Martyrs The decision as to whether
martyrs had died for their faith in Christ and the consequent permission of veneration lay originally with the bishop of the place in which they had borne their testimony. The bishop inquired into the motive of the person's death and, on finding they had died a martyr, sent their name with an account of their martyrdom to other churches, especially neighboring ones, so that, in the event of approval by their respective bishops, the cultus of the martyr might extend to their churches also and that the faithful, as is said of
Ignatius of Antioch in the "Acts" of his martyrdom "might hold communion with the generous martyr of Christ" (
generoso Christi martyri communicarent). Martyrs whose cause, so to speak, had been discussed, and the fame of whose martyrdom had been confirmed, were known as proved (
vindicati) martyrs. That word probably did not antedate the fourth century, when it was introduced into the Church at Carthage; but the fact is certainly older. In the earlier ages, therefore, this veneration was entirely local and passed from one church to another with the permission of their bishops. This is clear from the fact that in ancient Christian cemeteries there are found paintings of only those martyrs who had suffered in that neighborhood. It explains, also, the almost universal veneration very quickly paid to, e.g.,
Lawrence,
Cyprian, and
Sixtus II, who were killed by the Roman
Emperor Valerian.
Confessors The veneration of
confessors, who died peacefully after a life of
heroic virtue, is not as ancient as that of martyrs. It was in the fourth century, as is commonly held, that confessors were first given public ecclesiastical honour, though occasionally praised in ardent terms by earlier Fathers. Individual confessors themselves were sometimes called martyrs.
Gregory Nazianzen calls
Basil of Caesarea a martyr;
John Chrysostom applies the same title to
Eustachius of Antioch;
Paulinus of Nola writes of
Felix of Nola that he won heavenly honours
sine sanguine martyr ("A bloodless martyr");
Gregory the Great styles
Zeno of Verona as a martyr and Metronius gives to Roterius the same title. Later on, the names of confessors were inserted in the diptychs, and reverence was paid them. Their tombs were honoured with the same title (
martyria) as those of the martyrs. It remained true, however, at all times that it was unlawful to venerate confessors without permission of the ecclesiastical authority as it had been so to venerate martyrs.
Authority to canonize For several centuries, the
bishops, or in some places only the
primates and
patriarchs, could grant martyrs and confessors public ecclesiastical honour; such honour, however, was always decreed only for the local territory of which the grantors had jurisdiction. Universal acceptance of the
cultus was said to be made possible by the
pope because he claimed to be the sole ruler the universal
Catholic Church. Toward the end of the eleventh century the popes judged it necessary to restrict episcopal authority in this regard, and therefore decreed that the virtues and miracles of persons proposed for public veneration should be examined in councils, more specifically in general councils. Popes
Urban II,
Calixtus II, and
Eugene III conformed to this discipline. It happened, even after these decrees, that "some, following the ways of the pagans and deceived by the fraud of the evil one, venerated as a saint a man who had been killed while intoxicated."
Pope Alexander III (1159–81) prohibited his veneration in these words: "For the future you will not presume to pay him reverence, as, even though miracles were worked through him, it would not allow you to revere him as a saint unless with the authority of the Roman Church." Theologians disagree as to the full import of this decretal: either a new law was instituted, in which case the
Pope then for the first time reserved the right of beatification to himself, or an existing law was confirmed. Because the decretal did not end all controversy and some bishops did not obey it in so far as it regarded beatification, the right of which they had certainly possessed hitherto,
Urban VIII published a
papal bull in 1634 which ended all discussion by exclusively reserving to the
Apostolic See both the right of
canonization and that of
beatification. ==Leadership==