I'd be interested to know precisely how "proven holiness" differs from "distinguished for conformity with the Gospel and special ecclesial and social merits."
Let's consider G.K. Chesterton (1874--1936), a tremendously gifted writer and visionary in the Christian tradition, who converted to the CAtholic faith in the late 1920's. Most definitely, his life was in conformity with the Gospel (generosity; personal kindness; happiness, etc); and he was recognized in his lifetime for his work for the good of Christianity and English society. But even I, who wrote a letter to the Vatican in 1992 inquiring whether there existed a cause for his beatification (there wasn't), would be hard pressed to defend his cause on the basis of "proven holiness." He was a devout man, and surely a prayerful man, and received the sacraments. But proven holiness, i.e., a life that revolved around mystical identification with the Risen Lord, and the privations that accompany that kind of identification? Well, let's just say that it was not obvious.