The Quintuple Canonization of 1622: Between the Renewal of the Making of Saints and Claims for Pontifical Monopoly

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the particular place of the quintuple canonization of 1622 in the long history of papal canonization. While the papacy gradually imposed its control over the creation of new saints in the Middle Ages, in the Modern Era it faced a double challenge to its practice. On the one hand, Luther condemned the elevation to the altars in 1523 of the Saxon bishop Benno of Meissen, in which he saw the creation of a new idol. And, in fact, a long silence from the Roman Curia followed. On the other hand, when Sixtus V decided to canonize a new saint in 1588 in response to the insistent request of Philip II of Spain, the Roman Curia was confronted with strong pressure from the new orders to have their founder canonized in the context of a multiplication of cults of beati that was beyond its control. The quintuple canonization of 1622 was the triumph of these orders and their founder, but Urban VIII drew radical consequences in the years that followed. He decided to impose new rules of procedure that allowed Rome to extend its monopoly to the cult of the beati and to regain for a few decades the parsimony of medieval canonization.