"Through the ages zealous bishops had intervened to suppress false cults, but only in the late 12th and 14th centuries did the authorization of new cults become juridically reserved to the Holy See. Not much could be done systematically about old cults or about the proliferation of relics by any authority except through exhortation, but at least the cults of new saints were put on to a legal basis which many of the best minds of the age helped establish and administer. This reserve was formerly believed to be the work of Alexander III (1159-81); recent scholarship has shown it to be the work rather of Innocent III (1199-1216), who in fact built on and consolidated the work of his predecessors. The growing centralization of the Church following the Gregorian Reform was also a powerful factor in establishing the new legal requirement. Papal commissions were appointed to investigate the life and miracles of candidates for canonization. Only if the life was seen to have been worthy were the miracles then examined. These two subjects of enquiry have remained standard from then until the present day, while the enquiries themselves were conducted according to the best standards of the time."