci, to whom he usually dedicated poems with homoerotic overtones. (A few of the men he was attached to even took advantage of him by extorting money or stealing from him.)

That itself isn’t unusual for the time; pederasty (and sodomy) was rather common in Italy in those days, especially in Michelangelo’s native Florence. (So much so that Germans adopted the term florenzer to refer to a sodomite) But this coming from such an eminent artist like Michelangelo later became a source of embarrassment that when his nephew published his poems he bowdlerized them by changing the pronouns.

To be fair though, scholars today still debate whether there really was an element of same-sex attraction in these relationships that he had or whether it was all platonic.
pianistclare said:
Today is the anniversary of the unveiling of ceiling art of the Sistine Chapel. Which he didn’t want to do, but the Pope insisted. He claimed to be a sculptor, not a painter. He was on 60 foot scaffolding…and had to complete each section of painting before the fresh plaster dried. He lived on bread and wine.
God bless him.
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Fun anecdote: when Michelangelo completed his Pieta, he overheard some people who thought that it was the work of a rival artist. His pride hurt, he wrote his own name onto the sculpture. (Michaelangelus Bonarotus Florent(inus) Facieba(t) “Michelangelo Buonarroti of Florence made this”) The Pieta is the only work Michelangelo ever signed, and it’s really because his emotions got the best of him. (To be fair, he was only 23 when he completed the Pieta!)
 
I think the characteristics that I remember from art history include “fiery temper”, “melancholic”, “reclusive”, and “introverted”. He’s famous for having his nose broken in his teens by another young sculptor who was jealous of his talent, and for always being self-conscious of it forever after. Some suspect him of having high-functioning autistim or perhaps asperger’s. Although he was always a practicing Catholic, he became more religious towards the end of his life as a result of his relationship with Vittoria Colonna, the Marchioness of Pescara.
 
AttendeDomine said:
I’m curious, OP: outside of his art, which may or may not be a comment on his piety, what do we know about Michelangelo’s personal sanctity? Was he a holy man?
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As Patrick said before me, there have been multiple rumors that he may have been engaged in homosexual relationships at some point in his life. Of course, these are rumors but it has also been said he grew very devout in the last couple of decades of his life. Perhaps he regretted it and changed for the better. Think of St. Francis of Assisi as he had done some very ungodly things and changed his life to become one of the most influential Saints of the middle ages… just some thoughts…
 
Art321 said:
As Patrick said before me, there have been multiple rumors that he may have been engaged in homosexual relationships at some point in his life. Of course, these are rumors but it has also been said he grew very devout in the last couple of decades of his life. Perhaps he regretted it and changed for the better. Think of St. Francis of Assisi as he had done some very ungodly things and changed his life for the better… just some thoughts…
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From the horse’s mouth there are also his poems to Tommaso - to whom is dedicated 30 out of the 300 poems of him that we have; he essentially became a lifelong friend of Michelangelo, and his quatrains dedicated to Cecchino (who died at sixteen, after knowing Michelangelo for three years). (Funnily enough, one of his critics was (in)famous blackmailer Pietro Aretino, who accused Michelangelo of “godlessness” by painting all those naked figures in the Sistine Chapel: “Even if you are divine, you don’t disdain male consorts.” This despite the fact that Aretino was kind of bisexual and a self-proclaimed ‘sodomite’ himself.)

In a way, you could say that this is probably Michelangelo’s weakness.
 
midori said:
I think the characteristics that I remember from art history include “fiery temper”, “melancholic”, “reclusive”, and “introverted”. He’s famous for having his nose broken in his teens by another young sculptor who was jealous of his talent, and for always being self-conscious of it forever after. Some suspect him of having high-functioning autistim or perhaps asperger’s. Although he was always a practicing Catholic, he became more religious towards the end of his life as a result of his relationship with Vittoria Colonna, the Marchioness of Pescara.
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As someone who dabbles in art myself, I can testify that many of us are not exactly ‘normal’. 😉 I think it’s a rather interesting thing: people who are not exactly ‘right’ usually tend to be the most creative.
 
You wonder about the great master. I recently visited a museum and found this small painting disturbing. I was shocked to learn it is attributed to a young, 12 or 13 year old Michaelangelo. Not sure what I would think if my child painted that at that age. But I was stopped speechless at a replica of his Pieta. His art matured, hopefully his faith, also.

http://www.show-your-own-art-gallery.com/images/The_Torment_of_Saint_Anthony_215px.jpg

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Torment_of_Saint_Anthony_(Michelangelo
 
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