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 BEATITUDES

369

BEATITUDES

(4) The miracles (signa) required are not those of the first class; those of the second class suffice, nor is their number determined. On some occasions the decision as to miracles has been entirely dispensed with.

(5) The discussion as to martyrdom and miracles, formerly held in three meetings or congregations, via. the ante-preparatory, preparatory, and general, is now 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 consists of six or seven cardinals of the Congregation of Rites and four or five prelates es- pecially deputed by the pope. There is but one positio prepared in the usual way; if there be an affirmative majority a decree is issued concerning the proof of martyrdom, the cause of martyrdom, and miracles. (Constare de Martyrio, causd Martyrii et .•<i'gms.)

(6) The final stage is a discussion of the security {super tuto) with which advance to beatification may be made, as in the case of confessors; the solemn lieatification then follows. Tliis procedure is fol- lowed in all cases of formal beatification in causes of l)oth confessors and martyrs proposed in the ordinary way {per viam non cullus). Those proposed as coming imder the definition of cases excepted {casus excepti) by Urban VIII are treated in another way. In such cases it must be pro\^ed that an immemorial public veneration (at least for 100 years before the pro- mulgation, in 1G40, of the decrees of Urban VIII) has been paid the servant of God, whether confessor or martyr. Such cause is proposed under the title of "confirmation of veneration" {de confirmationc cult7)s); it is dealt with in an ordinary meeting of the Congregation of Rites. When the difficulties of the promotor of the Faith have been satisfied, a pon- tifical decree confirming the cultus is promulgated. Beatification of this kind is called equivalent or virtual.

(c) The Canonization of Confessors or Martyrs. — The canonization of confessors or martyrs may be taken up as soon as two miracles are reported to have been worked at their intercession, after the pontifical permission of public veneration as de- scribed above. At this stage it is. only required that the two miracles worked after the permission award- ing a public cultus be discu.ssed in three meetings of the congregation. The discussion proceeds in the ordinary way; if the miracles be confirmed another meeting {super tuto) is held. The pope then issues a Bull of Canonization in which he not only permits, but commands, the public cultus, or venera- tion, of the saint.

It is with the utmost possible brevity that I have described the elements of a process of beatification or canonization. It may be easily conjectured that con- siderable time must elapse before any cause of beatifi- cation or canonization can be conducted, from the first steps of the information, inquiry, or process, to the issuing of the decree super tuto. This is es- pecially true at present, when a great number of causes, new and old, are proposed for discussion before the Sacred Congregation of Rit(,'s (see "Cata- logus ac Status Caiusarum Beatificationis", Rome, 1901). According to the constitution of this Congre- gation, more than one important discussion {dubia majora) cannot be proposed at the same time. It must be remembered (a) that the same cardinals and consultors must vote in all discussions; (b) that there is but one promotor of the Faith and one sub- promotor, who alone have charge of all ob.servations to be made with regard to the dubia; (c) that these cardinals and consultors have to treat questions of ritual as well as processes of canonization and beati- fication. To execute all this business there is but one weekly meeting {eongressus), a kind of minor

congregation in which only the cardinal prefect and the major officials vote; in it less important and prac- tical questions are settled regarding rites as well as causes, and answers are given, and rescripts which the pope afterwards verbally approves. The other meetings of the congregation (ordinary, rotal, and "upon virtues and miracles") may be as few as six- teen in the course of the year. Some other cause must therefore be found for the slow progress of causes of beatification or canonization than a lack of good will or activity on the part of the Congrega- tion of Rites.

Expenses. — It will not be out of place to give succinctly the ordinary actual expenses of canoniza- tion and beatification. Of these expenses some are necessary others merely discretionary, i. e. some are specified (e. g. the expenses incurred in obtaining the different rescripts) others, though necessary, are not specified. Such are the expenses of the solemnity in the Vatican Basilica, and for paintings representing the newly beatified which are afterwards presented to the pope, the cardinals, officials, and consultors of the Congregation of Rites. The limits of this class of expenses depend on the postulator of the cause. If he chooses to spend a moderate sum the entire cause from the first process to the solemn beatifica- tion will not cost him less than $20,000. The ex- penses of the process from beatification to canoniza- tion will easily exceed $30,000. In illustration of this we subjoin the final account of the expenses of the public solemnities in the Vatican Basilica for the canonization, by Leo XIII, of Saints Anthony Maria Zaccaria and Peter Fourier, as published by the Most Rev. Diomede Panici, titular Archbishop of Laodicea, then Secretary of the Congregation of Rites.

To decoration of the Basilica, lights, archi- tectural designs, labour, and superin- tendence, Lire 152,840.58

Procession, Pontifical Mass, preparation

of altars in Basilica, 8,114.58

Cost of gifts presented to Holy Father,. . 1,438.87

Hangings, Sacred Vestments, etc 12,990.60

Services rendered and different offerings, 3,525.07 Recompense for services and money

loaned 3,535.00

To the Vatican Chapter as perquisites for

decorations and candles, 18,000.00

Propine and Competenza, 16,936.00

Incidental and unforeseen expenses, 4,468.40

Lire 221,849.10 — or (taking the lira as equivalent to $.193 in United States money) $42,816.87. (See also Blessed.)

Benedict XIV, De servorum Dei beatificatione et beatorum canonizaiione (the classic text on this subject); Schmalz- GRtJBER, Jus Ecclesiasticum Univer&um, III, tit. 45: Ferraris, Bibliotheca Canoniea, .•«. v. Veneratio Sanctorum; Fornari. Codex -pTo poatulatoribus; Oardellini, Decreta authentica S. C. Congr. Rituum; Reiffenstul, Jus Canonicum Universum, III, tit. 45; VON MoY, s. v. in Kirchenlex. — Other writers of importance have been quoted in the text.

Camillus Becc.^ri.

Beatitudes, Mount of. — This name is given to the place where Our Saviour delivered the "Ser- mon on the Mount", beginning with the Beatitudes. The scene of this discourse is traditionally located on Karn Hattin (or Kunm Hattin), the Horns of Hattin, a mountain which receives its name from the little village at its northern base and from the two cones or horns which crown its sununit. Karn Hattin is in Oalilee, within easy distance of Nazareth, Cana, and Mt. Tabor to the south-west, of Tiberias and Lake Geimesaret (the Sea of Galilee) to the east, and of Caphamaum to the north-east, in the centre, therefore, of much of the ministry of Jesus. It lies 1,816 feet above the lake and 1.135 feet above the sea level (according to Baedeker, Palestine and Syria, Leipzig, 1898, pp. 285, 288, which has the high au-