How the Church recognizes a saint

Canonization is the process by which the Catholic Church solemnly declares that a deceased person is with God in Heaven and proposes their example of life and prayer to the faithful. The process is long, rigorous and marked by four major stages.

1. Servant of God

After the cause is opened by the diocesan bishop — generally at least five years after death, in keeping with the current norm of the Holy See, a period the Pope may dispense from —, the candidate receives the title of Servant of God. Documentation is gathered about their life, writings and testimonies of heroic virtues.

2. Venerable

After the Congregation for the Causes of Saints evaluates the documentation and the Pope promulgates a decree on the heroic virtues (or martyrdom), the Servant of God is declared Venerable. Public veneration is not yet authorized.

3. Blessed

For beatification, as a rule, a scientifically inexplicable miracle attributed to the candidate's intercession is required; in the case of martyrs, this requirement may be dispensed from. The Pope authorizes public veneration of the Blessed, generally limited — for example, to their diocese, nation or religious order.

4. Saint

For canonization, as a rule, a further miracle is required, occurring after beatification. With it, the Pope extends the cult to the universal Church, declaring that the saint is certainly in Heaven and proposing them as a model of faith.

Doctors of the Church

Distinct from canonization: the Church confers the title of Doctor of the Church on saints whose theological work brought lasting light to the People of God. The list grows over time: among the most recent are Hildegard of Bingen and John of Ávila (Benedict XVI, 2012), Saint Irenaeus of Lyon (Francis, 2022) and Saint John Henry Newman (Leo XIV, 2025).

And those without public veneration?

Many important figures of Christian history are not canonized saints — ecclesiastical writers, anonymous authors, founding monks. Medalius gathers these voices — an editorial curation, not a canonical category — in the Codex of Personalities, and their works in the Codex.

Medalius is an independent initiative, with no official ties to the Church. This content is informative and was checked against the official sources cited below, but it may contain inaccuracies — it does not replace the Church's documents or the guidance of a priest.