Beginning of the process for the cause of Brother Basilio Rueda in the Vatican

The year 2019 ended with a gift from the Lord to the Institute. On December 20, the Congress of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints was held in Rome, where the work of the main and supplementary processes carried out by the diocesan tribunal of Guadalajara (Mexico) was officially approved. The decree of validity which has just been published is dated December 20, 2019 and confirms the validity of the work of the diocesan tribunal of Guadalajara. In this way, the diocesan process of the Cause of Brother Basilio is concluded and the Roman process begins.

The decree opening the process for the cause of Brother Basilio was signed in Guadalajara on June 7, 2004 and the diocesan tribunal was constituted on June 19 of the same year in the Metropolitan Tabernacle of that city. For almost two years it heard the deposition of 42 witnesses. The Commissions of Theological Censors and of Historians, constituted in 2007, had to carry out a meticulous and protracted work of investigation of the published and unpublished writings of Brother Basilio, whose report they delivered to the tribunal in 2011. The minutes of the tribunal, which testify to all of the work done, were presented in Rome on April 20, 2016.

The Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, after having analysed the acts of the diocesan tribunal of Guadalajara, considered that some more testimonies should be provided from the clergy and from people who do not belong to the Marist Institute. For this, it was necessary to constitute a new tribunal which began its work in 2017 to hear twenty-one more witnesses. The minutes of the proceedings of this tribunal, known as the “supplementary process”, were presented to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints on 9 October 2019. The decree of validity which was published on December 20 confirms that the diocesan process carried out in Guadalajara is concluded. Now the Roman process begins, the first step of which will consist in the appointment of a Relator for the cause and the delivery to the Postulator of the volumes of the Public Copy of the acts of the tribunal of Guadalajara (Mexico) so that the Positio can be drawn up to demonstrate the sanctity of life and virtues as well as the reputation for sanctity of Brother Basilio. Thanks be to God.

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Br. Antonio Martínez Estaún, Postulator General