Prospero Lambertini and the challenging judicial assessment of the death of servants of God

The issue of the death of servants of God does not occupy much space in Prospero Lambertini’s De Servorum Dei beatificatione et Beatorum canonizatione; indeed, only one chapter is devoted to the issue. This does not mean, however, that the future Benedict XIV considered this point to be secondary, as it is also addressed in other parts of the volume and in particular is granted a central place in the large section of his agiological treatise focused on martyrdom. The aim of this essay is to conduct a detailed examination of the aforementioned Lambertinian chapter devoted to the death of servants of God while also maintaining some other of the Bolognese canonist’s considerations about martyrdom in the background.