Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 12, 2025 /
14:47 pm
The United States’ first Center for Sainthood Studies has opened at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California.
The center announced that its goal is to “provide a roadmap for advancing candidates for canonization and increasing the chances of American candidates achieving sainthood” and aims to “make sainthood causes less intimidating and encourage more people to initiate causes,” according to the center’s website.
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone specifically commissioned the center to foster “a deeper understanding of the processes involved in recognizing the holiness of individuals and their potential for sainthood.”
The resources offered by the center include expert consultation, a digitization service, networking opportunities, promotion of popular piety around a cause, assistance with grant writing, and a certification program that consists of a six-day course that guides participants through the sainthood application process and canonical procedures.
The center’s first certification course, to be held Feb. 16–21, 2026, at the Vallombrosa Retreat Center in Menlo Park, will be taught by two postulators and canon law experts from Rome: Emanuele Spedicato and Waldery Hilgeman. The program is open to clergy, religious, and laity.
Michael McDevitt, a spokesperson for the center, told CNA that while canon law provides a framework for the process leading up to sainthood, it lacks practical guidance for the laity. “Canon law has a clear set of rules to follow, but it’s not a how-to guide. It doesn’t take [people] step by step,” McDevitt said.
McDevitt himself has worked particularly closely with the cause for Servant of God Cora Evans, a former Mormon and American housewife.
“There’s so many stories out there that could be told, and if we can help people with that process, more stories will come to light,” McDevitt said. “We all know that only God can make us saints, but it does take people to move this forward.”
Paris Apodaca is a summer news intern for Catholic News Agency. She previously worked at the College Fix and has been published in a variety of outlets including the Washington Examiner, the Wall Street Journal’s Future View, and Campus Reform. In her spare time, she writes on Substack and reads political theory.
