January 2004

A happy 2004 to you all. May God bless you and yours and may Blessed Edmund guide you. A few of you have been asking what are the ecclesial implications of Edmund Rice being declared ‘Blessed’ in 1996. A document issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments (the former Sacred Congregation of Rites) in May 1999 addresses these very concerns: Concerning Cult of the Beatified (Prot. N. 1172/99/L). I give below a summary of the 14 points in the document. Please apply these to Edmund Rice and if anything strikes you about how better we could honour Blessed Edmund, please get in touch with me. For example, under No.11, there is mention that a beatus (‘blessed’) is entitled to a halo in a pictorial representation. Any budding artists among you out there?
(Note: The English translation below is a bit stilted, as it was originally written in Latin, translated into Italian and only then written in English!)

1. The blessed are legitimately called the Servants of God, for whom this name was solemnly declared by the Roman Pontiff in the rite of beatification, or whose cult by an immemorial custom was confirmed by the Holy See.

2. The liturgical cult of the blessed is granted only in those places and ways that are established by law.

3. The diocesan bishop has the authority to request for inclusion in the calendar of his diocese a blessed who has a special link there, e.g., place of origin, long residence, apostolic activity, death, or burial.

4. The leader of a religious congregation has the same authority to request that in a particular calendar of the institute the name of the blessed be included, who was a member of the institute or who had a special relationship with it.

5. The celebration of the blessed is usually assigned to the day of their birth into heaven, unless impeded by an existing celebration in the universal calendar. In such a case, the feast day of the ‘blessed’ may be assigned to a nearer date. Also, for pastoral reasons, the new feast day may be assigned to a date more suitable for greater participation (as in the case of Blessed Edmund Rice, 5 May, when most schools in both northern and southern hemispheres are open).

6. The celebration of a particular blessed that is legitimately inscribed in the particular calendar of a diocese or religious family is observed as an optional memorial, and as an obligatory memorial in the church where the blessed’s remains are conserved. The grade of feast is usually reserved for the calendar of the religious institute founded by the blessed.

7. Lest the calendar of a whole diocese or religious institute be overburdened, care must be taken that only those blessed be inscribed for their own celebration who have a special importance for the whole diocese or religious institute. Other blessed are only to be celebrated in those places where there is a closer relationship or where their remains are conserved. With even greater reason, this norm is valid for the whole region or country.

8. The liturgical texts for the celebration of the blessed can be taken from the respective common either of the Roman Missal or of the Liturgy of the Hours. The collect, having a special relation with the blessed, is to be proper. In the office of readings, the second reading with the responsory will be proposed either from the writings of the blessed or taken from a contemporary witness, otherwise from the writings of the fathers or ecclesiastical writers…. These texts must be presented to the Congregation for Divine Worship by the competent authority before the beatification, and may not be changed without the consent of the Holy See.

9. To choose a blessed as the titular of a church, it is necessary to have previous permission from Rome, unless the blessed’s memorial has already been added to the particular calendar. In this case, special permission is not required and the veneration of the blessed is celebrated as a feast in the church of which he/she is the titular.

10. According to the norms established by the Congregation for Divine Worship, a blessed can be chosen as the patron of a place or association. However, this choice must be confirmed by the Holy See.

11. Where cult has been allowed, the remains or relics can be presented for public veneration, and images of the blessed can be adorned with a halo.

12. The faculty of having liturgical celebrations in honour of a recently beatified person within a year of the beatification is to be sought, along with the approval of the liturgical texts of the new blessed, prior to the beatification.

13. The names of the blessed who are read in the diocesan calendar or that of a religious institute can be named in the Third Eucharistic Prayer and in the Litany of the Saints.

14. For those ancient blesseds who have never been formally beatified and who are not listed in the Roman Martyrology and whose public cult has not been decreed or confirmed by Rome, it is permitted to honour them locally, if they have been honoured by immemorial custom or public and religious cult.

                                                   - Vatican City: 11 May 1999: Cardinal Medina Estevez, Prefect.

It might be useful to make the 14 points listed the material for a meeting or discussion, where the services of a liturgist/theologian can be availed of to explain the technical language! The whole point is that we should be willing and able to give Blessed Edmund the maximum public veneration permitted for a ‘blessed’. In our private devotion, of course, we should continue to pray through his intercession and study his life for areas where his example is still valid, or maybe especially valid, today. God bless! Pray for me.
 

Br. Donal Blake CFC,
Postulator,
blake.d@tiscalinet.it

Go To Top