Rorate Caeli

The fanon is back! And some notes on today's canonization rite.


St. Peter's Square, October 21, 2012
Photo source

It is noteworthy that the rite of canonization used today is in great measure (albeit not completely) a return to the traditional rite of canonization, with three successive petitions to the Holy Father to canonize the beati, the chanting of the Veni Creator after the second petition, and the singing of the Te Deum after the Formula of Canonization. In this it is very similar to the rite of canonization as used prior to the time of Pope Pius XII, who shortened it somewhat. However, the new 2012 rite of canonization also incorporates the Pacellian practice of having the the Litany of Saints chanted during the entrance procession. (Prior to the reign of Pius XII, the Litany was chanted after the first petition.)

In the new rite of canonization, the third and final petition to the Holy Father, just before the actual pronouncement of the Formula of Canonization, reads as follows (emphasis is Rorate's):

Most Holy Father, Holy Church, trusting in the Lord's promise to send upon her the Spirit of Truth, who in every age keeps the Supreme Magisterium free from error, most earnestly beseeches Your Holiness to enroll these, her elect, among the saints.

The complete text for today's Canonizations and Papal Mass can be found HERE. (For comparison, see the booklet for the 2011 Canonization Mass)

SS. Jacques Berthieu, Pedro Calungsod, Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Carmen Sallés y Barangueras, Marianne Cope, Kateri Tekakwitha and Anna Schäffer -- pray for us!