Beatification and Canonization Process in 1914 - The Beatification of Martyrs

The Beatification of Martyrs

1. The causes of martyrs were conducted in the same way as those of confessors as far as the informative processes and those de non cultu and ad introductionem causae were concerned. But when once the commission of introduction had been appointed they advance much more rapidly.
2. No remissorial letters were granted for Apostolic processes concerning the general reputation for martyrdom and miracles; the letters sent called for an immediate investigation into the fact of martyrdom, its motive, and the particular miracles alleged. There was no longer a discussion of the general reputation for martyrdom or miracles.
3. The miracles were not discussed, as formerly, in separate meetings, but in the same meetings that dealt with the fact and the motive of the martyrdom.
4. The miracles (signa) required were not those of the first class; those of the second class sufficed, nor was their number determined. On some occasions the decision as to miracles was entirely dispensed with.
5. The discussion as to martyrdoms and miracles, formerly held in three meetings or congregations, viz. the ante-preparatory, preparatory, and general, was at a later time usually conducted, through a dispensation to be had in each instance from the sovereign pontiff, in a single congregation known as particularis, or special. It consisted of six or seven cardinals of the Congregation of Rites and four or five prelates especially deputed by the pope. There was but one positio prepared in the usual way; if there was an affirmative majority a decree was issued concerning the proof of martyrdom, the cause of martyrdom, and miracles. (Constare de Martyrio, causâ Martyrii et signis.)
6. The final stage was a discussion of the security (super tuto) with which advance to beatification might be made, as in the case of confessors; the solemn beatification then followed.