Showing posts with label canonization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label canonization. Show all posts

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Pope to canonize and name Hildegard von Bingen as Doctor of the Church




Commentary by Loci B. Lenar

Director Margarethe von Trotta has captured the spiritual journey of Hildegard von Bingen in an upfront and poignant film about the 12th-century Benedictine nun and mystic, portrayed with a powerful performance by actress Barbara Sukowa. Read my review of the film at the following link:  Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen

The following excerpt is from RomeReports.com:

Benedict XVI is set to appoint Hildegard of Bingen as a Doctor of the Church in October of 2012. She was a German Benedictine nun and was known for her visions and prophecies.

Hildegard of Bingen lived in the twelfth century. In addition to being a nun, she was a composer, philosopher, physicist and ecologist. A multi-talented woman, and a pioneer for many of these fields during the Middle Ages.

She came from a wealthy family and when she was only eight years old was sent to study in a monastery. She eventually decided to become a nun and later became an abbess.

Her visions and prophecies were recognized by the pope during that time, allowing her to speak about them publicly.

Since she has not been officially canonized, the ceremony is likely to take place before the pope names her as a Doctor of the Church in October.

Benedict XVI dedicated several of his general audiences to this German nun, saying that she “served the Church in an age in which it was wounded by the sins of priests and laity”.

Benedict XVI
September 8, 2010 

 
“She brought a woman’s insight to the mysteries of the faith. In her many works she contemplated the mystic marriage between God and humanity accomplished in the Incarnation, as well as the spousal union of Christ and the Church. She also explored the vital relationship between God and creation, and our human calling to give glory to God by a life of holiness and virtue.”

So far there are 33 doctors of the Church, only 3 of whom are women. During World Youth Day, Benedict XVI also announced that the Spanish San Juan de Avila would also be appointed as a Doctor of the Church.

With this appointment, the Church recognizes a person's contribution to Catholic theology, which is still felt despite the passage of time.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Blessed Marianne Cope from state of New York is one step away from being declared a Saint



Blessed Marianne Cope from state of New York is one step away from being declared a Saint

From RomeReports.com:

The Diocese of Syracuse in New York announced that Marianne Cope is just one step away from being declared a saint.

In the 1860's, the Franciscan sister served in Syracuse, New York, before moving to Hawaii. On the Island, she ministered and cared for patients who suffered from leprosy.

The miracle that now paves the way for her canonization, involves a woman who was on her death bed, yet was miraculously cured through the intercession of Cope. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the miracle after it was re-examined by a group of theologians and cardinals.

Now Benedict XVI himself, must approve the recommendation before setting a date for the canonization ceremony.

In addition to being a teacher and principal in upstate New York, Cope also helped establish St. Elizabeth Hospital in Utica and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse. Both were among the first hospitals to open in central New York. During her time in Hawaii she opened a center that cared for the children of leprosy patients.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Teenage Martyr could become the Philippine's Second Saint



Teenage martyr could become the Philippine's second saint

The following excerpt is from RomeReports.com:

According to Filipino bishops, the Vatican has officially attributed a miracle to a blessed Filipino martyr named Pedro Calungsod. Now, this miracle paves the way for his canonization.

The 17 year old Filipino was beatified back in the year 2000 by Pope John Paul II. The miracle deals with a woman who was declared brain dead, but was inexplicably cured just a few hours later.

The young blessed was born in Cebu, Philippines back in 1654. He died along with Spanish missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores, while they evangelized to natives. In fact, the first time people learned about the work of the teenager, was through the memoirs of Spanish priest San Vitores.

The Philippines was very proud to learn about the faithful teenager, especially his hometown of Cebu, where Calungsod has a sanctuary and has been declared a patron of the youth.

Mhar Vincent Balili
Archdiocese of Cebu (Philippines)

“Hopefully the canonization of blessed Pedro Calungsod will tell that the youth is not only a recipient of the Gospel but they too can be the givers of the Word of God. And now, for the coming of the canonization of the blessed Pedro Calungsod, we can say that now we can really have a countryman, in our dialect we call a 'tagilungsod,' whom we can call also for our prayers and intercession”.

Now the next step is for Benedict XVI to actually ratify the miracle. The pope could make an announcement in the coming weeks. If that's the case, the blessed teenager would eventually become the Philippine's second saint. The first one is San Lorenzo Ruiz, who was canonized in Rome in the year 1988.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Pope canonizes Luigi Guanella, a hero of the defense of life




Pope canonizes Luigi Guanella, a hero of the defense of life

The following news is from RomeReports.com:

Italian Luigi Guanella was a champion for the defense of life. Born in 1842, he founded two congregations dedicated to serving those who were disabled and abandoned by their families.

Behind every person he would see a gift from God, which he said, has value in itself. He defended the dignity of the elderly, sick, and the mentally and physically disabled, who were abandoned or badly treated by their families.

Pino Beneditos
San Giuseppe Rehabilitation Center (Italy)

“One day, the bishop of Como showed up because he had to speak with him about their activities, their charitable projects, and Don Guanella was with the mentally disabled, with his 'good kids'. He was playing cards with them and to make them happy he finished the game, but had to leave the bishop in the waiting room.”

He would tell the priests and nuns who followed him to trust in God's help, but to work hard in their lives. The fruits of their labor are obvious. The group includes 700 female religious, 528 male religious, and 265 households spread across Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia.

The miracle that led to his canonization is the healing of William Gleeson from the United States. He suffered a neck injury from skating. His doctors said, he had little hope.

Pino Beneditos
San Giuseppe Rehabilitation Center (Italy)

“The mother, without saying anything to William or the doctors, placed a relic under the pillow, prayed and obtained this miracle: for her son to recover without any problems.”

William is one of thousands of pilgrims who will attend the canonization ceremony. Among them, will also be several handicapped, who receive help from the rehabilitation center founded by Don Guanella.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Pope canonizes Mother Boniface, known for work toward women’s economic independence




Pope canonizes Mother Boniface, known for work toward women’s economic independence

The following news story is from RomeReports.com:

(Romereports.com) - The Spanish nun Bonifacia Rodriguez will be remembered for her fight to help poor women to learn a trade. Before becoming a nun, she was actually a rope maker. She went on to found her own religious order known as the Servants of St. Joseph, right in the local shop where she worked.

It was in 1874, in the midst of the industrial revolution. From that moment, she and the Jesuit Francisco Butinyà devoted themselves to helping poor women to make a decent living and discover their faith in everyday life.

The new order allowed the nuns to dress like the artisans of the country. There was no dowry asked of them to enter the convent, where they would work side by side with lay people. It was a project that did not please everyone.

Sister Victoria López
Servant of Saint Joseph

“It was a life project that was too new for it to be understood. Still, some clergy of Salamanca don't understand it. They don't grasp how the gospel works in the project that's so close to the business world.”

As a result the bishop of Salamanca dismissed Mother Boniface and decided the order would be devoted to education. Boniface died being virtually excluded by her own order in 1905.

Years later, in 1936 her writings were rediscovered and the congregation again recognized her as the founder.

Sister Victoria López
Servant of Saint Joseph

“It's recognizing a charisma that was born in the heart of Nazareth. A charisma that is aimed at working women, poor women, women who are often abused, or underpaid, or deprived of liberty.”

The miracle that made her a saint took place in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was the healing of a 33 year old man who suffered from an incurable stomach disease.

Sister Victoria López
Servant of Saint Joseph

“The entire world was waiting for it to die, but the community had begun to ask Mother Boniface for the healing of Kasongo Bavón. And inexplicably and unexpectedly, this boy was cured.”

Currently, the congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph has around seven hundred sisters, working in one hundred communities in twelve countries. They are the successors of a simple working woman who had the courage to face the challenges of her time including being forced out of her order by those closest to her.

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Catholic Church to Canonize Father Louise Guanella after Confirming Miracle

Catholic church to canonize new saint after accepting Pa. miracle report - pottsmerc.com

The following excerpt is from The Mercury:

The Catholic Church will canonize Father Louise Guanella, founder of the religious orders of the Servants of Charity and Daughters of Saint Mary Providence, and the Pious Union of Saint Joseph Prayer Association, on Sunday, Oct. 23.

According to a press release from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the canonization is happening after the Roman Catholic Church confirmed the healing of a Springfield, Pa., man was attributable to Guanella.

William Glisson Jr. was restored to full health after falling into a coma from a rollerblading accident in 2002 after members of Don Guanella Village, members of the Servants of Charity and family members of Glisson used two relics from the priest and prayed for Guanella's intercession in Glisson's recovery.

"In November 2009, the medical commission of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared there were no scientific, natural, or medical reasons for his cure. And in January 2010, the Pontifical Theological Commission confirmed that William Glisson's healing was obtained through the intercession of Blessed Father Louis Guanella," read the press release from the archdiocese.

Read more: Father Louise Guanella

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Quebec's Brother Andre Canonized as Saint

Saint Andre Bessette, of Canada
(GREGORIO BORGIA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Quebec's Brother Andre canonized as Canada's 1st saint of the 21st century - Winnipeg Free Press

The photograph and following excerpt is from Winnipeg Free Press:

By Nelson Wyatt and Melanie Marquis - The Canadian Press

MONTREAL - Brother Andre, the humble Quebec cleric who was credited with miracle healings before his death in 1937, became Canada's first saint of the 21st century Sunday in a moving ceremony at the Vatican.

People applauded and cheered in Montreal at the ornate St. Joseph's Oratory — which was founded by Brother Andre — when Pope Benedict bestowed the honour on him.

The Pope noted that Saint Andre was poorly educated but nevertheless understood what was essential to his faith.

"Doorman at the Notre Dame College in Montreal, he showed boundless charity and did everything possible to soothe the despair of those who confided in him," Benedict said.

Thousands packed St. Peter's Square for the event, including many Canadians who made the trip to Rome for the canonization. An official Canadian delegation was led by Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and included Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay.

Francoise Bessette, whose grandfather was Brother Andre's first cousin, was among the thousands of Canadians in St. Peter's Square.

"I didn't think this would happen while I was alive," said Bessette, whose brother was named after the saint. "So to be here today is very special for me."

Alain Pilote, a 49-year-old pilgrim from Rougemont, near Montreal, who came for the mass, said, "I think all the people from Quebec are happy now."

He was declared "venerable" by Pope Paul VI in 1978, and beatified — declared "blessed" — by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

Benedict announced his canonization in February after recognizing a second miracle attributed to Brother Andre.

Read More: Quebec's Brother Andre Canonized as Saint


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Mary MacKillop Officially Declared a Saint


Mary MacKillop - Australia's First Saint - AFP Photo

Mary MacKillop officially declared a saint - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The photograph and following excerpt is from the Australian Boadcasting Corporation:

Mary MacKillop has officially been declared Australia's first Catholic saint - Saint Mary MacKillop of the Cross.

Pope Benedict XVI addressed over 50,000 pilgrims who gathered at the Vatican in Rome, of which about 9,000 were from Australia.

St Peter's Square was awash with Australian flags and gold balloons bearing Mary MacKillop's image, as pilgrims packed in to hear the pope's vital words.

Pope Benedict spoke about the achievements of Mary MacKillop.

"She attended to the needs of each young person entrusted to her without regard for station or wills, providing both intellectual and spiritual formation," he said.

The pope also canonised Canada's Brother Andre and four other saints from Italy, Poland and Spain and declared that "throughout the Church they be honoured devoutly among all the saints."

Born in 1842 in Fitzroy, Melbourne, after her mother and father migrated to Australia from Scotland, Mary MacKillop dedicated her early life to educating poor children in regional Penola, South Australia, and at the age of 25 founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart.

She was the first Australian nun to set up an order and the first to go outside the cities and administer to the poor.

In the early 1990s the Vatican accepted she was responsible for miraculously curing a woman who had leukaemia in 1961 and in 2009 Pope Benedict XVI confirmed her second miracle, which involved the healing of a woman with inoperable lung cancer during the mid-1990s.

Read More: Mary MacKillop Officially Declared a Saint


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Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Archdiocese of Chicago opens canonization cause for first African-American priest

The photograph and following excerpt regarding Father Augustus Tolton is posted on the Catholic News Agency:

Chicago archdiocese opens canonization cause for first African-American priest : Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Chicago, Illinois (CNA) - Fr. Augustus Tolton, a man born into slavery who became the first American diocesan priest of African descent, is now being considered for canonization. Cardinal Francis George announced on Monday that the nineteenth century priest’s cause for sainthood has been introduced in the Archdiocese of Chicago.

“Many Catholics might not ever have heard of Fr. Augustus Tolton; but black Catholics most probably have,” the Archbishop of Chicago wrote.

Born in Missouri on April 1, 1854, John Augustine Tolton fled slavery with his mother and two siblings in 1862 by crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois.

The young Tolton entered St. Peter’s Catholic School with the help of the school’s pastor, Fr. Peter McGirr. Fr. McGirr would later baptize him and instruct him for his first Holy Communion. Tolton was serving as an altar boy by the next summer.

The priest asked Tolton if he would like to become a priest, saying it would take twelve years of hard study.

The excited boy then said they should go to church and pray for his success.

After graduating from high school and Quincy College, he began his ecclesiastical studies in Rome because no American seminary would accept him on account of his race.

On April 24, 1886 he was ordained in Rome by Cardinal Lucido Maria Parocchi, who was then the vicar general of Rome. Newspapers throughout the U.S. carried the story.

Fr. Tolton was ordained for the southern Illinois Diocese of Quincy. Upon his return in July 1886, he was greeted at the train station “like a conquering hero,” the web site of St. Elizabeth’s Parish says.

Hundreds waited at the local church where people of all races knelt at the communion rail.

Fr. Tolton served in Quincy before going to Chicago to start a parish for black Catholics. The new church was named for St. Monica and opened in 1893.

On July 9, 1897 Fr. Tolton collapsed during a hot day and died from sunstroke at the age of 43. Cardinal George explained that most priests in the nineteenth century died before their fiftieth birthday.

“Visiting the sick on a daily basis was risky in an age before antibiotics,” he explained.

The priest was buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery just outside of Quincy, Illinois.

An investigation for canonization will collect evidence of Fr. Tolton’s heroic virtues and will investigate claims of his miraculous intercession.

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Sunday, September 27, 2009

Leprosy patients from Hawaii to see canonization of Fr. Damien



Leprosy patients from Hawaii to see canonization of Fr. Damien

The following story regarding Fr. Damien appeared on Catholic News Agency:

Honolulu, Hawaii, Sep 26, 2009 (CNA)

Eleven elderly leprosy patients from Hawaii will travel to the Vatican for the canonization ceremony of Fr. Damien de Veuster, the heroic priest who cared for leprosy patients in Hawaii and died of the disease. The patients’ attending doctor called Fr. Damien their “personal saint.”

The Belgian-born priest is a hero in Hawaii for caring for those victims banished to the isolated Kalaupapa peninsula. Native Hawaiians were devastated by leprosy, which appeared after the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778.

About 90 percent of the approximately 8,000 people exiled to the peninsula were native Hawaiians. The state of Hawaii stopped exiling leprosy victims in 1969, more than two decades after a reliable treatment was discovered.

Many patients chose to stay at the colony because the community had become their home.

Eleven of the about 20 patients still living at Kalaupapa will make the 12,000-mile trip to Rome for the priest’s canonization, according to the Associated Press.

Their physician, Dr. Kalani Brady, said the trip will be an “energy-laden” voyage for many patients.

"They're going to see their personal saint canonized,” Brady told the Associated Press. The event is “incredibly important, incredibly personal for them.”

Since 1936, Fr. Damien’s body has rested in his Belgian hometown of Tremelo. However, his grave at Kalaupapa contains a relic of his right hand.

The canonization of Fr. Damien was announced earlier this year after the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints ruled that there was no medical explanation for a woman’s recovery from terminal cancer. She had prayed to Fr. Damien to intercede for a cure.

Pope Benedict XVI will preside over the canonization on October 11. The priest was beatified in 1995 by Pope John Paul II.

Pope Benedict is expected to meet privately with the patients during their stay in Rome.

About 650 people from Hawaii are traveling to Rome for the canonization. Most are expected to be part of the delegation of the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.

A Boy Scout group called the St. Damien Boy Scouts of Oahu will document the capstone event and their travels on the internet using a blog, YouTube and Facebook.

In an August interview, Scout Master John Fielding told CNA about his scouts’ planned journey and the place of Fr. Damien in Hawaii.

“Fr. Damien is not only a symbol of our Church, but he is a hero to the Hawaiian people for his sacrifice,” he explained. “Fr. Damien’s statue is in the front of the Hawaii State Capitol and the U.S. Congress. Damien Memorial High School, where one of our scouts attends, is named in his honor.”

“Even if you are not Catholic, you know of his sacrifice and love for the many Hawaiians left to die there [at Molokai].”

The scouts have set up a Facebook account under the name of Damien de Veuster and have set up a YouTube channel named “saintdmienscouts.”

They will also report on their journey at http://stdamienboyscouts.wordpress.com/


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