lains the _Vindicatio
martyrum_, which was early practised there (_Optatus Milevit._, i. 16).
In the _cultus_ rendered to confessors, the authorization of the Church
had long been merely implicit. But when an express decision was given,
it was the bishop who gave it. Gradually the canonization of saints came
to be included in the centralizing movement which reserved to the pope
the most important acts of ecclesiastical power. The earliest
acknowledged instance of canonization by the pope is that of Ulric of
Augsburg, who was declared a saint by John XV. in A.D. 993. From that
time the pontifical intervention became more and more frequent, and, in
practice, the right of the bishops in the matter of canonization
continued to grow more restricted. In 1170 the new right was
sufficiently established for Pope Alexander III. to affirm that the
bishops could not institute the _cultus_ of a new saint without the
authority of the Roman Church (Cap. _Audivimus_, Decret. _De Rell. et
venerat. Sanctorum_, iii. 115). The 12th and, especially, the 13th
centuries furnish many examples of canonizations pronounced by the
popes, and the procedure of this period is well ascertained. It was much
more summary than that practised in modern times. The evidence of those
who had known the holy personages was collected on the spot. The inquiry
was as rapid as the judgment, and both often took place a short time
after the death of the saint, as in the cases of St Thomas of Canterbury
(died 1170, canonized 1173), St Peter of Castelnau (died on the 15th of
January 1208, canonized on the 12th of March of the same year), St
Francis of Assisi (died on the 4th of October 1226, canonized on the
19th of July 1228), and St Anthony of Padua (died on the 13th of June
1231, canonized on the 3rd of June 1232).

At this period there was no marked difference between canonization and
beatification. In modern practice, as definitively settled by the
decrees of Pope Urban VIII. (1625 and 1634), the two acts are totally
distinct. Canonization is the solemn and definitive act by which the
pope decrees the plenitude of public honours. Beatification consists in
permitting a _cultus_, the manifestations of which are restricted, and
is merely a step towards canonization.

The procedure at present followed at the Roman curia is either
_exceptional_ or _common_. The approval of immemorial _cultus_ comes
within the category of exceptional procedure. Urban VIII., while
for