Are Canonizations Infallible After Vatican II? The Answer Might Surprise You. (Preview)
Resumo
TLDRThe video delves into the complexities of canonizations within the Catholic Church, particularly focusing on the question of their infallibility. It highlights the distinctions between beatification and canonization, the historical evolution of the canonization process, and the theological debates surrounding the infallibility of such declarations. The speaker critiques both traditionalist and modernist perspectives, emphasizing the importance of understanding the Church's teachings on saints and their veneration. The discussion includes references to key theologians and historical context, aiming to clarify misconceptions about the canonization process and its implications for the faithful.
Conclusões
- 📜 Canonization is a definitive act by the Pope declaring someone a saint.
- ⚖️ Beatification allows for public honor but is not as binding as canonization.
- 🕊️ The infallibility of canonizations is debated among theologians.
- 📚 Historical context shows that canonizations were less formalized in the past.
- 🔍 The process of canonization involves rigorous investigation of a person's life and virtues.
- 💬 The Second Vatican Council changed the understanding of canonization.
- 👥 Many saints were venerated before formal canonization processes existed.
- ⚠️ A person can be saved without being canonized as a saint.
- 🛐 Venerating a saint implies a belief in their glory in heaven.
- 🧭 Understanding the Church's teachings on saints is crucial for the faithful.
Linha do tempo
- 00:00:00 - 00:05:00
The speaker addresses criticisms regarding the infallibility of canonizations by the Pope, arguing that the formula used in canonization does not inherently make someone a saint in a binding sense for the faithful. He highlights the complexity of the concept of sainthood and the differing views among young Catholics caught between traditionalism and modernism.
- 00:05:00 - 00:10:00
The speaker introduces the topic of canonizations and their infallibility, noting misconceptions that arise, particularly after the Second Vatican Council. He emphasizes the need to understand the distinctions between beatifications and canonizations, and how the process has evolved over time.
- 00:10:00 - 00:15:00
The speaker discusses the importance of canonizations to Catholics, explaining the historical context of veneration of saints and the difference between informal and formal canonizations. He mentions that the episode will explore the process and implications of canonization in detail.
- 00:15:00 - 00:20:00
The speaker outlines the structure of the episode, indicating that it will be lengthy and thorough, and he will provide links to the sources he references. He emphasizes the significance of the topic for Catholics and the need for clarity on the process of canonization.
- 00:20:00 - 00:25:00
The speaker introduces two theologians, Father Glaze and Mr. Lamont, who have differing views on the infallibility of canonizations. He notes that while Father Glaze believes in the infallibility of canonizations, Lamont argues that they were never infallible in the strictest sense, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of the topic.
- 00:25:00 - 00:30:00
The speaker references the Catholic Encyclopedia to support the argument for papal infallibility in canonizations, citing historical theologians who have affirmed this view. He emphasizes that the infallibility of canonizations is a matter of theological debate and not universally accepted as dogma.
- 00:30:00 - 00:35:00
The speaker discusses the historical evolution of canonization processes, distinguishing between equivalent and formal canonizations. He explains that many early saints were venerated without formal canonization, and the current process has become more centralized and formalized since the 1980s.
- 00:35:00 - 00:40:00
The speaker elaborates on the definitions of beatification and canonization, explaining that beatification allows for public veneration while canonization makes it obligatory. He emphasizes the importance of heroic virtue in the canonization process and the implications for the faithful.
- 00:40:00 - 00:45:00
The speaker highlights the distinction between being saved and being a saint, noting that one can be saved without being canonized. He stresses that the primary purpose of canonization is to provide a model of heroic virtue for the faithful to follow.
- 00:45:00 - 00:52:56
The speaker delves into the concept of infallibility, questioning whether the Pope's judgment in canonizing saints is infallible and whether denying this would be heretical. He presents arguments from theologians both for and against the infallibility of canonizations, emphasizing the need for precision in understanding the process.
Mapa mental
Vídeo de perguntas e respostas
What is the difference between beatification and canonization?
Beatification is a temporary act allowing public honor to a blessed individual, while canonization is a definitive act declaring someone a saint and obligating the Church to venerate them.
Are all canonizations considered infallible?
The infallibility of canonizations is debated among theologians, with some arguing that the process has changed since the Second Vatican Council.
What is the role of the Pope in canonization?
The Pope makes a definitive judgment in canonization, declaring a person's heroic virtues and their place in heaven.
Can a person be a saint without being canonized?
Yes, many individuals are considered saints in a general sense, but canonization is a formal recognition by the Church.
What are the criteria for canonization?
The criteria include evidence of heroic virtue, miracles attributed to the individual, and the person's life serving as a model for the faithful.
What is the significance of the Second Vatican Council in relation to canonizations?
The Second Vatican Council introduced reforms that changed the understanding and process of canonization, leading to debates about their infallibility.
How does the Church determine the heroic virtue of a saint?
The Church investigates the individual's life, virtues, and miracles to establish their heroic virtue before canonization.
What is the historical context of canonizations?
Historically, canonizations were less formalized and often based on local veneration rather than a centralized process.
What is the relationship between canonization and the profession of faith?
Canonization involves a profession of faith, as venerating a saint implies belief in their glory in heaven.
Can someone be considered a saint if they lived a sinful life?
A person can be saved without being a saint; canonization requires evidence of heroic virtue.
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- 00:00:00And I've seen this in a lot of the my
- 00:00:02critics and stuff online who have
- 00:00:04basically said, "How can you say that
- 00:00:07what the Pope is doing here is not
- 00:00:09infallible. Look at what he says." And
- 00:00:11they post snippets of the uh formula
- 00:00:15used in the ceremony for
- 00:00:17canonization. The formula is
- 00:00:19great, but the formula doesn't make the
- 00:00:22person a saint in a way that's binding
- 00:00:23on the faithful. The process has to do
- 00:00:26it. And the conception behind what what
- 00:00:29it means to be a saint isn't even the
- 00:00:31same because there are saints
- 00:00:33everywhere. So for a lot of you young uh
- 00:00:37angry uh e Catholic Zoomer guys who are
- 00:00:41in this weird middle ground between
- 00:00:42being traditional and being modernists
- 00:00:44who seem to love all the trappings of
- 00:00:46Catholicism from like a social
- 00:00:47perspective but don't know how to think
- 00:00:49their way of a paper bag and just proof
- 00:00:50texts like Protestants, you have no
- 00:00:53right defending the Catholic Church
- 00:00:54against the world, against other sects.
- 00:00:56You have no right to call anybody
- 00:00:57heretics in the ultimate sense because
- 00:01:00guess what? Martin Luther might be a
- 00:01:02saint. Bonhaofer might be a saint. The
- 00:01:04Orthodox, you know, theologian from 800
- 00:01:07years ago writing about how the Catholic
- 00:01:08Church
- 00:01:09was vile and evil for all its, you know,
- 00:01:13nastiness, venerated by some monks and
- 00:01:15and and
- 00:01:17aos. He's a saint according to the
- 00:01:20Second Vatican Council. according to how
- 00:01:21those after the Second Vatican Council
- 00:01:23have interpreted the council and imposed
- 00:01:25reforms, you're in a real tough
- 00:01:27position. So, you either got to go with
- 00:01:28tradition or you got to go with
- 00:01:29modernism. Good day, ladies and
- 00:01:30gentlemen. Today, we're going to be
- 00:01:33investigating a deep dive into the
- 00:01:35infallibility of
- 00:01:37canonizations. It's an important topic
- 00:01:39and there are a lot of misconceptions
- 00:01:41I've realized when talking about
- 00:01:44canonizations, especially in the
- 00:01:46postconsil sense, meaning after the
- 00:01:48second Vatican council.
- 00:01:50Obviously, for many of us, we would ask
- 00:01:52ourselves, why would I ever even ask
- 00:01:53this question? Why wouldn't I just trust
- 00:01:54that all canonizations are infallible?
- 00:01:57Well, there are a lot of things to go
- 00:01:58over, such as the distinctions between
- 00:02:00beatifications and canonizations. Such
- 00:02:02as the fact that for the first thousand
- 00:02:04years or so of the church, the idea that
- 00:02:05canonizations as such as an act of the
- 00:02:07pope were infallible, was never even
- 00:02:09considered. The fact that the process
- 00:02:11has been radically changed since
- 00:02:12basically the 1980s and so forth. And
- 00:02:16we're going to go into all of that here.
- 00:02:18Stay tuned.
- 00:02:24[Music]
- 00:02:37All right, ladies and gentlemen, if you
- 00:02:38are watching this as it's been released,
- 00:02:41you're either watching the free preview
- 00:02:43or you are someone who is either a
- 00:02:45Substack subscriber or a YouTube member.
- 00:02:49mber and it'll be available in full in
- 00:02:52about a week or so for the rest of you.
- 00:02:54But if you want to catch these things as
- 00:02:55they come out, then there you go. Uh you
- 00:02:58can sign up underneath. Also, I will be
- 00:03:00putting all the links to all of the
- 00:03:02information I will be citing for this
- 00:03:04topic. This is going to be a longer
- 00:03:06episode, at least an hour. Um maybe
- 00:03:09more, maybe two parts. I might have to
- 00:03:11stop recording and cut two videos
- 00:03:12together. I don't know how long this is
- 00:03:14going to take me, but I don't want to
- 00:03:15leave any stone left unturn unturned.
- 00:03:18You see the the issue of canonizations
- 00:03:19is very near and dear to all of our
- 00:03:21hearts. We are Catholics. We uh believe
- 00:03:24in saints. We venerate saints. And the
- 00:03:26old term was worship. And that's
- 00:03:28actually what we do with saints and
- 00:03:29properly understood. But Protestants
- 00:03:31don't know what worship is. So we try to
- 00:03:33soften the blow a bit. But it it is a
- 00:03:35type of worship in the technical sense.
- 00:03:37Although that's taboo to say, but that's
- 00:03:38what it is. If you look at the old
- 00:03:39theological manuals, we don't worship
- 00:03:41saints like God in the sense we offer a
- 00:03:43sacrifice, but we worship in the sense
- 00:03:45where we give veneration and honor and
- 00:03:47ask for intercession, which is a type of
- 00:03:49worship. But anyway, um but there are a
- 00:03:52lot of uh saints that have happened
- 00:03:54since the second Vatican council. Some
- 00:03:56of them have been very questionable. Um
- 00:03:59we can see we can we can imagine other
- 00:04:01saints, other supposed saints being
- 00:04:04canonized that may be even more
- 00:04:06questionable.
- 00:04:08I mean, who are we going to see a St.
- 00:04:10Martial? You know, the guy who started
- 00:04:11the Legionaries of Christ, that sort of
- 00:04:13thing. Uh, people might think that's
- 00:04:15absurd, but there have been some pretty
- 00:04:17absurd canonizations since since uh the
- 00:04:191980s. Now, that being said, it's not
- 00:04:23the
- 00:04:24intention of this episode to talk too
- 00:04:28much about individual saints. There will
- 00:04:30be a couple examples uh mentioned as I
- 00:04:33read through the material because they
- 00:04:35they uh occasioned this research to be
- 00:04:37done uh when it was done and uh but I'm
- 00:04:41but I'm not here to say oh I think so
- 00:04:42and so is or so and so isn't. I also
- 00:04:45want to say that um the veneration of
- 00:04:47saints is as old as the church and long
- 00:04:50before it was an official promulgated uh
- 00:04:53um uh generally speaking considered
- 00:04:56infallible process. Uh it was the the
- 00:04:59normal way for saints was basically holy
- 00:05:01men and women died and uh you know a
- 00:05:03cultist sort of a devotion developed
- 00:05:06around their lives and works and so
- 00:05:08forth and intercession was asked and
- 00:05:10miracles were given and that was kind of
- 00:05:12as far as it went and uh so you know you
- 00:05:17can ask anyone to pray for you in heaven
- 00:05:18anyone who is in heaven is a saint in
- 00:05:21the small sense that's true but we're
- 00:05:24talking about saint in the big s sense
- 00:05:26meaning those canonized for the sake of
- 00:05:29admiration, veneration, their place in
- 00:05:32the liturgy, and a model to follow. So,
- 00:05:35we're going to talk about that process.
- 00:05:38All right, I'm going to pull up my
- 00:05:39research here, and I'm using um well, uh
- 00:05:43I'll link all the articles. The best
- 00:05:45research I've found is from two sources,
- 00:05:48and this is as far as something that's
- 00:05:50easily shared. Um from Father Michelle
- 00:05:53Glaze, who is a wonderful uh theologian
- 00:05:55of the Society of St. Pest the 10th and
- 00:05:58Mr. John Lamont who I believe is a
- 00:05:59fellow Canadian and uh he's a very sound
- 00:06:02very prolific Catholic philosopher and
- 00:06:05theologian and he's written extensively
- 00:06:06on a number of topics. Um there is a
- 00:06:09slight disagreement between father glaze
- 00:06:11and father or father and Mr. Lamont's
- 00:06:14opinions. Uh, Father Glaze is of the
- 00:06:16opinion that we'll see that in the
- 00:06:18general sense as it used to be done,
- 00:06:20what we'll talk about, that
- 00:06:21canonizations were in in fact certain in
- 00:06:24their infallibility where uh whereas
- 00:06:26they aren't now, and we'll get to why.
- 00:06:28Um, and John Lamont makes the argument
- 00:06:31that we can actually argue that they
- 00:06:33were never infallible in the truest
- 00:06:35sense, which doesn't mean that we don't
- 00:06:36actually believe there are infallibly
- 00:06:38saints, but just that the process itself
- 00:06:40never actually lent itself officially to
- 00:06:42infallibility. I don't go as far as Mr.
- 00:06:44Lamont, but he does have really good
- 00:06:46points that do complement what we're
- 00:06:47going to talk about. Now, for those of
- 00:06:49you who get nervous when you hear the
- 00:06:50word Society of St. Pius the 10th, well,
- 00:06:52maybe see a therapist about that. But in
- 00:06:54all seriousness, um just as a little
- 00:06:57background, Father Glaze is a very
- 00:07:00honored and recognized theologian, not
- 00:07:02just by traditionalists. In fact, when
- 00:07:04the society is doing doctrinal
- 00:07:06discussions and things like that over
- 00:07:07the years, Father Glaze sits at the
- 00:07:09table with uh Rome's best and brightests
- 00:07:11and they work together as equals to try
- 00:07:12to come to understanding. So, he's
- 00:07:14recognized for his intelligence and so
- 00:07:17forth
- 00:07:18um by not just traditionalists. Now,
- 00:07:21that being said, um if you are a
- 00:07:23traditionalist, you'll probably have no
- 00:07:25issue with these men that I'm citing.
- 00:07:27And if you are not a traditionalist and
- 00:07:28watch this video because you want to get
- 00:07:30mad at me because look at me, I'm such a
- 00:07:31schismatic. Well, okay, continue
- 00:07:34watching and you can think what you
- 00:07:35will, but it behooves you if you want to
- 00:07:37actually know what you're talking about
- 00:07:38to assess the strongest arguments
- 00:07:41possible so you can refute them. And if
- 00:07:43you want to do that, go for it. Um, so
- 00:07:44these are the strongest arguments that
- 00:07:47you're going to find assessing the
- 00:07:49question of canonizations and their
- 00:07:50infallibility from the traditionalist
- 00:07:52perspective. Let's call it that. And I
- 00:07:54want to show you one quick thing before
- 00:07:56we begin.
- 00:07:57So, here is a a little short summary
- 00:08:00from the Catholic
- 00:08:02Encyclopedia. And I chose to use it from
- 00:08:04Catholic Answers website, catholic.com,
- 00:08:08uh because I wanted to show you this
- 00:08:09wasn't just some sort of like uh rad
- 00:08:11trad uh pseudo scholarship if uh
- 00:08:14Catholic Answers has done much good
- 00:08:15work. I disagree with much of what some
- 00:08:16of their personalities say, especially
- 00:08:18in light of claims about traditional
- 00:08:20Catholicism. Uh, nonetheless, they are
- 00:08:23um a very serious outlet and I just want
- 00:08:25to
- 00:08:27uh read something here and this is from
- 00:08:30the section on papal infallibility and
- 00:08:32canonization. So this is not my opinion.
- 00:08:34This is not even a traditionalist
- 00:08:35opinion. This is long before second
- 00:08:37Vatican council and it's shared by
- 00:08:38Catholic answers. So is the pope
- 00:08:40infallible in issuing a decree of
- 00:08:42canonizations? Most theologians answer
- 00:08:44in the affirmative. It is the opinion of
- 00:08:46St. An St. Antonyinus, Melurano, Suarez,
- 00:08:49Bellererman, Banz Vasquez and among the
- 00:08:51canonists of Gonzalez, Telles uh and
- 00:08:54many other names etc etc etc um and many
- 00:08:58others. Uh St. Thomas says since the
- 00:09:00honor we pay to the saints is in a
- 00:09:02certain sense a profession of faith i.e.
- 00:09:04a belief in the glory of saints we must
- 00:09:06piously believe that in this matter also
- 00:09:09the judgment of the church is not liable
- 00:09:10to
- 00:09:12error. These words of St. Thomas um as
- 00:09:15is evident from the authorities just
- 00:09:17cited all favor all favoring a positive
- 00:09:19infallibility have been interpreted by
- 00:09:21his school in favor of papal
- 00:09:22infallibility in the matter of
- 00:09:24canonization and this interpretation is
- 00:09:26supported by several other passages in
- 00:09:28the same quad liibet. This infallibility
- 00:09:31however according to the holy doctor is
- 00:09:33only a point of pious belief.
- 00:09:34Theologians generally agree as to the
- 00:09:36fact of papal infallibility in this
- 00:09:38matter of canonization, but disagree as
- 00:09:40to the quality of certitude due to a
- 00:09:42papal decree in such matter. In the
- 00:09:44opinion of some, it is of faith. Others
- 00:09:47hold that to refuse ascent to such a
- 00:09:48judgment of the holy sea would be both
- 00:09:50impious and rash. as Suarez. Um, many
- 00:09:54more hold such a pronouncement to be
- 00:09:56theologically certain, not being of
- 00:09:58divine faith, as it purports, uh, as its
- 00:10:01purport has not been immediately
- 00:10:02revealed, nor of ecclesiastical faith as
- 00:10:04having thus far not been defined by the
- 00:10:07church. And there is the kicker right
- 00:10:08there, not being defined by the church.
- 00:10:11So um we're going to go through the very
- 00:10:15strong arguments in favor of the
- 00:10:16infallibility of canonizations and then
- 00:10:17sort of try to talk about how that's a
- 00:10:19little different story nowadays. Uh but
- 00:10:22as of yet this uh idea that uh it is
- 00:10:25defined that if you descent from this uh
- 00:10:27you know and you don't recognize so- and
- 00:10:29so is a saint that you are somehow a
- 00:10:32heretic or whatever that's just simply
- 00:10:34not true and it can't be said by people.
- 00:10:37A lot of people out there on Twitter
- 00:10:39have come after me in recent days saying
- 00:10:41you're, you know, you're this is a
- 00:10:43mortal sin and blah blah blah. I'm
- 00:10:45sorry. That's just not what the church
- 00:10:47says. Uh if the church defines it in a
- 00:10:50particular way one day that is beyond
- 00:10:52doubt, then that will be what it'll be.
- 00:10:54But that just hasn't happened. So until
- 00:10:55that happens, men of goodwill can
- 00:10:57discuss these things. And that's all
- 00:10:58we're going to do here. You can agree
- 00:10:59with me, you can disagree with me, but
- 00:11:01no one is in any position to call anyone
- 00:11:03bad names or say that they're uh you
- 00:11:06know uh sinning against the faith or
- 00:11:07whatever because that's not what the
- 00:11:09church says. Okay, so here is an
- 00:11:13introduction to the research and I've
- 00:11:14got all the links underneath. The SPX,
- 00:11:16the US website updated their website not
- 00:11:20too long ago and a lot of their old
- 00:11:21articles have been lost for some reason
- 00:11:24from there. um you know maybe the folks
- 00:11:26at the IT department IT department there
- 00:11:28can fix that but I found them on the
- 00:11:30archive um so you can actually link them
- 00:11:33there and that's where I'm going to be
- 00:11:34using the archive instead of the SSPX um
- 00:11:36publication
- 00:11:37website all right so this research is
- 00:11:41initially from 2011 and uh father glaze
- 00:11:44raises uh three difficulties the
- 00:11:47inadequacy of the procedure the
- 00:11:49collegiality and the concept of heroic
- 00:11:52virtue and again this is just an
- 00:11:54introduction
- 00:11:56Heroic virtue of saints is the most
- 00:11:58telling indicator of the divinity of the
- 00:11:59church and ordinarily this mark is
- 00:12:01itself authenticated. It receives the
- 00:12:03seal of the church which answers for its
- 00:12:05own holiness by canonization. The solemn
- 00:12:08act by which the sovereign pontiff
- 00:12:09making a final definitive judgment
- 00:12:11declares the heroic virtue of a member
- 00:12:13of the church. Canonization comes under
- 00:12:16the category of disciplinary facts among
- 00:12:18which among which theologians classify
- 00:12:21the various laws promulgated for the
- 00:12:23good of the whole church and which
- 00:12:24correspond to secondary objects of the
- 00:12:27infallible teaching authority. Among
- 00:12:30these are the universal liturggical law
- 00:12:32which prescribes the manner by which the
- 00:12:34worship due to God is rendered.
- 00:12:36Canonization which is the law by which
- 00:12:38the church prescribes the veneration of
- 00:12:40one of the faithful departed who
- 00:12:41exercise perfect holiness during his
- 00:12:43lifetime.
- 00:12:44the solemn appribation of religious
- 00:12:46orders which is the law by which the
- 00:12:49church
- 00:12:50prescribes respect and esteem for a rule
- 00:12:53of life that is a sure means of
- 00:12:54sanctification. The infallibility of
- 00:12:56these laws is understandable because by
- 00:12:58them the church manifests to all the
- 00:13:00faithful the means required for
- 00:13:02conserving the deposit of faith. These
- 00:13:04laws therefore are not the expression of
- 00:13:06a purely legislative power. They
- 00:13:08correspond formally to the exercise of
- 00:13:10the church's teaching power because they
- 00:13:12are intrinsically linked with revealed
- 00:13:15truth. By establishing infallibly
- 00:13:17certain facts which are outside the
- 00:13:19domain of revealed truths, the church
- 00:13:21presupposes the profession of a formally
- 00:13:23revealed principle which is to be
- 00:13:24defended through its concrete
- 00:13:26applications. So to summarize here just
- 00:13:28real quickly, the discussion around the
- 00:13:31infallibility of canonizations hinges on
- 00:13:33the fact that um as St. as St. Thomas
- 00:13:36said uh the the the veneration of saints
- 00:13:39is in a sense a part of the deposit of
- 00:13:40faith. It's about what we believe as
- 00:13:42Catholics and that we're professing it.
- 00:13:45Therefore, it's very serious business
- 00:13:47which is why there are very strong
- 00:13:48arguments as to why the church ought to
- 00:13:50have the assistance necessary to
- 00:13:53canonize infallibly. And that is a good
- 00:13:55point. Um he continues
- 00:13:59um infallibility is a property and
- 00:14:01listen carefully to this which supposes
- 00:14:02the essential definition of the act to
- 00:14:04which it corresponds. If the definition
- 00:14:06is changed by the very fact the property
- 00:14:09attached to it changes. If the act
- 00:14:11becomes doubtful its infall
- 00:14:13infallibility becomes doubtful also. Now
- 00:14:16we're going to get into the weeds on
- 00:14:17this a little bit as we go but this is
- 00:14:19an important point and I'm going to
- 00:14:21repeat myself the odd time throughout
- 00:14:22this but it's really important.
- 00:14:25infallibility. The pope having the
- 00:14:27infallible power or the power to do
- 00:14:29things and to define things infallibly.
- 00:14:31It's not a magical power. He's not a
- 00:14:33wizard. Uh he's not a demigod. He can't
- 00:14:36say, "I declare as a sovereign pontiff
- 00:14:38that the best color of squirrel is
- 00:14:40gray." You can tell I'm looking into my
- 00:14:42backyard. I can see some squirrels. Um,
- 00:14:45that's a silly example, but
- 00:14:48um, the point is is that in order for
- 00:14:51something to be infallible and be known
- 00:14:53as such, it has to be very precise at
- 00:14:55what is what they're getting at. Um, uh,
- 00:14:59when we talk about things being made
- 00:15:01infallible, we need more precision, not
- 00:15:04less. Um it's it's it's not the case
- 00:15:07that the pope has this like ethereal
- 00:15:09assistance from the Holy Ghost and he
- 00:15:10just can't do anything wrong or can't
- 00:15:12def uh you know uh produce bad doctrines
- 00:15:15or whatever. Um it is the case that when
- 00:15:19infallibility is going to be invoked in
- 00:15:21order to be certain of the assistance of
- 00:15:23the Holy Ghost the precision needs to be
- 00:15:26certain beyond any reasonable doubt.
- 00:15:29That's how we must understand
- 00:15:30infallibility. So, as Father Glaze
- 00:15:33says, if the definition is changed,
- 00:15:36meaning what they're talking about by
- 00:15:38the very fact the property attached to
- 00:15:40it changes. So, if we have a different
- 00:15:44conception of what saints are at this
- 00:15:46period in time, which we'll see that the
- 00:15:48popes after the council have, and we
- 00:15:51change how we go about doing it, and
- 00:15:53with the seeming intention therein, then
- 00:15:55we have reasons to go, they don't seem
- 00:15:58to be doing what was supposed to be
- 00:16:00infallible. they seem to be doing
- 00:16:01something else and we have a different
- 00:16:02conversation to have. So keep that in
- 00:16:06mind. Um,
- 00:16:08okay. So we're going to get to the next
- 00:16:11piece. So here is where the meat of it
- 00:16:14begins. That was just the introduction.
- 00:16:16So we're going to define some principles
- 00:16:18and a lot of this I think will be
- 00:16:19illuminating for
- 00:16:21many. So he says we're going to define
- 00:16:23some things etc. Okay. So some
- 00:16:26definitions beatatification.
- 00:16:29Beatatification is an act by which the
- 00:16:31sovereign pontiff grants permission to
- 00:16:34render public honor to the beatatified
- 00:16:36in certain parts of the church until
- 00:16:38canonization. This act is therefore not
- 00:16:41a precept. It is a temporary not
- 00:16:44definitive act. It is reformable. So
- 00:16:47someone who is a blessed could be
- 00:16:48removed from being a blessed.
- 00:16:50Beatatification amounts to authorization
- 00:16:52of public veneration. The act of
- 00:16:55beatatification does not directly assert
- 00:16:58either the glorification of the heroic
- 00:17:00virtues of the servant of
- 00:17:03God. Canonization. Canonization is the
- 00:17:07act by which the vicor of Christ is uh
- 00:17:10in an irreformable judgment inscribes a
- 00:17:13previously beatified servant of God in
- 00:17:15the catalog of saints. The object of
- 00:17:18canonization is three-fold. For this act
- 00:17:20does not involve the cultist only.
- 00:17:25Firstly, the Pope declares that the
- 00:17:27faithful departed is in the glory of
- 00:17:28heaven. Secondly, he declares that the
- 00:17:31faithful departed merited to reach this
- 00:17:33glory by the exercise of heroic virtues
- 00:17:36which serve as an example for the whole
- 00:17:37church. Thirdly, in order to better set
- 00:17:40these virtues as an example and to thank
- 00:17:42God for having made them possible, he
- 00:17:45prescribes that public veneration be
- 00:17:47rendered to the faithful departed. So
- 00:17:50canonization historically understood has
- 00:17:52three parts. It's not just about one
- 00:17:54being in heaven. Everyone who goes to
- 00:17:56heaven is of the communion of saints.
- 00:17:58We're not talking about the communion of
- 00:18:00saints. We're talking about particular
- 00:18:01individuals who are extraordinary who we
- 00:18:03call canonized saints. Not the same
- 00:18:06thing your grandmother rosary praying
- 00:18:09wonderful old lady that she was never
- 00:18:10missed a mass until she couldn't drive
- 00:18:12anymore and you had to drive her to
- 00:18:13church. Um no doubt that that woman has
- 00:18:16made it to the pearly gates. Ask for
- 00:18:18grandmommy, ask for your grandmother's
- 00:18:20intercession. Um, and and maybe she will
- 00:18:22be canonized. I don't know, maybe she
- 00:18:23was a saint. Um, but that's not what a
- 00:18:25canonized saint is.
- 00:18:27Okay. Regarding these three points,
- 00:18:29canonization is a precept. It obliges
- 00:18:32the whole church. It constitutes a
- 00:18:34definitive and reformable
- 00:18:36act. The catalog of saints is not the
- 00:18:39martyology. And moreover, the expression
- 00:18:42inscribe in the catalog of saints does
- 00:18:45not refer to a physical document, but
- 00:18:46merely invokes the intention of the
- 00:18:48church by which the by which the act of
- 00:18:52canonization henceforth counts among the
- 00:18:54number of saints the newly canonized
- 00:18:56person and commands all the faithful to
- 00:18:58venerate him as such. And obviously this
- 00:19:00is a veneration in principle. Uh you
- 00:19:02don't actually venerate every single
- 00:19:03saint, but meaning that it's for the
- 00:19:04universal church.
- 00:19:07The act of canonization declares
- 00:19:09definitively the sanctity of the
- 00:19:10canonized person as well as his
- 00:19:12glorification. Remember that
- 00:19:14definitively the sanctity and we're
- 00:19:16going to talk about what that sanctity
- 00:19:17is and its heroic virtue not just he was
- 00:19:20a nice guy and consequently it
- 00:19:22prescribes the cultice for the whole
- 00:19:25church. It is another thing to prescribe
- 00:19:27the celebration of a mass and recitation
- 00:19:29of an office in honor of the saint. This
- 00:19:31is a determination that requires a
- 00:19:33supplementary act specific and distinct
- 00:19:35from canonization.
- 00:19:37The enrollment of a person in the
- 00:19:39martyology does not signify the
- 00:19:40infallible canonization of the
- 00:19:42individual. The martyology is a list
- 00:19:44that includes not only all the canonized
- 00:19:46saints but also the servants of God that
- 00:19:48could have been beatified either by the
- 00:19:50sovereign pontiff
- 00:19:53um or by the bishops before the 12th
- 00:19:55century. The date at which the pope
- 00:19:57reserved to himself the privilege of
- 00:19:58conducting beatatifications and
- 00:20:00canonizations. The titles of Sanctus and
- 00:20:03Batus do not have in the martyology a
- 00:20:06precise meaning which would enable us to
- 00:20:08distinguish between canonized saints and
- 00:20:11blessed saints and blesseds. And I want
- 00:20:14to jump over to some other research here
- 00:20:16to give a little background about this
- 00:20:17first 1200 years. Okay. So here is as I
- 00:20:20said the other work from Mr. Lamont and
- 00:20:22he has a good background on how
- 00:20:25canonizations changed. So, and he's this
- 00:20:28is a different part, but it does play
- 00:20:29into what we're saying here and I think
- 00:20:30he explains it really well. So, before
- 00:20:33considering the arguments for
- 00:20:34infallibility of canonization,
- 00:20:37um we should keep in mind the context in
- 00:20:40which these arguments were advanced.
- 00:20:42Canonization as they addressed it took
- 00:20:44two forms. There was what's called and
- 00:20:46and listen carefully here and this helps
- 00:20:49also those of you who are doing
- 00:20:51conversations with Eastern Orthodox and
- 00:20:53talking about saints. This will give you
- 00:20:54some
- 00:20:55insight talking about equivalent
- 00:20:57canonization and formal canonization.
- 00:21:00Equivalent canonization happens when a
- 00:21:02pope decrees the universal veneration of
- 00:21:05a person to whom devotion has existed
- 00:21:07since time immemorial and whose holiness
- 00:21:09and miracles are recorded by historians
- 00:21:12who are worthy of belief. Formal
- 00:21:15canonization happens when a pope decrees
- 00:21:17the universal veneration of a person
- 00:21:19whose heroic virtue and miracles have
- 00:21:21been established by deridical
- 00:21:23process undertaken by the holy sea.
- 00:21:26There are still forms of canonization
- 00:21:28that exist today. Um in this sense Pope
- 00:21:31Francis canonized the Canadian St.
- 00:21:34Marion in 2014 through the process of
- 00:21:36equivalent canonization. the
- 00:21:38canonizations whose infallibility is now
- 00:21:40in question are formal rather than
- 00:21:45equivalent. So before there was this
- 00:21:48process of canonizing saints in the way
- 00:21:52that we understand it, it was a local
- 00:21:55thing and something that spread just
- 00:21:57naturally. So St. Augustine, St.
- 00:22:00Ambrose, St. Athanasius, St. Vincent the
- 00:22:03Loren and so forth. These men were
- 00:22:05regarded as saints and over time we
- 00:22:10would say that they were officially
- 00:22:13canonized um sometimes by decree like we
- 00:22:16recognize the worship of so- and so
- 00:22:17since time and memorial that sort of
- 00:22:19thing but also we use that term kind of
- 00:22:21equivocally. Um, so you know, if so if
- 00:22:25so and so has been venerated for a
- 00:22:27thousand years and his writings are
- 00:22:29included in infallible definitions of
- 00:22:31councils and so forth and he's called a
- 00:22:33doctor of the church and it's miracle
- 00:22:34upon miracle upon miracle, it's kind of
- 00:22:37just a given and uh uh the argument is
- 00:22:41basically that well God would not allow
- 00:22:44such an error in his church to last for
- 00:22:46so long and in so many places and in so
- 00:22:49many documents and in so many
- 00:22:50testimonies and in so many lives and so
- 00:22:52many miracles and so forth if this man
- 00:22:54was not actually worthy of veneration.
- 00:22:56Um so many of the saints that we talk
- 00:22:59about from the first thousand years of
- 00:23:00the church or so they were never
- 00:23:02formally canonized. None of this means
- 00:23:04that they aren't infallibly saints. What
- 00:23:07it means is or that they are not
- 00:23:09infallibly worthy of canonization. What
- 00:23:11it means is is that it just wasn't the
- 00:23:14case that in all cases that was the
- 00:23:16case. Therefore, at a certain point, the
- 00:23:19pope at at the time basically decided,
- 00:23:22we're going to clean up a process and do
- 00:23:24this in a particular way to have more of
- 00:23:26let's say a centralization in the good
- 00:23:29sense. Okay, let's
- 00:23:31continue. All right. Uh let's uh
- 00:23:34continue here. Similarities and
- 00:23:36differences. Beatatification and
- 00:23:38canonization both have as object to make
- 00:23:41possible the cultist of the one of the
- 00:23:43faithful
- 00:23:45departed which supposes that during his
- 00:23:47lifetime this person exercise exemplary
- 00:23:50virtues. The difference is that
- 00:23:51beatatification only makes a cultist
- 00:23:52possible. It's a permission while
- 00:23:55canonization renders the cultist
- 00:23:56obligatory. It's a precept and imposes
- 00:23:59this on the faithful. And we have the
- 00:24:01duty to explicitly believe in their
- 00:24:02heroic sanctity. In all of that, the
- 00:24:05essential is the exemplary or heroic
- 00:24:08virtue of the faithful departed. And
- 00:24:10this is what one seeks to verify in the
- 00:24:12two inquiries, that of the
- 00:24:14beatatification and that of the
- 00:24:16canonization.
- 00:24:17So keep this in
- 00:24:20mind. Number one, most important is
- 00:24:23proving the heroic virtue of the saint.
- 00:24:25Why? Again, the process of canonization
- 00:24:29is not about proving to everyone that
- 00:24:32the person is in heaven. Your gr, you
- 00:24:35know, uh, your great uncle may have been
- 00:24:37a scoundrel, a gambler, and an alcoholic
- 00:24:39who beat his wife and a
- 00:24:42non-atholic and then on his
- 00:24:44deathbed by God's mercy has a conversion
- 00:24:47and he's baptized moments before he
- 00:24:49dies. That man pulled a Constantine and
- 00:24:53he's a straight shot to heaven. He goes,
- 00:24:55it's, you know, it's go to heaven, do
- 00:24:56not pass, go, do not collect $200. Like,
- 00:24:58he's boom, he's there. Although I guess
- 00:25:00that's jail in Monopoly. Uh, it's a get
- 00:25:02out of jail free card is probably the
- 00:25:04right analogy. And, uh, he's right
- 00:25:06there. And if you were there at the
- 00:25:08bedside and you saw the priest come into
- 00:25:11the hospital as he was dying from the
- 00:25:12cerosis of the liver from all his years
- 00:25:14of drinking and you saw him be bapt
- 00:25:16baptized and then he gave up the
- 00:25:19ghost, you can go ask for his
- 00:25:21intercession. you know, great uncle so
- 00:25:23and so, the scoundrel who you prayed for
- 00:25:25for 50 years or 40 years or whatever,
- 00:25:29he's in heaven. And uh but we would
- 00:25:32never ever we would we would tell that
- 00:25:34story because isn't that an amazing
- 00:25:37story about God's grace? Obviously, it's
- 00:25:39a great testimony. It's a it would do
- 00:25:40well at a Stubenville conference, get
- 00:25:42the kids excited.
- 00:25:44Um,
- 00:25:45but we don't say we now need a cause for
- 00:25:48so- and so's canonization because the
- 00:25:51primary thing is is this man worthy to
- 00:25:55follow as an example for the faithful?
- 00:25:57The answer is no. No one should ever
- 00:25:59presume that they could be a scoundrel
- 00:26:01and a drunk for their whole life and
- 00:26:02then get out of jail free with the last
- 00:26:04minute baptism. All right, so there's
- 00:26:06the issue. So the heroic virtue is
- 00:26:08primary. It's not secondary. The primary
- 00:26:11thing is not that they're in heaven. The
- 00:26:12primary that's a necessary thing, but
- 00:26:14the primary reason for a cultist
- 00:26:16devotion is because they're heroically
- 00:26:18saint s uh heroically holy, heroically
- 00:26:23saintly. And it says the miracles
- 00:26:26themselves are only taken into account
- 00:26:28as signs that attest to the heroic
- 00:26:30virtue. So many Catholics today think,
- 00:26:32well, there were
- 00:26:33miracles. That's what means you're a
- 00:26:35saint. Anyone in heaven can be
- 00:26:38interceded to or can intercede for us.
- 00:26:40That's not the purpose. The purpose is
- 00:26:42we establish the heroic virtue by an
- 00:26:45investigation and which takes a long
- 00:26:48time historically and then we test it
- 00:26:51basically the consequences of this.
- 00:26:54There's a difference between a saint and
- 00:26:56a canonized saint and I've talked about
- 00:26:57this
- 00:27:00um I will uh not go into it too much but
- 00:27:03he he explains this is why historically
- 00:27:06there were so few saints. He says even
- 00:27:09if saints were and meaning canonized
- 00:27:11even if saints were numerous only a
- 00:27:13small number of them and not the
- 00:27:14majority were elevated to the honor of
- 00:27:17the altars. Then again the church has
- 00:27:19always given the examples of which the
- 00:27:20faithful are in need in their particular
- 00:27:22era. In this sense canonization is a
- 00:27:24political act in the best sense of the
- 00:27:26term not a partisan act of demagoguery
- 00:27:29but an act that procures the common good
- 00:27:31of the whole church.
- 00:27:34He says St. Jon of Arc was canonized
- 00:27:371920 more than 500 years after her
- 00:27:39death. St. TZ of the child Jesus was
- 00:27:42canonized 1925 less than 30 years after
- 00:27:44her death. These two examples were
- 00:27:46beneficial to the church, but the first
- 00:27:47would have been too hard to comprehend
- 00:27:49had it occurred earlier or too soon
- 00:27:51before the passage of time had blurred
- 00:27:53the context in the aftermath of a
- 00:27:54century long
- 00:27:56conflict. There's another difference to
- 00:27:58be noted. The one between salvation and
- 00:28:00sanctity. As I said, a person who dies
- 00:28:03in the order of sanctity is saved, but
- 00:28:05one can be saved without having lived
- 00:28:07like a saint. And that's there we go.
- 00:28:09All right. Now, we're going to get to
- 00:28:11the definition of what infallibility is
- 00:28:13because so
- 00:28:15often we'll just people just people just
- 00:28:17throw this word around and we don't even
- 00:28:18know what it means. What does
- 00:28:20infallibility mean? The question of
- 00:28:22infallibility is twofold. First, is the
- 00:28:25sovereign pontiff's judgment infallible
- 00:28:28when he canonizes a saint? Then is it of
- 00:28:31faith that this judgment is infallible
- 00:28:33such that denying it would be
- 00:28:35heretical? So two things. Can we
- 00:28:38establish that the sovereign pontiff's
- 00:28:40judgment is infallible in canonizing?
- 00:28:42And if that's the case, are we heretics
- 00:28:44if we say we don't recognize, excuse me,
- 00:28:47we don't recognize all
- 00:28:48canonizations? Good question.
- 00:28:52Each of these
- 00:28:53questions could be answered
- 00:28:55preliminarily following the indications
- 00:28:57given by Pope Sixstus V during the final
- 00:29:00consist that preceded the canonization
- 00:29:02of St. Diticus. This is from a pope um
- 00:29:06and this is in
- 00:29:071588 and this is the holy father
- 00:29:10here basing his arguments upon holy
- 00:29:13scripture, theological reasoning and all
- 00:29:15manner of proofs, the pope demonstrated
- 00:29:17that the Roman pontiff, the true
- 00:29:18successor of St. Peter and prince of the
- 00:29:20apostles for whom Christ prayed asking
- 00:29:22that his faith would not fail who is the
- 00:29:25veritable head of the church foundation
- 00:29:27and column of truth directed and led by
- 00:29:28the Holy Ghost cannot be mistaken nor
- 00:29:30induce into error when he canonizes
- 00:29:32saints and he affirmed that this truth
- 00:29:35must be believed not only as a pious
- 00:29:37belief but as the object of a very
- 00:29:38certain and necessary act of faith and
- 00:29:40to
- 00:29:41establish this point he had reduced all
- 00:29:44the weighty arguments of reason and
- 00:29:46divine authority to which he added also
- 00:29:49something quite obvious that the laws of
- 00:29:50the church and of the pope are certain
- 00:29:52and guaranteed whenever they concern the
- 00:29:53discipline of faith and morals and rest
- 00:29:56upon sure principles and solid
- 00:29:58foundations. Pretty strong. Uh I've had
- 00:30:01some of the my state of a conscious
- 00:30:03critics out there post stuff like this
- 00:30:04on Twitter and go, "Gotcha. You're a
- 00:30:05heretic. You're in communion with the
- 00:30:06anti-urch." Blah blah blah blah blah.
- 00:30:09Well, hold on. These words of the pope
- 00:30:12proceed from his him in his capacity as
- 00:30:14a private doctor.
- 00:30:15That is why the twofold question must be
- 00:30:17examined in greater detail and take into
- 00:30:19consideration the hypothesis of
- 00:30:21different theologians.
- 00:30:24Now even if we were to agree that what
- 00:30:28this pope said here stamped it log to
- 00:30:30caner erase
- 00:30:32it would still matter what is actually
- 00:30:35happening today because again if you
- 00:30:38change the object the result will be
- 00:30:41different or if you change the act the
- 00:30:43object is
- 00:30:44different and so there are multiple ways
- 00:30:47to go about this but nonetheless this
- 00:30:49was not this was something and if we go
- 00:30:51to the footnote
- 00:30:53Uh maybe I can do that just by doing a
- 00:30:54quick controlf search
- 00:30:56here. We can see if you want to find
- 00:30:59this. Uh it's not going to do it.
- 00:31:00Whatever. Uh anyway, I'll link it
- 00:31:02underneath and you can find it.
- 00:31:06Okay, here we go. Canonization is
- 00:31:09infallible. So this is Father Glaze. As
- 00:31:11I said, he's a great theologian and he's
- 00:31:13putting forth the strongest arguments
- 00:31:14possible.
- 00:31:16The infallibility of canonizations is
- 00:31:18today held to be a common and certain
- 00:31:19doctrine by the majority of
- 00:31:23theologians. All the manuals after
- 00:31:25Vatican 1 and before Vatican 2 from
- 00:31:28below to Salvi teach it as common thesis
- 00:31:31in
- 00:31:32theology. The chief representative of
- 00:31:35the adversaries of the infallibility of
- 00:31:36canonizations is Kajitan and he was a
- 00:31:39huge theologian in the eth chapter of
- 00:31:41his treatis on indulgences. According to
- 00:31:43him, the infallibility of a canonization
- 00:31:45is neither necessary nor possible. And
- 00:31:48the reason why he believed it wasn't
- 00:31:49possible was because there is an element
- 00:31:52that is speculative because it's
- 00:31:54impossible for us in the metaphysically
- 00:31:56certain sense to know the state of a
- 00:31:58man's soul when he died because that
- 00:31:59judgment is given to God alone. It's not
- 00:32:01a it's not a bad argument. It's there's
- 00:32:03something there's something to
- 00:32:05it.
- 00:32:06Continuing this opinion had already been
- 00:32:08defended more before Kajitan by
- 00:32:11Agugustino triumph or Augustine of
- 00:32:14Ankona from and he lived in the 13th and
- 00:32:1814th century in his suma on the power of
- 00:32:20the church his fundamental reasoning is
- 00:32:23identical to that of katan which is what
- 00:32:25I just said we don't know exactly the
- 00:32:27internal
- 00:32:28form and I I want to say something here
- 00:32:31to some of my
- 00:32:34critics And some of those
- 00:32:37um influencers and apologists who will
- 00:32:41do things like say, "Oh, the
- 00:32:43traditionalists aren't even Catholic or
- 00:32:44the SSPX isn't Catholic or
- 00:32:46whatever." You can't say things like
- 00:32:49that because if someone's baptized and
- 00:32:53professes the Catholic faith
- 00:32:55openly, you can't you can't say anything
- 00:32:58about what they believe inside.
- 00:33:01Someone who's baptized and professes the
- 00:33:03faith and attends Catholic sacraments is
- 00:33:04by definition a Catholic, even if they
- 00:33:06don't attend the sacraments and they're
- 00:33:07bad. You know, you could be a mass
- 00:33:10murderer who hasn't gone to mass in 20
- 00:33:12years and you're baptizing confirmed and
- 00:33:15you've never denied the faith. You don't
- 00:33:17belong to another church or something
- 00:33:19like that. You're just a terrible human
- 00:33:20being. You're still Catholic and you are
- 00:33:22part of the Catholic Church even if a
- 00:33:24dead member because of the mortal sin.
- 00:33:26You can't say other people aren't
- 00:33:28Catholic. No one has the right to do
- 00:33:29that in the declarative sense unless
- 00:33:32there's something that's obvious that
- 00:33:34proves that they're
- 00:33:36not. Even if we take into account, let's
- 00:33:38let's just say we agree with some of the
- 00:33:40state of a contests who say they can
- 00:33:42prove the manifest heresy of a pope or
- 00:33:44something. Fine. But
- 00:33:48uh you can't just say this about regular
- 00:33:49people. You can't do it, especially if
- 00:33:51you've never talked to them. It's it's
- 00:33:53very sinful what a lot of these men are
- 00:33:54doing online and it's very dangerous uh
- 00:33:57for their souls but
- 00:33:59whatever. Since Vatican 2, some
- 00:34:01consilier theologians have adopted this
- 00:34:04anti-infalibist
- 00:34:05position. So that's really important
- 00:34:07here. Some consiliar theologians. So
- 00:34:10what's been interesting is I have been
- 00:34:14you know accused of all these things of
- 00:34:15rad whatever. The funny thing is is that
- 00:34:18by a lot of people who defend the church
- 00:34:20and against traditionalists so to speak.
- 00:34:22The funny thing is is that there's a lot
- 00:34:24of postconsil theologians who are in
- 00:34:26high ranking positions right now in
- 00:34:28theological departments etc. who argue
- 00:34:32that canonizations are not
- 00:34:36infallible. Some have alleged
- 00:34:38difficulties of an historical nature to
- 00:34:40call in question the infallibility of
- 00:34:43canonizations.
- 00:34:45The opinion, the opinion defended by
- 00:34:47Augustina Vancona and Kagatan was
- 00:34:49recently reprised by Father Daniel Ols.
- 00:34:51Now this is about 20 years ago because
- 00:34:53this article is already 10 years old um
- 00:34:55from the order of preachers a professor
- 00:34:57at the Pontipical University of the
- 00:34:59Angelicum and a relator for the
- 00:35:01congregation for the causes of saints in
- 00:35:03a study on the theological basis for the
- 00:35:05cultist of saints. Let's look at his
- 00:35:07footnote here because there's some
- 00:35:09information. And this man is a is a
- 00:35:11high-ranking theologian who is his job
- 00:35:13is to talk about canonizations
- 00:35:15officially from the church. And he's a
- 00:35:16consilior theologian meaning he's not a
- 00:35:18not part of some traditionalist
- 00:35:21order. Um here it is number
- 00:35:2511. And this is from his paper and it's
- 00:35:27called
- 00:35:34fundamentum theological and and from
- 00:35:36Rome 2002. This is pages 1 to 54. So if
- 00:35:39you can read Italian, go get that
- 00:35:41work. This is a summary of his statement
- 00:35:44there. Hypothesizing an error on the
- 00:35:46part of the church in the canonization
- 00:35:48of a non-existent or even a damned
- 00:35:50person. Father Ols affirms that this
- 00:35:53would not present any drawbacks for the
- 00:35:56faith. Um since infallibility is
- 00:35:59necessarily only if the error necessary
- 00:36:02only if the error would be harmful to
- 00:36:03faith. Canonizations do not require it.
- 00:36:06In effect, there is a disadvantage for
- 00:36:08the faith if the church's error in a
- 00:36:10canonization were to induce the faithful
- 00:36:12to a practical profession of either
- 00:36:13heresy or immorality. But this condition
- 00:36:16does not occur since the practice of the
- 00:36:18faithful influenced by canonization
- 00:36:20precends from the existence and the
- 00:36:22glorification of the canonized saint. In
- 00:36:25case of error, the personal conviction
- 00:36:27of the faithful would be a sufficient
- 00:36:28basis for their devotion. So basically
- 00:36:31what does this mean?
- 00:36:34This means that this man is is arguing a
- 00:36:38priori as a fact that canonizations are
- 00:36:41not infallible and that it's a good
- 00:36:42thing that they're not infallible
- 00:36:44because there could be a mistake made
- 00:36:46and we wouldn't say the church has
- 00:36:48infallibly led the church the we
- 00:36:50wouldn't say the church has infallibly
- 00:36:51led people into error because that would
- 00:36:53be against
- 00:36:54infallibility. Uh lastly, Monsenor Bruno
- 00:36:58Gardini in an article published in
- 00:37:00Divinitas drew up an assessment of the
- 00:37:03controversy over the subject. The study
- 00:37:05revived the issue in so far as it takes
- 00:37:07into account the various reactions
- 00:37:08prompted by the recent canonizations of
- 00:37:10John Paul II and uh Gardadini is a big
- 00:37:14deal theologian in the official sense in
- 00:37:16Rome historically in the last 20 30
- 00:37:18years by the
- 00:37:20way and the end of that article by him
- 00:37:22presents a series of objections contrary
- 00:37:24to infallibility. So let's just
- 00:37:26summarize
- 00:37:27here. It hasn't been officially defined.
- 00:37:30There is dispute about whether it's even
- 00:37:31possible by bigname
- 00:37:34theologians. Even Thomas Aquin even
- 00:37:36Thomas Aquinus who firmly believed
- 00:37:37canonizations were infallible said it's
- 00:37:39of pious belief. You can discuss it and
- 00:37:42you can even be employed in Rome in
- 00:37:44today's church not just as a rad from
- 00:37:47the SSPX or whatever some idiot like me
- 00:37:50on the
- 00:37:51internet and you have not sinned in
- 00:37:54doing so and no one has the right to
- 00:37:56tell anybody that they
- 00:38:00have. He continues following St. Thomas
- 00:38:03the great majority of canonists and
- 00:38:05theologians defend the thesis of the
- 00:38:07infallibility of
- 00:38:08canonizations. Let us remark that the
- 00:38:10proposed question is very precise. This
- 00:38:13is important too. St. Thomas does not
- 00:38:15ask if the pope is infallible when he
- 00:38:17canonizes a
- 00:38:19saint. The focus of his questioning is
- 00:38:21to know whether all the saints who have
- 00:38:23been canonized by the church are in
- 00:38:24glory or if some of them may be in hell.
- 00:38:27This way of asking the question already
- 00:38:29affects the
- 00:38:31answer. So for St. Thomas canonization
- 00:38:34calls for infallibility not in the first
- 00:38:36place as a disciplinary
- 00:38:38law but as the profession of a truth
- 00:38:40that is virtually revealed. This does
- 00:38:42not exclude the other two aspects the
- 00:38:44example of the saint's life and the
- 00:38:45prescribed cultist. So this is the
- 00:38:47genius of St.
- 00:38:49Thomas because Thomas would have known
- 00:38:51that it wasn't defined and he is
- 00:38:54concerned with infallibility in the
- 00:38:56sense of only whether or not the person
- 00:38:58who is called a saint is in heaven or
- 00:39:00not. That's as far as he seems to go
- 00:39:01with it.
- 00:39:05And that doesn't actually
- 00:39:07affect those who disagree and disagree
- 00:39:10with him isn't the right word because
- 00:39:12almost nobody disagreed with him and
- 00:39:13almost no tradition traditionalist would
- 00:39:15disagree with Thomas in this if we are
- 00:39:18talking about the context wherein he was
- 00:39:20discussing it which we'll get
- 00:39:22into but his his uh focus of
- 00:39:26infallibility is not about whether or
- 00:39:28not the person is demonstrative of
- 00:39:30heroic virtue. So for the canonization
- 00:39:32process as such, he's basically saying
- 00:39:35the infallibility is kind of a low bar
- 00:39:37or a baseline that the church is not
- 00:39:38going to say so and so is a saint when
- 00:39:39he's actually in
- 00:39:41hell. That actually doesn't affect
- 00:39:43traditionalists because for example uh
- 00:39:47you know pick uh whatever someone who's
- 00:39:48a who's a saint from after Vatican 2 who
- 00:39:51has a dubious uh uh you know a dubious
- 00:39:55uh a dubious uh
- 00:39:58holiness. I have no problem believing,
- 00:40:01you know, let's take a pope like Paul
- 00:40:03the 6. I don't think Paul V 6 was a very
- 00:40:05good pope. I think he was a really,
- 00:40:06really, really, really, really bad pope.
- 00:40:08And I wrote about that a lot in my book,
- 00:40:09What Happened to Catholicism. A lot of
- 00:40:11his stuff people don't know about.
- 00:40:14Um, that being said, he was the pope and
- 00:40:16he died with his sacraments and he has a
- 00:40:18bazillion people praying for him and I
- 00:40:21don't think he didn't have the faith. I
- 00:40:23have no problem believing that he is in
- 00:40:25heaven. I mean, was he devoted to the
- 00:40:27scapular? you know, did he pray the
- 00:40:29rosary every day? What are the promises
- 00:40:31attached to that? You know, be released
- 00:40:33from purgatory by Saturday or whatever.
- 00:40:35I mean, I So, even even at Thomas when
- 00:40:37assessing infallibility,
- 00:40:39uh, it's it's about whether or not we
- 00:40:42would be led to believe someone in hell
- 00:40:43is in heaven. And that's kind of as far
- 00:40:46as the certainty
- 00:40:48goes. So, very interesting.
- 00:40:52Father Father Glaze continues, "But
- 00:40:54there is an order among the three
- 00:40:55judgments the pope makes when he
- 00:40:57canonizes a saint. The first judgment
- 00:40:59bears upon a theoretical fact and states
- 00:41:02that a deceased person preserved to the
- 00:41:04end in the heroic exercise of
- 00:41:06supernatural virtue and is at present
- 00:41:09glorified in eternal beatitude."
- 00:41:11Theoretical is important. This goes back
- 00:41:13to Kajitan. Uh we actually can't know
- 00:41:16with infallible certainty in a human
- 00:41:18sense how someone was on the inside when
- 00:41:20they died.
- 00:41:23So all we can do is look at all possible
- 00:41:25evidence and come to a
- 00:41:27conclusion. The second judgment gives
- 00:41:29the heroic virtues practiced during the
- 00:41:31canonized person's lifetime to the whole
- 00:41:33church as a model to imitate. So not
- 00:41:35only are we sure that they preserve to
- 00:41:36the end, which again your grandmother
- 00:41:38could have done and hopefully she did or
- 00:41:41will do or maybe you're a grandmother
- 00:41:43and you'll do it
- 00:41:45yourself. That's one part. But then as
- 00:41:48far as hey, are we going to put this up
- 00:41:49as a model to the church? That's a
- 00:41:52different story. And the third judgment
- 00:41:54is a precept that imposes public
- 00:41:56veneration of the saint on the
- 00:41:58church. Canonization gives the heroic
- 00:42:01virtues of the saint as a model and
- 00:42:03makes his cultist obligatory, but it
- 00:42:05assumes the fact of the saint's
- 00:42:06glorification. Benedict the 14th, and he
- 00:42:10was the the most influential pope and
- 00:42:11and and pushing forth this notion of
- 00:42:13infallibility and canonizations.
- 00:42:15I believe he's the one who centralized
- 00:42:17the
- 00:42:18process who quotes and adopts these
- 00:42:20reflections of St. Thomas considers that
- 00:42:22in the last analysis the judgment of
- 00:42:24canonization rests upon a statement of a
- 00:42:26speculative truth deduced from
- 00:42:29revelation. It remains to prove that
- 00:42:31this three-fold judgment is infallible.
- 00:42:33To do so, we do not have at our
- 00:42:35disposition any argument of the supreme
- 00:42:37teaching authority for the infallible
- 00:42:40fallibility of canonizations as been
- 00:42:41defined as sorry for it has not been
- 00:42:44defined as a dogma. Again, it hasn't
- 00:42:46been defined, so we don't have anything
- 00:42:47to go off of there. St. Thomas limits
- 00:42:50himself to giving what would be the
- 00:42:51equivalent of an argument from
- 00:42:53authority, a reductio at absurdum. That
- 00:42:56doesn't mean that it's absurd. It's a
- 00:42:58philosophical way of arguing, which is,
- 00:43:00if you will, the authority of the first
- 00:43:02principles of reason and of logic. There
- 00:43:05are two reductions. Denial of the
- 00:43:07infallibility of canonization would
- 00:43:09incur an unlikely two-fold detriment.
- 00:43:12one in the practical order and the other
- 00:43:14in the speculative order. The first
- 00:43:16reductio at absurdum on the practical
- 00:43:19level. If canonization were not
- 00:43:21infallible, it might happen that the
- 00:43:23faithful would venerate a sinner as a
- 00:43:25saint. Those who had known him in his
- 00:43:27lifetime would be led to believe on the
- 00:43:29church's authority that his sinful state
- 00:43:31was not in reality what it was. But that
- 00:43:34would result in confounding virtue and
- 00:43:36vice in the minds of the faithful, and
- 00:43:37this would be an error deletterious to
- 00:43:39the church. The second reduction at
- 00:43:42absurdum is on the theoretical level.
- 00:43:45St. Augustine says that if there were an
- 00:43:47error in the teaching of divine
- 00:43:48revelation consigned to the scriptures,
- 00:43:50faith would be deprived of its
- 00:43:51foundation. But just as our faith is
- 00:43:53based on the teachings of sacred
- 00:43:55scripture, it is also based on the
- 00:43:57teachings of the universal church.
- 00:43:58Hence, if an error were found in the
- 00:44:01teachings of the universal church, our
- 00:44:02faith would likewise be deprived of its
- 00:44:05foundation. Now, God cannot deprive the
- 00:44:07faith of its foundation. Hence, like the
- 00:44:09teaching of sacred scripture, the
- 00:44:11teachings of the universal church,
- 00:44:12including canonization, must be
- 00:44:15infallible. Dominic Banez completes this
- 00:44:18argument by specifying that if one
- 00:44:21affirms the possibility of error in the
- 00:44:23canonization of saints, the church
- 00:44:26militant would be scandalized in its
- 00:44:30morals. Its profession of faith would be
- 00:44:32made suspect, and the church militant in
- 00:44:34heaven would be insulted.
- 00:44:40That's
- 00:44:42interesting. So again, these are the
- 00:44:43strongest arguments possible in favor of
- 00:44:46the canonization of saints being
- 00:44:52infallible. To corroborate these
- 00:44:55defensive
- 00:44:56arguments, St. Thomas then uses an
- 00:44:58argument of theological
- 00:45:01reason. The judgment of canonization is
- 00:45:03a judgment of the pope in a matter that
- 00:45:05implies a certain profession of faith.
- 00:45:07Since to venerate a saint and imitate
- 00:45:09his virtues is to say implicitly that
- 00:45:11one believes he has attained the glory
- 00:45:12of
- 00:45:13heaven. Now in these matters that touch
- 00:45:16upon the profession of faith, the pope's
- 00:45:18judgment is infallible because of God's
- 00:45:20promise. The judgment of canonization is
- 00:45:23hence infallible. That's the
- 00:45:26argument. It is at this point useful to
- 00:45:28turn to clarifications given by John of
- 00:45:31St. Thomas in order to
- 00:45:33understand why the divine assistance is
- 00:45:35here required in
- 00:45:39particular. The judgment of canonization
- 00:45:41can be understood as a conclusion
- 00:45:43resulting from two
- 00:45:46premises. The first is a formally
- 00:45:48revealed conditional. Whoever preserves
- 00:45:50to the end in the heroic exercise of
- 00:45:52supernatural virtues obtains an eternal
- 00:45:55recompense in glory. The second is a
- 00:45:58probable fact detested by human
- 00:46:00testimony. Such uh one of the faithful
- 00:46:03did pres persevere to the end in the
- 00:46:05heroic exercise of the supernatural
- 00:46:07virtue. So it follows that we know that
- 00:46:10it's formally
- 00:46:12revealed meaning we know for certain
- 00:46:15that if you preserve to the end you go
- 00:46:18to heaven and therefore it's based on
- 00:46:21probability after this based on the
- 00:46:23testimony. This is how this process
- 00:46:24works.
- 00:46:28The conclusion that flows from these two
- 00:46:30premises is thus obtained by means of
- 00:46:32testimony and that is why it does not
- 00:46:33flow from a real absolute compelling
- 00:46:37uh scientific demonstration. There
- 00:46:40always is a level of speculation. This
- 00:46:42is why the process has to be beyond
- 00:46:46doubt. The judgment of canonization
- 00:46:49involves a line of argumentation which
- 00:46:52the classical legicians would have
- 00:46:53considered as a probable. We find there
- 00:46:57what we find there what must normally be
- 00:46:59proved in every theological reasoning
- 00:47:02since the proposition stated in the
- 00:47:05conclusion in this case is linked albeit
- 00:47:09indirectly to a truth of
- 00:47:12faith. This link is only
- 00:47:16indirect for between the truth formally
- 00:47:18revealed and the conclusion intervenes
- 00:47:20the mediation of a truth that uh the
- 00:47:22certitude of which is not that of
- 00:47:25faith. Here's the important and again
- 00:47:27remember
- 00:47:29this in in
- 00:47:32general since we are dealing with
- 00:47:34speculation about the state of a man's
- 00:47:36soul when he
- 00:47:38dies there is always going to be an
- 00:47:40indirect not direct relationship between
- 00:47:43what we believe as a matter of faith and
- 00:47:45what we profess about a Catholic as a
- 00:47:47matter of about a saint as a matter of
- 00:47:50faith and this is why the process needs
- 00:47:54to remove all possible doubt out from
- 00:47:57this in order for us to say we can be
- 00:48:00certain of the divine assistance here in
- 00:48:02the sense of
- 00:48:08afallibility.
- 00:48:09Continuing, though only indirect, the
- 00:48:11link exists and the conclusion is rooted
- 00:48:13despite everything in a formal and
- 00:48:14explicit profession of faith. The
- 00:48:16difference that leads one to say that
- 00:48:18this argument is only probable is that
- 00:48:21to establish a theological conclusion,
- 00:48:23one reasons from an evident and certain
- 00:48:26proposition of reason, whereas to
- 00:48:28establish the judgment of a
- 00:48:29canonization, one reasons from
- 00:48:31testimonies. This is why divine
- 00:48:33assistance is necessary precisely at the
- 00:48:36level of the discernment of the
- 00:48:37testimonies. Infallibility cannot
- 00:48:40accompany an act which one appeals to
- 00:48:43conting in which one appeals to
- 00:48:45contingency and of which the certitude
- 00:48:47remains only
- 00:48:49probable. One could object that if
- 00:48:51canonization is considered as
- 00:48:53infallible, it is placed on the same
- 00:48:55level as solemn
- 00:48:57exa definitions which seems
- 00:49:00inconceivable.
- 00:49:01Benedict the 14th answers with all of
- 00:49:03the most assured theological tradition
- 00:49:06that such assimilation is on the
- 00:49:09contrary in the order of things. So
- 00:49:11basically the argument here is that
- 00:49:14because we're not dealing with
- 00:49:16revelation, we're dealing with someone
- 00:49:18who is a human being who we have
- 00:49:21relative certainty about. To say that
- 00:49:23it's like defining something as if we're
- 00:49:25defining a dogma or the pope is defining
- 00:49:27a dogma, that's not really possible. And
- 00:49:29this is where the infallibility of it
- 00:49:31tends to get
- 00:49:34disputed. Certainly one cannot
- 00:49:37univocally reduce canonization to an
- 00:49:39infallible dogmatic
- 00:49:41definition. Um so it can't be infallible
- 00:49:45in the same way even if it were to be it
- 00:49:48would not be in the same way that sort
- 00:49:49of the definition of the immaculate
- 00:49:50conception would be for example. But one
- 00:49:54may
- 00:49:56nonetheless one may nonetheless
- 00:50:00um consider that the act of the
- 00:50:02infallible solemn magisterium happens in
- 00:50:05anal analogical analogically various
- 00:50:09ways. So an act of the pope having as
- 00:50:12its end the observation conservation of
- 00:50:15the common good of the entire church is
- 00:50:16an act of infallible definition. That
- 00:50:19would be the argument there.
- 00:50:22Now the pope conserves the common good
- 00:50:24of the whole church not only when he
- 00:50:25acts strictly as supreme doctrine
- 00:50:27teaching but also when he acts more
- 00:50:28broadly as supreme pastor in
- 00:50:30governing. The teaching of the doctor
- 00:50:32does not exhaust all the activity of the
- 00:50:34pastor. And it is incumbent on the
- 00:50:37pastor to make the laws that provide for
- 00:50:39the common good of the whole church. As
- 00:50:41such these laws do not express formally
- 00:50:42revealed truth but in so far as they are
- 00:50:45given for the good of the unity of faith
- 00:50:48these are analoges of an infallible
- 00:50:50definition. So it's infall the idea is
- 00:50:52that it's basically infallible by way of
- 00:50:54of an
- 00:50:58analogy and father glaze says let us add
- 00:51:01one additional reason to justify this
- 00:51:03analogy again he's trying to
- 00:51:05prove the strongest from the strongest
- 00:51:08arguments possible the thesis that
- 00:51:11canonizations are
- 00:51:13infallible as he says we have shown
- 00:51:15above based on St. Thomas and his
- 00:51:17commentators that if canonization is in
- 00:51:18consequence a model and a law, it is
- 00:51:21formally and foremost immediate
- 00:51:23profession of faith, one could already
- 00:51:25rightly assimilate it to a
- 00:51:27definition. Canonization would be
- 00:51:29reduced could be reduced to the exercise
- 00:51:31of the infallible and personal solemn
- 00:51:33magisterium of the sovereign pontiff as
- 00:51:35its secondary object. Among other
- 00:51:38authors, Father Salvi cites several
- 00:51:40examples in which one sees that the
- 00:51:42terms employed by Pope Pius the 11th and
- 00:51:4512th express without the least doubt
- 00:51:47their explicit intention to exercise a
- 00:51:49solemn infallible
- 00:51:51act. Archbishop Lev would often say that
- 00:51:54Pope St. Pius V had canonized the right
- 00:51:57of mass. He meant thereby to signify the
- 00:52:00infallibility of lurggical laws by
- 00:52:03analogy with that of
- 00:52:04canonizations. and he thused the latter
- 00:52:07as very probably equivalent to a
- 00:52:09personal act of the Pope's solemn
- 00:52:12magisterium. Now, I'm going to jump over
- 00:52:14back to this work of John Lamont for a
- 00:52:16little bit of context here about this
- 00:52:19act by the Pope of
- 00:52:21canonizing. And
- 00:52:24um this is where the free preview is
- 00:52:26going to end. Now, we're going to do
- 00:52:29that on the other side of the payw wall.
- 00:52:31So, you can watch it now by signing up
- 00:52:34underneath or you can wait a week, 10
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- 00:52:44[Music]
- canonization
- infallibility
- Catholic Church
- beatification
- Second Vatican Council
- theology
- saints
- heroic virtue
- tradition
- modernism