You are here: Documentaries > Proving Holiness > Synopsis
Proving Holiness is a sixty minute documentary on the process of Sainthood, known as canonization.
The documentary explains the process through the stories of four individuals who are in different stages of the canonization process, Saint Faustina, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Archbishop Oscar Romero and Monsignor Nelson Baker.
For expert information Daybreak's crew traveled to the Vatican and interviewed members of the congregation for the Cause of Saints and the postulators of the individual causes.
Monsignor Nelson Baker is a Servant of God. He is in the first stage of the canonization process. Father Baker, as he is affectionately known by his diocese in Buffalo, NY, used his skills as a businessman to champion the needs of the poor. He created many institutions for the disadvantaged. Only after these institutions were financially independent did he build a magnificent basilica in honor of Our Lady of Victory.
The Daybreak crew traveled to El Salvador for interviews and footage on the anniversary of Archbishop Oscar Romero's death. He was shot and killed while saying mass at the altar. People in El Salvador believe he is a martyr. His cause is under way at the Vatican and he is a Servant of God. If the Vatican declares him a martyr he does not need a miracle to be beatified, but a miracle would be needed for him to be declared a saint by the Pope.
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha is the patron of the Native American Catholic movement. She was a Native American who converted to Catholicism in the 1600's. The Daybreak crew attended the Tekakwitha Conference in El Paso, TX. and gathered footage regarding her life story and the movement supporting her canonization. Daybreak also shot in Fonda, New York at the shrine of Blessed Tekakwitha, and in Kahanawake, (near Montreal) where Kateri spent the last of her years and where her tomb is located.
Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska was a humble Polish nun who is said to have received the Message of Divine Mercy from Jesus. When Pope John Paul II was Archbishop of Krakow he initiated Saint Faustina's cause for canonization. Daybreak traveled to The Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland where interviews and footage were videotaped regarding the life of Saint Faustina. The crew also traveled to the U. S. National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA to follow the story of how the veneration of Saint Faustina and The Divine Mercy Message has spread worldwide.