Normally, a person must be dead for at least 5 years before a cause may be opened but the pope can waive that requirement.
If any miracles were considered in the canonization of Albertus Magnus in 1931 we do not know. In many of these early cases of canonization, especially when so many years passed between the death of the personand the canonization, the canonization investigation would have been based on the written record of the person's life and any writings the person may have left behind. Albertus left a us a multitude of theological writings.
St. Clare died on August 11, 1253 and was canonized on September 26, 1255 by Pope Alexander IV. That was quite a speedy process as most candidates can not even be considered for canonization until at least 5 years after their death. Then it takes many years to gather the evidence and study it before the person can then have their case submitted for final approval.
After years of studies and investigations by the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the Vatican, the pope can approve the canonization of the person as a saint.
Normally, a person would have to be dead at least five years before the process of canonization can be initiated. However, in extraordinary circumstances, the Pope can wave this requirement, as he has done in the case of Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II.
Saint Valentine of Rome was never officially canonized. He died many years before the process of canonization existed. He was declared a saint by the early Church based on his life of heroic virtue and martyrdom.
St. Vincent had been dead for a number of years when he was canonized. He died in 1660 at the age of 89 and was canonized in 1737. People must be dead before they can even be considered for canonization.
There used to be a person appointed to investigate all possibilities of why he or she should not be canonized. He was known as Promoter of the Faith but became popularly known as the Devil's Advocate. When the canonization process was revised a few years ago, the post was done away with.
The canonization process can take as little as a few years to many centuries. There is no fixed time table. There are some causes for sainthood that go back for many hundreds of years and they still remain uncompleted for one reason or another. It took Joan of Arc about 500 years before she was canonized yet Saint Francis of Assisi was canonized in less than two years after his death.
When a person is sainted, they become canonized.See the Related Link(s) below for more information:
Each case is considered on an individual basis.
I don't think that St. Joseph was ever actually canonized. I think that he was just considered a Saint because he is the foster father of Jesus, and that over the years the devotion to him grew and grew.
There are at least 4 saints named Zoticus. All were pre-congregational. They lived in the early centuries of the Church before a formal process for canonization existed. Saints were "canonized" by popular acclamation, usually with the approval of their bishop. The formal process for canonization did not start until the 12th century.