Cats

Rev dear Rev: In your opinion as a Promoter of Faith, do you now think there is a reasonable chance of the Beatification of Catherine of Aragon this year of 2022? Or even another royal figure, Princess Grace Kelly of the kingdom of Monaco?

Everybody likes to be remembered, and there is no greater way of being remembered than that of being raised to the dignity of the altars after one’s death. Just to explain, the title and function of the Promoter of Faith is not about the promotion of some movement for science, but it is the modern title for the old job of the Devil’s Advocate in beatification procedures in Rome. 1536 to 2022, a long time, a lot of water under those bridges, but as Catherine died in East Anglia diocese, at Kimbolton Castle, she would be subject to the bishop of Norwich and he would have to be asked to prepare a dossier and a postulation for her. Beatifications are difficult to establish since normally the “Positio Super Virtutibus” requires evidence of some reputation for super-human heroic virtue before death, but the PF or DA intervenes at these stages to frustrate such a finding, so it is a difficult business. Queens and Princesses have a tough time because of the intrigues of state and the challenges around at the time - look at that contemporary of Catherine, Queen Anne Boleyn who probably did die as a Christian martyr. But if a saint or a venerandus can be shown to have suffered a slow death of a Christian martyr, then the “Positio Super Virtutibus” is set aside, and the procedure becomes different, showing that the martyr died simply in odium or in hatred of the faith at the hands of others. So Christian martyrs there are a few, and Princess Fergie herself has had occasion to remind people how much she suffered at the hands of the rumours of the court circulars too. Princess Grace is rumoured to have died as a Christian martyr too. Heroic virtue though not easy. So also the modern Catherine of Aragorn if not Aragon. So heroic virtue normally has to be demonstrated plus a reputation for sanctity AT THE TIME OF DEATH. This will be easy for Catherine of Aragon, and also for Anne Boleyn but how much more so for the moderns what with the tabloids around them morning, noon, and night? Heroic virtue is not easy to demonstrate, but it is always contextual, so it is possible, and Christian martyrdom is proposed here as another Via for the veneranda herself. Since Queen Catherine died before the reformation got off to a flying start, possibly poisoned, then the catholic bishops with the votum of the bishop of Norwich, Dr Hopes, could look into the question themselves, with or without permission from a royal head of the Church of England, even if by common courtesy this might be advisable. So it is not impossible, indeed as time goes by, and more and more is known about the intrigues of state at that time among the Tudors, it might well be feasible for a couple of enterprising bishops to travel to Rome to visit the Congregation of Saints and obtain an initial licence to proceed with the beatification of Queen Catherine and maybe too of Queen Anne - it is not beyond the bounds of possibility. 2022 could be a good year to lift spirits after so much Covid. As for Princess Grace, the bishop of the place where she died is the one who automatically enjoys competence to look into her cause. France?