The papal prerogative to declare the holiness of a departed member of the faithful is rooted in Pope Gregory IX’s Decretals (1234), which asserted that Rome alone had the exclusive right to canonize saints. However, significant changes in the canonization process began only after Pope Sixtus V created the Congregation of Rites in 1588, which was tasked, among others, to conduct processes of beatification and canonization.

     In 1634, through the decree Cælestis Hierusalem Cives, Pope Urban VIII forbade the existence of any public cultus for a purported saint unless his/her martyrdom or heroic virtues had been formally recognized by the Congregation of Rites. Likewise, the cultus of anyone regarded as a saint may not be licit unless a process per viam cultus proves that he/she had been the object of an immemorial public veneration at least one hundred years before the publication of the decree.

     In 1969, Paul VI divided the Congregation of Rites into two separate offices, one of which, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (CCS), was given complete and sole jurisdiction over all beatification and canonization proceedings from then onward. 

     Below are models of holiness who were formally beatified or canonized under the auspices of the CCS since its establishment.

[Bd.] Pedro de Arbués

(1440-85)

c.c. 23 March 1652

beat. 20 April 1664

can. 29 June 1867

[Bd.] Isabel Flores de Oliva

[Rosa from Lima]

(1586-1617)

beat. 15 Apr. 1668

can. 12 April 1671

[Bd.] Pius V

[Antonio Ghislieri]

(1504-1572)

beat. 01 May 1672

can. 22 May 1712

[Bd.] Juan de Yepes Álvarez of the Cross

(1542-91)

beat. 21 April 1675

can. 27 December 1726

[Bd.] Francisco Solano Jiménez

(1549-1610)

beat. 20 June 1675

can. 27 December 1726

[Bb.] Nicolaas Pieck and 18 Companions

(† 1572)

c.c. 13 July 1649

beat. 24 November 1675

can. 29 June 1867

[Bd.] Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo Robledo

(1538-1606)

beat. 02 July 1679

can. 10 December 1726

[Bd.] Jean-François Règis

(1597-1640)

beat. 24 May 1716

can. 16 June 1737

[Bd.] Giacinta Marescotti

(1585-1640)

beat. 01 September 1726

can. 24 May 1807

Bd. Juan de Prado Díez

(1563-1631)

beat. 24 May 1728

[Bd.] Fidelis Roy from Sigmaringen

(1578-1622)

beat. 24 March 1729

can. 29 June 1746

[Bd.] Serafino Pampiani from Montegranaro

(1540-1604)

beat. 18 July 1729

can. 16 July 1767

[Bd.] Vincent de Paul

(1581-1660)

beat. 21 August 1729

can. 16 June 1737

[Bd.] Pierre Fourier

(1565-1640)

beat. 29 January 1730

can. 27 May 1897

[Bd.] Caterina de’ Ricci

(1522-1590)

beat. 23 November 1732

can. 29 June 1746

[Bd.] Giuseppe Desideri from Leonessa

(1556-1612)

beat. 22 June 1737

can. 29 June 1746

[Bd.] Alessandro Maria Sauli

(1534-92)

beat. 23 April 1741

can. 11 December 1904

[Bd.] Camillo de Lellis

(1550-1614)

beat. 07 April 1742

can. 29 June 1746

[Bd.] Girolamo Emiliani [Miani]

(1486-1537)

beat. 29 September 1747

can. 16 July 1767

[Bd.] José Calasanz Gastón

(1558-1648)

beat. 18 August 1748

can. 16 July 1767

[Bd.] Jeanne-Françoise Frémyot de Chantal

(1572-1641)

beat. 21 November 1751

can. 16 July 1767

[Bd.] Giuseppe Desa

from Copertino

(1603-63)

beat. 24 February 1753

can. 16 July 1767

[Bd.] Gregorio Barbarigo

(1625-97)

beat. 20 September 1761

eq. can. 26 May 1960

[Bd]. Simón de Rojas

(1552-1624)

beat. 19 May 1766

can. 03 July 1988

[Bd.] Leonardo Casanova from Porto Maurizio

(1676-1751)

beat. 19 June 1767

can. 29 June 1867

[Bd.] Bernardo Latini from Corleone

(1605-67)

beat. 15 May 1768

can. 10 June 2001

[Bd.] Francesco Caracciolo

(1563-1608)

beat. 10 September 1769

can. 24 May 1807

Bd. Paolo Burali

(1511-78)

beat. 08 June 1772

Bd. Bonaventura Lavanga from Potenza

(1651-1711)

beat. 26 November 1775

[Bd.] Miguel Argemir

Mijá of the Saints

(1591-1625)

beat. 02 May 1779

can. 08 June 1862

Bd. Mariana Navarro de Guevara Romero of Jesus

(1565-1624)

beat. 25 May 1783

[Bd.] Lorenzo Russo

from Brindisi

(1559-1619)

beat. 01 June 1783

can. 08 December 1881

Bd. Giovanna Maria Bonomo

(1606-70)

beat. 09 June 1783

Bd. Nicolás Factor Estaña

(1520-83)

beat. 27 August 1786

Bd. Gaspar de Bono Manzon

(1530-1604)

beat. 10 September 1786

[Bd.] Pacifico Divini from San Severino

(1653-1721)

beat. 13 August 1786

can. 26 May 1839

[Bd.] Tommaso Placidi from Cori

(1655-1729)

beat. 03 September 1786

can. 21 November 1999

[Bd.] Nicola Saggio

from Longobardi

(1649-1709)

beat. 17 September 1786

can. 23 November 2014

Bd. Sebastián de Aparicio Prado

(1502-1600)

beat. 17 May 1789

[Bd.] Giovan Giuseppe Calosinto of the Cross

(1654-1734)

beat. 24 May 1789

can. 26 May 1839

Bd. Andrés Hibernón Real

(1534-1602)

beat. 22 May 1791

Bd. Barbe Acarie

[Marie of the Incarnation]

(1566-1618)

beat. 05 June 1791

[Bd.] Caterina Tomàs  Gallard

(1531-74)

beat. 12 August 1792

can. 22 June 1930

Bd. Bernardo Perani

from Offida

(1604-94)

beat. 25 May 1795