The norms for beatification and canonization and their implementation under the pontificate of John Paul II also bear relevance to the question of the ecclesial status of St. Philomena. In the 1983 Apostolic Constitution, Divinus Perfectionis Magister, John Paul reiterates through his implementation of norms that either martyrdom or heroic virtue has to be historically established for the process of beatification of the candidate, but not both. Therefore a miracle is no longer required for the beatification of a martyr, but is still required for a non- martyred confessor of faith. (74)
Once martyrdom has been historically verified, the candidate can be immediately beatified without further evidence of a miracle or extended historical documentation of an earthly life of heroic virtue. These revised norms would, in themselves, establish Philomena as a blessed solely in virtue of her historically documented martyrdom, with the subsequent requirement of a documented miracle necessary for formal canonization being easily fulfilled in light of her numerous miracles.
Of the four hundred sixty four saints canonized by John Paul II, (75) approximately eighty percent have been martyrs, (76) which shows the pontiff's concern to offer our contemporary age human witnesses to the primacy of eternity over this life, the transcendence of vision towards Heaven over the immanentism which seems to infect much of our present society of materialism, secularism, and even atheism. Certainly, the witness of a young female martyr, icon of virginal purity and fidelity, would likewise speak to the contemporary need for exemplars of young sanctity and purity, especially for the youth of today.
The origins of the public veneration of the saints in general must also be kept in mind in the assessment of St. Philomena. In the primitive Church, martyrs were immediately recognized as witnessing to the perfection of Christian life on earth, having shown the ultimate proof of their love for Christ by the offering of their lives. By the sacrifice of their lives for Christ, they attained Heaven in eternal glory and were indissolubly united to the Lord, the Head of the Mystical Body. The faithful still under persecution invoked their intercession to obtain the grace to imitate their saintly example.
The veneration of the martyrs had, from its historical outset, all essential characteristics of public veneration, including the placing of the date and place of martyrdom upon a public calendar which was celebrated by the entire Christian community. This was certainly distinguished from the sad memorials upon the death of other Christians, as the martyrs were publicly venerated with joy upon the day of their deaths. (77)
It was only near the end of the Roman persecutions that the public veneration offered to martyrs was then extended to confessores fidei who, while not dying for the faith, had nonetheless defended and suffered for the faith in heroic ways. Still later was public veneration extended to Christians who had exhibited exceptional holiness in charity, penance, evangelical works, or in the elucidation of doctrine. (78)
This pre-eminence of public veneration for the holiness of martyrdom as expressed in the primitive Church must be acknowledged in appropriately assessing the public veneration due today to a young female martyr, whose martyrdom is, once again, historically assured by the official criteria of the Holy See, and whose subsequent plethora of miracles offer the supernatural indication and confirmation from God that the Church strictly requires for modern formal canonization. While a comprehensive historical account of a candidate for canonization is legitimate in seeking to establish the heroic virtue required for a confessor, it should not, by primitive and contemporary standards, be required for the declaration of the sanctity of a Christian martyr. When historical requirements beyond the establishment of martyrdom is posed in itself as an impediment to the public veneration of a martyr as a "saint," it strays from the ecclesiastical principles for sanctity, both ancient and current. Martyrdom and miracles, not extended personal history, comprise the essence of canonization for those who have shed blood for Christ.
