November, 2003

Rome has been a very busy place recently for an ailing Pope. John Paul II celebrated the Silver Jubilee of his Papal election with a busy round of engagements at the Vatican. In mid-October he beatified his old friend, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and yesterday, 9 November, he declared ‘Blessed’  yet another five Servants of God. As I gazed at the unveiled pictures of the five new Beati I thought of our own Blessed Edmund and wondered how long till he will be declared St Edmund. Timing and relevance, of course, are everything, and then again, there is God’s time and our time! There is truth in the old proverb that God helps those who help themselves, and so it behoves all of us to progress Blessed Edmund’s Cause in every way we can.

At one level, all that is now required to complete Blessed Edmund’s Canonisation is one more authenticated miracle involving a cure in the medical area.  Contrary to popular belief, there is a healthy scepticism at the Congregation for Causes about supposed miracles, and rightly so.  The rigorous tests put in place reject many remarkable cures because the strict criteria are not met in some area or other, despite many recipients of favours being absolutely certain that it was the intervention of God, in response to the prayer of some one or other holy person, that caused a marked improvement in their state of health.  In Blessed Edmund’s case, we keep hearing of remarkable favours received, apparently through his intercession, in various parts of the world.  But in many cases it is doubtful if the paltry documentation available could be the basis of a miracle that could be used to promote Edmund’s Canonisation.

The message then is clear: Keep up the prayer through Edmund’s intercession in your own small groups. Inform the relevant Edmund Rice Network people in your part of the world and widen the prayer base of the various novenas, etc., you organise for various named sick people.  Study the relevance of some of Edmund’s ministries and share these with like-minded people.  Remember, there are hundreds of beatified holy ones on the books of the Congregation for Saints [and some have been there for a long time!], and Rome, generally, with such a number to choose from,  is in no hurry to canonise them, even with the evidence of a miracle, unless there is an enthusiasm for such a move among a significant number of people who see the blessed one’s promotion of Gospel values as relevant for our times and our condition. Come on then – we owe it to Blessed Edmund to be up and doing!

Regarding my own situation here in Rome, I am quite busy on two fronts –

(1) pursuing an intensive course in the Italian language, the medium of most interaction with the Congregation for Causes, and

(2) completing a detailed course at the Augustinianum  (Augustinian House of Studies) on the theology, history and procedures of Canonisation.

This course is attended by 73 people, male and female, clerical and lay, young and not so young, who are engaged  in one way or another in the processes of Beatifications and Canonisations at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The course is run entirely in Italian and is quite intensive. The course is run four evenings a week, Tuesday to Friday, and does not conclude until March 2004. Last week the participants were addressed by Cardinal Martinez and Bishop Novak, the Chairman and Secretary respectively of the Congregation for Saints.

In the case of the Cause of Blessed Edmund Rice, a Relator, a member of the Vatican staff, needs to be appointed to liaise with me on procedural matters – and there are very few dealing with English-language Causes!  I have been reliably informed that it would be futile to make such an approach until I have procured a diploma in March 2004 stating that I have satisfactorily completed the course at the Augustinianum on which I am now embarked.  Keep me in your prayers that what I do and say may redound to the renown of Blessed Edmund and what he stood for.