STEPS TO BECOMING A SAINT
Request for CanonizationAt least five years after a person’s death (unless a special exception is made by the Pope), a formal request is made to consider the person for sainthood. Those making the request are usually from the candidate’s church or religious community. They submit their request to the bishop of the diocese in which the person died.The request details how the person lived a life of holiness and lists reasons for considering sainthood. If the bishop believes there is enough evidence, he asks the Vatican for permission to open a special tribunal. Witnesses are called to attest to the candidate’s goodness, holiness, devotion to God and other virtues. If a person passes this step, he or she is named a “Servant of God.”DeterminationIn the next step, the bishop sends a formal report and request to the Vatican, where it is reviewed by the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. Nine theologians read the material on the candidate and determine whether there is enough cause to pass it to the entire congregation. If so, the candidate’s writings and other aspects of his or her life are studied to make sure there is nothing that goes against the teachings and practices of the church.To make sure the final decision is complete and fair, a person called a “devil’s advocate” raises questions and objections to the candidate’s sainthood. Once a candidate has been determined to be virtuous and heroic in his or her faith, they’re declared “Venerable.”BeatificationIn step three, if a candidate is considered a martyr — someone who died for their faith — he or she may be beatified and named “Blessed.” If the martyr designation isn’t granted, the focus turns to whether a miracle brought about by the intercession of the candidate has occurred and verified by the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. Once the person is beatified and named “Blessed,” he or she can be venerated, or officially honored, in his or her city, diocese, region or religious community.CanonizationAfter being beatified, another miracle is required for the person to be canonized and officially declared a saint. Once again, the miracle must have occurred as a result of the candidate’s intercession. The Prefect of the Congregation then sends the cause for canonization to the Pope, who makes the final decision. Once a person is canonized, they are officially declared a “Saint” at a special mass in their honor.— Source: www.SadlierWeBelieveBlog.com
Father Ryan Servant of God Prayer
“Heavenly Father, through the intercession of the Servant of God, Patrick Ryan, may I be granted the favor I seek … I ask this in the name of Jesus, Your Son who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, on God forever and ever, Amen.”
In 1878, Chattanooga was besieged by a yellow fever epidemic. Most residents of the city, minus the 366 who died and the ones infected by the disease, left during the epidemic period.
Among the nearly 1,800 who stayed was a Catholic priest assigned to Sts. Peter and Paul - Father Patrick J. Ryan.
He stayed to tend to the sick and dying and eventually was bitten by a mosquito that carried the disease. Only 33 years old, he died on Sept. 28, 1878, two days after first showing symptoms. He was buried on the grounds of the then-small church on Lindsay Street. The current basilica on Eighth Street was dedicated in 1890.
Earlier this summer, Bishop Richard F. Stika and the Diocese of Knoxville formally initiated a Cause for Sainthood for Ryan. It is a long and arduous process requiring a great deal of fact-finding, paperwork and procedures dictated by the Vatican.
The latest saint approved by the Vatican is Mother Teresa, who was declared Saint Teresa of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) on Sept. 4 after dedicating her life to the poor in the slums of India; she also won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She died in 1997 at age 87 and it took 19 years for her to achieve sainthood.
"Father Ryan was a man of holiness and a man of Christ who through his efforts to minister to the sick became sick himself. He gave his life for people in trouble," Stika said on the diocese's website.
"The Bible reminds us that Jesus said there is no greater love than to lay down your life for another. Father Ryan did that."
Gaspar DeGaetano, a deacon at Sts. Peter and Paul, is vice postulator for the pursuit of sainthood for Ryan. As postulator, DeGaetano will present the case for Ryan's beatification and canonization, a request that officially comes from the Provence of Louisville, which oversees Catholic dioceses in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Being named a saint in the Catholic Church would mean Ryan's name is added to the official catalog of saints. With that title, masses and feast days can be celebrated in his honor. Churches also can be dedicated in his memory, and his name can be used in public prayers such as litanies.
"Here we have a priest who could very easily have fled the city, or stayed away from the areas that were afflicted with the ravages of the Yellow Fever," the Rev. David Carter, rector at Sts. Peter and Paul, said in the article on the Diocese of Knoxville website. "But following an impulse of great charity, Father Ryan went into those places, stayed, and ministered to the people that contracted the disease, and died from it while ministering to his people in a very heroic way."
Waldery Hilgeman, a Ph.D. of canon and civil law who works closely with the Vatican on matters of sainthood, will serve as postulator if the request moves up the chain and makes it to Rome.
By virtue of Stika's decree and documents signed on Aug. 9 at the Chancery, which handles written documents for the diocese, the pursuit of sainthood for Ryan is now open. For now, he is considered a Servant of God, the initial phase in the process of being pronounced a saint.
Mary Portera, Barbara DeGaetno, wife of Deacon DeGaetano, and Mike Meehan, all members of Sts. Peter and Paul, are members of the historical commission looking into Ryan's history. They are charged with finding all they can, including birth records, sacramental records and other information, not only about Ryan but also details about the yellow fever epidemic and and Sts. Peter and Paul at the time.
"The report has to be very detailed and exacting," Portera says.
Six years after his death, Ryan was reburied at the newly created Mount Olivet Cemetery in East Ridge. He was hailed as a town hero and a martyr for his work with the sick during the epidemic, according to newspaper accounts.
A story in the Chattanooga Times following the ceremony read: "No more fitting occasion could have been chosen for the paying of tributes of honor and affection won by this martyred priest in those days of black fever and languishing pain and sudden death."
The reburial ceremony included one of the longest corteges, or processions, seen in the city for many years, with nearly 100 horse-drawn carriages stretching more than a mile as they made the trip from downtown and over Missionary Ridge to the burial site.
It was at the urging of Ryan that the Dominican Sisters of the St. Cecilia congregation opened Notre Dame de Lourdes Academy in 1876. It relocated to the Glenwood neighborhood in 1966 and is the oldest private school in Chattanooga. It will celebrate its 140th anniversary on Oct. 6.
Two years after opening, Notre Dame converted into a hospital and orphanage during the epidemic. Not only did Ryan tend to the sick at the church and school, he also went into some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods to do what he could.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.