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Формирование исключительного права понтификов на канонизацию (993-1234)
This article aims at tracing the steps of establishment of papal monopoly on the field of proclaiming new saints from 993 to 1234. During this period Rome intended to get the exclusive right to canonize, driven not only by political but also by didactic interest: at the end of 10th century the papacy started to perceive the cult of saints as an instrument to control and oversee a form of religious enthusiasm, which might otherwise find more destructive channels.
The first saint to be officially canonized is Ulrich of Augsburg (993). Next step, which importance it is impossible to overstress, was breve “Audivimus” written by Alexander III around 1177 and forbidding to commemorate saints whose cults were not approved by the Curia. The criteria of sanctity were declared by Innocent III in the bull canonizing Homobone of Cremona (1199): “Two things are necessary in the Church militant for sanctity: morals (virtus morum) and signs (virtus signorum), that is, works of piety during the life and miracles after death”. These criteria were consolidated during the processes of canonization of Cunigunde of Luxembourg (1202) and Gilbert of Sempringham (1202). The inquisitors tried to establish the exact circumstances in which the miracles, committed by the saint, occurred, because Rome “preferred” the miracles, providing irrefutable evidence of divine intervention contrary the laws of nature (contra naturam).