[THE] REV. GABRIEL O\u2019DONNELL, O.P. (Dominican House of Studies): The first thing you have to do is research anything the person has written or published, and then you begin studying anything they have left behind in terms of documentation.<\/p>\n
[KIM] LAWTON: It can be a tedious, arduous process, which includes interviewing people who knew the potential saint or were affected by his or her work. The church teaches that in order to be a saint, someone must have lived a life of \u201cheroic virtue.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
[JAMES] MARTIN: A life of holiness, basically, a life of charity, Christian charity and love, service to the poor often, but, you know, the person has to be holy on a personal level beyond just doing, you know, great deeds, beyond just founding a religious order or being pope or something like that.<\/p>\n
O\u2019DONNELL: But you\u2019re also looking for the flaws, because the whole idea of the saint is that they\u2019ve overcome their difficulties, you know, not that they didn\u2019t have any. One of the things that the church is very strong about is that if you can find anything negative you have to make that known.<\/p>\n