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Maiorem hac dilectionem (Latin for 'Greater love than this') is an apostolic letter issued in the form of a motu proprio of Pope Francis, dated 11 July 2017. [1] The document creates a new path towards sainthood under the canonization procedures of the Catholic Church, through the path of oblatio vitae . This means the offering of one's life and premature death for another individual; it is to give one's life as a sacrifice for another. [2]
Francis first states that there is no greater love than for one to sacrifice his own life for his friends and neighbors while drawing from a particular passage from John 15:13. He mentions that such an act warrants consideration for the causes of saints since the individual is held as one who has exercised the Christian virtues to an apt degree but do not fit into the established categories of practicing Christian virtues to a heroic degree and the deliberate shedding of blood for Jesus Christ. [1]
The Pope therefore establishes five guidelines that must be established for an "oblatio vitae" (the offer of life) path to beatification. The criteria are:
The criteria are still to abide by the Apostolic Constitution of Divinus perfectionis Magister that Pope John Paul II issued in 1983 and by another document issued around that time.
The question as to whether a fourth path to sainthood could be established arose in discussions amongst the members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at their ordinary congress held on 24 January 2014. The congregation's prefect Cardinal Angelo Amato called this matter into question with the pope during their meeting on the following 7 February. According to Marcello Bartolucci the pope "approved and encouraged" the studies into this fourth path in which a dossier was compiled for further research. [2]
The congregation held a peculiar congress on 2 June 2016 with several experts present for further discussions including ten consulters and five postulators including the meeting's chairperson Bishop Enrico dal Covolo who was also a postulator. Five questions were put forward as to how the congregation could institute a new path for beatification and the criteria that would need to be put in place so as to enforce it. On 27 September the plenary session of the cardinal and bishop members of the congregation discussed the various dimensions to the overall issue and a favorable vote was cast for this new path to sainthood though the need for an approved miracle was highlighted as an essential feature. The conclusions of this session were sent to the pope in a letter dated on 28 November 2016. [2]
The Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin informed Cardinal Amato on 17 January that on the previous 10 January the pope had approved the proposals for a new path for beatification while asking the congregation to draft the text for a document to make the approval formal.
Marcello Bartolucci wrote a piece for L'Osservatore Romano following the document's release and outlined the fact that the pope:
"... has opened the path to beatification for those faithful who, inspired by charity, have heroically offered their life for their neighbor, free and voluntarily accepting certain and untimely death in their determination to follow Jesus ..." [2]
Bartolucci further elaborated on the criteria and said that the three other paths to sainthood (martyrdom and heroic virtue as well as equipollent beatification) were insufficient to interpret all potential causes for saintliness in individuals while recounting that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints had discussed whether a new path would be viable.
Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of saints, or authorized list of that communion's recognized saints.
In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passing through the steps of a declaration of "heroic virtues" and beatification. After preparing a case, including the approval of miracles, the case is presented to the pope, who decides whether or not to proceed with beatification or canonization.
The process of beatification and canonization has undergone various reforms in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. For current practice, as well as a discussion of similar processes in other churches, see the article on canonization. This article describes the process as it was before the promulgation of the Codex Iuris Canonici of 1983.
Canonization of Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer discusses John Paul II's decision to canonize Josemaría Escrivá, founder of the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, more commonly known as Opus Dei.
Solanus Casey, OFM Cap, born Bernard Francis Casey, was an American religious priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He was known during his lifetime as a healer for his great faith and his abilities as a spiritual counselor, but especially for his great attention to the sick, for whom he celebrated special Masses. The friar was much sought-after and revered, especially in Detroit, where he resided. He was also a noted lover of the violin, a trait he shared with his eponym, Saint Francis Solanus.
Stanislaus Papczyński, MIC, born Jan Papczyński and in religion Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary, was a Polish Catholic priest who founded the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, the first Polish religious order for men. He is also widely remembered as a prolific religious writer, including works such as The Mystical Temple of God.
Giulia Salzano was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious and the founder of the Catechetical Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1905). Salzano served as a teacher prior to becoming a religious and since 1865 worked in Casoria as a teacher for children where she demonstrated herself as an apt catechist and instructor.
Marcello Bartolucci is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He has held the rank of archbishop since 2011 and was the Secretary of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints from 2010 to 2021. He held several other posts in that Congregation beginning in 1977.
Antonio Franco was an Italian Catholic priest and prelate of Santa Lucia del Mela. Franco was beatified in 2013 when a miracle was discovered to have been performed through his intercession. Cardinal Angelo Amato beatified him on behalf of Pope Francis.
Carolina Santocanale was an Italian Roman Catholic nun who assumed the name of "Maria of Jesus" and established the Capuchin Sisters of the Immaculata of Lourdes. Santocanale became well known for her treatment of the ill and the poor to whom she devoted her life and work to and was also a member of the Secular Franciscan Order.
Francesco Maria Greco was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who served in the Archdiocese of Cosenza. Along with Raffaela De Vincentis in 1894, he established the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts. Greco served as both a pastor and a professor who operated in Cosenza and opened a catechetical school and hospital service for the poor.
Leopoldina Naudet was an Italian Roman Catholic of both French and Austrian origins. She was a religious sister of the Congregation of Dilette of Jesus and the foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Verona. Naudet served in the court of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and after his death served his daughter Maria Anna who became an abbess and professed religious alongside Naudet and her sister.
Marie-Eugene de L'Enfant-Jésus, OCD was a French Catholic priest and a Discalced Carmelite. He joined the Carmelites just after his ordination.
Giovanni Schiavo, CSI was an Italian Catholic priest in the Congregation of Saint Joseph, also known as the Murialdines.
Antonín Cyril Stojan was a Czech Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Olomouc from 1921 until his death. He was a politician prior to this and served in several political capacities while also serving as a pastor in several parishes where he strengthened social and charitable activities.
Oblatio vitae, meaning "the free offering of [one's] life", is a category under which a person may be declared "Blessed" under the canonization procedures of the Catholic church.
Sandra Maria Assunta Sabattini was an Italian diarist, medical student, and member of the Pope John XXIII Community, who was beatified by the Catholic Church on 24 October 2021.
Traditionis custodes is an apostolic letter issued motu proprio by Pope Francis, promulgated on 16 July 2021 regarding the continued use of pre-Vatican II rites. It restricts the celebration of the Tridentine Mass of the Roman Rite, sometimes colloquially called the "Latin Mass" or the "Traditional Latin Mass". The apostolic letter was accompanied by an ecclesiastical letter to the Catholic bishops of the world.
The Shreveport Martyrs are five Roman Catholic priests who made a free and willing sacrifice of their own lives while caring for strangers afflicted in the 1873 Yellow Fever Epidemic of Shreveport, Louisiana. All five were missionary priests from Brittany, France who came to serve the Diocese of Natchitoches under Bishop Auguste Marie Martin. They are : Father Isidore Quémerais of Pleine-Fougères, Father Jean Pierre of Lanloup, Father Jean-Marie Biler of Plourivo, Father Louis Gergaud of Heric, and Father Francois Le Vézouët of Brélidy. The martyrdom implicit in their collective name is a martyrdom of charity, an offering of their own lives for the sake of others. In December 2020, Bishop Francis Malone of the Diocese of Shreveport recognized them as Servants of God, thereby beginning the Diocesan phase of inquiry for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization. The Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints combined the five to be considered as a single cause. At its 2023 plenary session, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops gave its unanimous assent to the Cause. As of late 2024, the Diocesan phase is nearing its completion. The Diocesan Tribunal, gathering testimony and assessing the report of the Historical Commission, will refer the Cause for the commencement of the Roman phase.