CATHOLIC WORD BOOK - Knights of Columbus, Supreme Council

after death. The pope can dispense from
some of the formalities ordinarily required
in canonization procedures (equivalent
canonization), as Pope John XXIII did in
the canonization of St. Gregory Barbarigo
on May 26, 1960. A saint is worthy of
honor in liturgical worship throughout the
universal Church. From its earliest years
the Church has venerated saints. Public
official honor always required the approval
of the bishop of the place. Martyrs were
the first to be honored. St. Martin of Tours,
who died in 397, was an early non martyr
venerated as a saint. The earliest
canonization by a pope with positive
documentation was that of St. Ulrich
(Uldaric) of Augsburg by John XV in 993.
Alexander III reserved the process of
canonization to the Holy See in 1171. In
1588 Sixtus V established the Sacred
Congregation of Rites for the principal
purpose of handling causes for
beatification and canonization: this
function is now the work of the
Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The
official listing of saints and blessed is
contained in the Roman Martyrology
(revised, updated, and published in 2002
by the Congregation for Divine Worship
and the Discipline of the Sacraments) and
related decrees issued after its last
publication. Butler’s unofficial Lives of the
Saints (1956 and recently updated)
contains 2,565 entries. The Church
regards all persons in heaven as saints, not
just those who have been officially
canonized. (See Beatification, Saints,
Canonizations by Leo XIII and His
Successors.)
Canon Law: See under Canon Law.
Canticle: A scriptural chant or prayer
differing from the psalms. Three of the
canticles prescribed for use in the Liturgy
of the Hours are: the Magnificat, the
Canticle of Mary (Lk 1:46 55); the
Benedictus, the Canticle of Zechariah (Lk
1:68 79); and the Nunc Dimittis, the
Canticle of Simeon (Lk 2:29 32).
Capital Punishment: Punishment for crime
by means of the death penalty. The
political community, which has authority
to provide for the common good, has the
right to defend itself and its members
against unjust aggression and may in
extreme cases punish with the death
penalty persons found guilty before the
law of serious crimes against individuals
and a just social order. Such punishment is
essentially vindictive. Its value as a crime
deterrent is a matter of perennial debate.
The prudential judgment as to whether or
not there should be capital punishment
belongs to the civic community. The U.S.
Supreme Court, in a series of decisions
dating from June 29, 1972, ruled against
the constitutionality of statutes on capital
punishment except in specific cases and
with appropriate consideration, with
respect to sentence, of mitigating
circumstances of the crime. Pope John
Paul II, in his encyclical letter Evangelium
Vitae (“The Gospel of Life”), wrote: “There
is a growing tendency, both in the Church
and in civil society, to demand that it
(capital punishment) be applied in a very
limited way or even that it be abolished
completely.” Quoting the Catechism of the
Catholic Church, the pope wrote: “‘If
bloodless means are sufficient to defend
human lives against an aggressor and to
protect public order and the safety of
persons, public authority must limit itself
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