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3 readings · Your own pace

What does Church recognition establish?

Compare Bernadette, Lourdes, and Lanciano to understand the authority, scope, and limits of different Church actions.

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Catholics encounter these cases through prayer, pilgrimage, and the lives of saints. Their Church histories are substantial, but the Church actions concern different things. Reading each act with its authority, date, and scope helps us honor what the Church has said and understand which historical or physical questions remain open.

Read the act, then its limits.

The Church action and the evidence question are shown separately for each case. Source links take you to that case’s own notes and access limits.

Saint Bernadette Soubirous

The action
Canonization
Church-status authority
The Holy See (canonization, 1933) with canonical examinations conducted at Nevers.
Date and documentary limit
8 December 1933
Church status
Canonized saint; remains canonically examined and venerated.
What it covers
The canonization act and the canonical examinations and translation of the remains are documented.
What it does not establish
Canonization does not prove a miraculous cause for the body's condition or establish every reported event in her life.
Source access
The Vatican cause volumes are linked. The signed 1909, 1919, and 1925 examination acts remain uninspected in the original for this file.
A separate evidence question

Is the present condition of Bernadette Soubirous's body the result of supernatural preservation?

Case finding: Unresolved.

Read the reasoning and its sources →
Sources in this case
Checks still awaiting human verification →

Our Lady of Lourdes

The action
Episcopal judgment recognizing the apparitions and permitting devotion
Church-status authority
Bishop Bertrand-Sévère Laurence of Tarbes, 18 January 1862.
Date and documentary limit
18 January 1862
Church status
Apparitions officially recognized by the Bishop of Tarbes in 1862.
What it covers
According to the Sanctuary's published account, the episcopal judgment permits the cult and states that the faithful are justified in believing the apparitions to be real.
What it does not establish
This ecclesiastical judgment does not scientifically prove every associated cure or detail, and recognized private revelation is not part of the deposit of faith.
Source access
The sanctuary’s account and selected excerpts are linked. The decree facsimile and the identified documentary editions were not inspected for this file; exact wording remains attributed to that account.
A separate evidence question

Did a supernatural apparition appear to Bernadette Soubirous at Massabielle in 1858?

Case finding: Unresolved.

Read the reasoning and its sources →
Checks still awaiting human verification →

Lanciano Eucharistic claim

The action
Documented custody, public veneration, and papal acknowledgment of the tradition
Church-status authority
The custodial shrine at Lanciano, with the tradition catalogued by the Italian Episcopal Conference.
Authority for the dated document
John Paul II, writing to Archbishop Carlo Ghidelli [S2].
Date and documentary limit
4 October 2004 for the papal letter; no original formal recognition instrument or date has been located
Church status
Publicly venerated Eucharistic-miracle tradition; institutional custody and promotion documented.
What it covers
Later ecclesiastical custody, public veneration, and the shrine's place within the local Church are documented; the early custody chain remains undocumented.
What it does not establish
No original formal instrument of recognition has been located, and no modern scientific decree exists; recognition of devotion is not authentication of the substances.
Source access
Official custodial accounts and the papal letter are linked. The 1971 Linoli paper is represented by a PubMed bibliographic record; authenticated full text has not been obtained.
A separate evidence question

Did the material venerated as flesh and blood at Lanciano originate in a miraculous transformation of the Eucharist?

Case finding: Unresolved.

Read the reasoning and its sources →
Sources in this case
Checks still awaiting human verification →

Begin with the actual act, then ask what evidence addresses the remaining question. Canonization, an apparition judgment, and acknowledgment of a devotional tradition each deserve their own description. The case files preserve those distinctions and show the documents still needed.

  1. Reading 1

    Saint Bernadette Soubirous

    Read Bernadette’s life and canonization alongside the separate examination history of her remains.

    Open the reading →

    A question to take with you

    What does canonization establish, and what does it leave open about preserved remains?

  2. Reading 2

    Our Lady of Lourdes

    Follow the reported encounters and the bishop’s judgment, then distinguish the investigation of individual cures.

    Open the reading →

    A question to take with you

    Which words are attributed to the sanctuary’s account of the judgment, and which original records remain uninspected?

  3. Reading 3

    Lanciano Eucharistic claim

    Explore the tradition, custody, papal acknowledgment, and limits of the accessible scientific record.

    Open the reading →

    A question to take with you

    How does a dated acknowledgment letter differ from a formal recognition instrument that has not been located?

For a conversation

Understanding grows when we listen.

Choose one case and explain what the Church action concerns. Then name a separate question about the historical or physical evidence. Which source would help you distinguish the two?

Choose another journey →