I will be in Rome for the canonisation of Blessed Oscar Romero this Sunday, but I wish I weren’t – in Rome, that is. I would have preferred that the inspiring martyr-bishop be canonised in his own city of San Salvador, which would have been easy enough to arrange, as Pope Francis will be next door in Panama in 100 days, and could easily have made a side trip to El Salvador. The Salvadoran bishops asked for that grace, but it was not granted to them.
There are routine canonisations and signature canonisations. The former are usually groups of candidates who have been approved at roughly the same time, but have no particular importance, or even awareness, outside of their religious order or locale. Their inscription in the “book of saints” can sometimes seem like a bit of ecclesiastical book-keeping.
