Decree on the heroism of the Virtues
VENERABLE BROTHER GABRIEL TABORIN
Thanks to God, the number of people who ask about the PROCESS OF BEATIFICATION of Brother Gabriel Taborin is more and more every day. That is a clear example that his knowledge is growing.
It is necessary to spread HIS LIFE and HIS VIRTUES so that all the Christian people may know this FRIEND OF GOD and experience the efficiency of his power in intercession before God.
WHAT CAN YOU DO SPECIFICALLY?
- Above all, PRAY so that God may glorify his humble Servant, granting us a miracle by his intercession. (You can pray the NOVENA to the Founder from 16th to 24th of every month).
- OFFER the sorrows, pains and works of every day, with the same purpose.
- SPREAD cards, illustrations, pamphlets, leaflets, propaganda, etc. Each one of the members of the Sa-Fa Family (parents, teachers, students, Brothers, friends, relations, etc.) must become a zealous diffuser of his life and his thought.
- It would be good, as they have done in other places, to favour the introduction of the name of BROTHER GABRIEL TABORIN in streets, squares, schools, homes, etc., so that his importance will be valued not only in an ecclesial level but also as a distinguished man for the peoples.
- It is also very importance, in so far as possible, to arrange pilgrimages to Belley, where we can offer a guided visit of the Mother House, the tomb and other places of the Founder.
- When you receive a grace, let it know and communicate it, it is a good for all to know what God is giving us through our Father and Founder.
- When you consider that a GRACE received is so important that it may be “A MIRACLE” (a recovery OUTRIGHT, TOTAL and LASTING in which there is no intervention of science): Try to gather all the studies, analysis, etc. (medical history) with which we can prove the particular deed.
- Make a detailed “RELATION” (writing) where it is said: WHO? is the one who received the grace; WHO? suggested him/her to pray by the intercession of Br. Gabriel; WHAT? did you do; WHICH? was the response of God… Finally, report everything that can help to clarify the deed.
Send it without delay to the PROVINCIAL HOUSE of the BROTHERS or to the PROVINCIAL ANIMATOR.
EVERYTHING IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. Remember that Gabriel is not making miracles. It is GOD who makes miracles, He only can make them, at the request of Brother Gabriel who is his friend and our intercessor.
– If it is within your possibilities, send your economic help for the Cause of Beatification.
The joy to see soon Brother Gabriel in the altars, will redound to glory and honour of God and of the Institute. General Postulator
The Cause of Beatification of the Gabriel Taborin
The Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God, Gabriel Taborin, is introduced in Rome.
The Ordinary Process was developed in the Diocese of Belley (France), being speaker Cardinal Andrew Julien.
Later, the cause passed to the Historical Section of the Congregation for the Cause of Saints.
During ten years, we worked intensely in the collection of historical data, regarding life and virtues of this Servant of God. Fruit of this task was the publication of the sizeable POSITIO SUPER VIRTUTIBUS, with 1,253 pages, published at Rome in 1985.
After the thorough study of the Positio, the historical Consulters gathered in the hall of the Congress of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, on 15 October 1985, with the presence of the general Relator, discussed concerning this Cause and, according to the rules, answered three questions regarding the three traditional forms. The result was an almost unanimous consensus. Out of 18 possible answers of the six Consulters, 16 were positive and 2 were dubious.
Succeeded this procedure, it continued with the presentation by the Postulator of the Cause, Brother Filippo Zoccola, of the INFORMATIO prepared “on the heroism on the virtues of the Servant of God, Brother Gabriel Taborin”.
This Informatio, dated on 24 August 1986, ends with the following words: “We are hoping that the reading of this profile, written to be able to verify the heroism of the virtues, may result in a positive judgment, and so may shine more beautiful and splendid the figure of Brother Gabriel, living member of the mystical Body of Christ, the Church”.
On 16 March 1990, it appeared the Decree on the juridical validity of the informative ordinary process.
The Theologians Consulters, in their Peculiar Congress on 11 December 1990, responded all affirmatively to the question made to them on the practice in heroic level of the theological and cardinal virtues by Brother Gabriel Taborin.
Afterwards, the Cardinals and Bishops in their Ordinary Congregation of 10 May 1991 acknowledged likewise by unanimity the same question proposed by the Theologians.
Pope John Paul II, according to the votes of the Congregation for the Cause of the Saints, ordered to publish the Decree on the heroism of the virtues of Gabriel Taborin.
The Holy Father declared solemnly:
“It is stated that the Servant of God, Gabriel Taborin, Founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Holy Family, practiced in heroic level the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity towards God and the neighbour, as well as the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude and those inherent to them.
Given in Rome, on 14th May, year of the Lord, 1991.
Angel Cardinal Felici, Prefect.
Edward Nowak, Archbishop tit. Lunen, Secretary”.
As we can see, the Cause of Beatification of Venerable Brother Gabriel Taborin is overcoming the long procedure demanded by the Congregation for the Cause of the Saints. This must be a stimulus for us to redouble our prayers until we reach the desired goal and to imitate this Venerable Servant of God in his sanctity and in the exemplary practice of the virtues. At present, we need to listen to the voice of God that speaks through a MIRACLE by the intercession of Brother Gabriel Taborin.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A MIRACLE IN THE CAUSE OF BEATIFICATION
For the Beatification of Brother Gabriel Taborin it is necessary to present A MIRACLE, regularly approved and also a “FAMA SIGNORUM” duly verified, that is, the demonstration of the fame of the miracles and graces during the time passed after the death of the servant of God.
The Church wants to acknowledge officially the fame of sanctity and miracles (“Fama Sanctitatis et Fama Signorum”) acknowledged already by history.
From this, we can learn that we have to be convinced that graces and favours obtained by the intercession of Brother Gabriel must be known by the biggest number of people and that the life and virtues of the Founder of the Brothers of the Holy Family must be known outside the Institute by the biggest number of people.
It is necessary this entire human work to obtain the authorization of the Church in the cult of dulia. The cult offered up to the saints is called of DULIA or VENERATION, which is different from the cult of LATRIA or ADORATION, offered up only to God, and of HIPERDULIA or OVERVENERATION or SUPERIOR VENERATION, which corresponds only to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.
WHY THE CHURCH DEMANDS IT?
Because the Church believes in God and wants to find refuge in the security before taking a decision of so great importance as it is a beatification.
Regarding the miracles, they have to be demonstrated legally, from the historical point of view, which are undeniable actions; from the philosophical point of view, which it has been performed apart from and beyond the laws of the nature; from the theological point of view, which it has been an especial intervention of God, after the death of the Servant of God and by his intercession, seeking his glorification.
The miracle is, in fact, the “SIGNUN DEI”, the “YES” of God to what the Church is preparing to declare, that is: that the servant of God, having lived in the past, but living still in the remembrance of men and God, has carried a holy life and deserved to be honoured, because he has practiced the virtues in heroic level.
Actually, the miracle should be the conclusion to an uninterrupted series of graces and favours that the servant of God, after his death has not stopped ever obtaining from the mercy of God in favour of his children and in favour of all who invoked him.
At present, the Holy See demands A MIRACLE for the beatification and then ANOTHER MIRACLE for the canonization. In the present state we cannot obtain the beatification of Brother Gabriel without presenting a true miracle, performed by his intercession.
EVERY MIRACLE HAS, SO TO SAY, FOUR MAIN CHARACTERS:
* The one who asks for…
* That one who is object of the miracle.
* The one who intercedes near God.
* And God who can only grant it.
GOD possesses the power to work miracles and, in the course of history, has had many times the occasion to make know his preferences.
BROTHER GABRIEL TABORIN when has been invoked with faith and trust, has also shown how to intercede in an effective manner.
THE SICK PERSON, INJURED, OR THE PERSON WE WANT to relieve, and to recover his health, must also collaborate with us to purify his intentions, to proclaim his resignation, to insist on his account with all heart and with all his soul and with all his strength…
WE, the petitioners, must point out rather the sick person that the glory we would try to get for Brother Gabriel with a miracle.
WHAT IS A RELATION?
It is a composition, a written text, by which we certify a favour, a grace, a celebration, an event in our own good or community good, by the intercession of Venerable Brother Gabriel Taborin.
For the preparation of the text of the relation we should have in mind the model with the following indications:
- Date.
- Heading: Addressed to the Postulator, Vice-Postulator or Brother Provincial.
- Subject: The reason of the relation, narrating orderly the main deeds; describing and making the appreciations, observations and relevant considerations in the deed to be highlighted.
- Signature, explanation of signature and writing the number of document.
- Seals (personal, Institute, etc.
- To record the address/es of the above signatures.
- It would be good to attach to the relation: photos, leaflets, etc.
- The relations must be written in sheets according to norms IRAM no. 4 size.
- To record the prayer or invocation done; was it personal or in community?
MODEL OF A RELATION TO SEND TO THE POSTULATION
Official heading of the House and address Date: …………………….
To the attention of the Postulator for the Cause of glorification of Venerable Brother Gabriel Taborin.
Subject: ……………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
(Text of the relation: the deeds, its exposition and description…; if necessary, underline advice, observations, considerations of values at stake).
Seal Signature (or signatures)
No. of Document. Domicile.
NB.- It is necessary to add:
- The forms used: programs, invitations, posters, banners, etc.
- The materials used in the activities carried out: agenda, programs, texts for prayers, etc.
- Photos, pictures, recordings, videos, etc.
- Writing contributions (reflections, advice, assessments) which have taken place in the activity.
IN SEARCH OF SAINTS
We extracted some passages from an interview given by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, published in the Osservatore Romano on 31 May 2021.
There are an infinite number of ways to define holiness. One of them is to consider it as a model, or even “the” model of the beauty of a human creature. This is what the Vatican service responsible for examining the lives of candidates for the altar has been doing since 1969, the year of its birth: looking for the traits of the Gospel in their lives, so that every Christian can see in them credible and, above all, imitable witnesses.
Behind the proclamation of a saint lies a scrupulous collective work, which lasts for years, sometimes decades, and requires the intervention of various skills, which implies costs (the 2021 budget of the Dicastery is about two million euros). The “factory of saints” is an expression that “can also be sympathetic, if it is understood in the positive sense, that is to say, as a place where a lot of work is done in order to achieve the serious and honest presentation of the people worthy of the title”.
As the Second Vatican Council reminded us, sanctity is a universal vocation for everyone. As for the official recognition of the sanctity of an individual Christian, this is an ancient tradition. From the earliest times, when news spread of a martyr or a person who had lived the Gospel in an exemplary way, they were proposed as models of life for all the people and as intercessors with God for the needs of believers. The Church has always believed that its members could achieve holiness and that they should be known and offered for public veneration.
The spiritual and pastoral balance sheet of the fifty years since the institution of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (1969) is singular: until 2020, the total number of beatifications is 3003 and of canonisations 1479. At the moment, the Causes that are in progress in the Roman phase are almost 1500, while those in the diocesan phase are over 600. For these and other data, one can visit the website of the Congregation (www.causesanti.va), which offers in an agile and complete way all the information on the Congregation and the path of sanctity.
Starting from the reputation of holiness and the signs among the people of God, the investigation has a first phase in the diocese (opening the process, collecting testimonies and documents, setting up a tribunal with theological and historical experts). Once brought to Rome, a reporter is appointed who will guide the postulator in the preparation of the volume in which the evidence collected in the diocese is synthesised in order to reconstruct with certainty the life and demonstrate the virtues or martyrdom and the relative reputation for holiness and signs enjoyed by the Servant of God. This is the Positio, which is then studied by a group of theologians and, in the case of an ancient cause (i.e. concerning a candidate who lived long ago and for whom there are no eyewitnesses), also by a commission of historians.
If these votes are favourable, the case will be submitted to a new judgement of the Cardinals and Bishops of the Congregation. If, finally, this too is favourable, the Holy Father may authorise the promulgation of the decree on the heroicity of the virtues or on the martyrdom or on the offering of the life of the Servant of God, who thus becomes venerable: that is to say, he is recognised as having exercised to a “heroic” degree the Christian virtues (theological: faith, hope and charity; cardinal: prudence, justice, strength and temperance; others: poverty, chastity, obedience, humility, etc.) or as having undergone an authentic martyrdom, or to have undergone an authentic martyrdom, or to have offered their lives according to the requirements of the Dicastery. Beatification is the intermediate step towards canonisation.
We can also say that in recent decades, the veneration of the saints has returned to the forefront of the Church’s life, which recognises the need for their witness for the community of believers. The “contemporaneity” of a saint, in fact, is not so much given by chronological proximity – although there are many completed or ongoing causes of our contemporary blessed and saints – as by the fact of being a complete figure, rich in human and Christian passion, in the desire for the supernatural, in the hunger for justice, in the love of God and in solidarity with every brother and sister.
The saints are precisely the seeds that have matured and bear much fruit, according to the parable in the Gospel. Holiness is always the same, fundamentally, but it is always new in its concrete forms, as the Second Vatican Council recalled (Lumen Gentium, 41); it takes on different aspects in martyrs, in consecrated virgins, in hermits, in monks, in pastors of the Church, in princes of the nations, in mendicant orders, in missionaries, in contemplatives, in educators, in the saints of social charity.
As for the challenges, those of the Congregation are the same as those of the Church and its presence in the world. The Church is a source of credibility both for the objective holiness of the faith, the sacraments, the charisms, and for the subjective holiness of Christians. This is what the article in the Apostles’ Creed professes: “I believe in the communion of saints”, that is, the communion of holy men.
Every saint is for the growth and unity of the whole body of the Church; every saint is aware that his task is a mission of the Church. The saints are complete figures, they live from human and Christian passion, from the desire for the supernatural, but also from the hunger and thirst for justice, from the love of God and from solidarity with every brother and sister.