Father Solanus Casey beatified in Detroit, Michigan

Humble disciple, tireless servant: Solanus Casey beatified in Detroit - Catholic News Agency (CNA)

News excerpt from CNA:  Detroit’s beloved Father Solanus Casey has been beatified, with Pope Francis calling him “a humble and faithful disciple of Christ, tireless in serving the poor.”

“The life of our Blessed is an exemplary page of the gospel, lived with human and Christian intensity. It is a page to read with dedication and emotion... and to imitate with fervor,” said Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints, who read the Latin-language letter from Pope Francis officially declaring the priest to be blessed.

“In raising this Capuchin to the altars. Pope Francis points him out to the whole Church as a faithful disciple to Christ, the Good Shepherd,” the cardinal said in his homily. “Today the Church and society still need the example and the protection of Father Solanus.”

“Brother and Sisters, let us repeat together: Blessed Father Solanus, pray for us,” he told a crowd of of 60-70,000 gathered for the Nov. 18 Beatification Mass at Detroit’s Ford Field stadium.

Beatification is the final step before possible canonization. Blessed Solanus Casey’s feast day will be July 30.

Read more on CNA: Solanus Casey Beatified

Photograph courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository.

Fr. Stanley Rother beatified in Oklahoma City

VIDEO: Fr Stanley Rother becomes first US-born martyr to be beatified | CatholicHerald.co.uk

News excerpt from CatholicHerald.co.uk:

Sandra Rother McGougan, who credits an unlikely deathbed recovery to Fr Rother’s intercession. She was in a car crash in 1992.

The 22-year-old was pronounced brain dead and was being kept alive only for organ donation, but her mother begged for a second opinion, and doctors discovered some brain activity. It was later determined she had suffered a rupture in her brain stem. Doctors weren’t optimistic she would live, but the family prayed for Fr Rother’s intercession. Sandra fully recovered, much to her doctor's amazement.

Her story was among the documents sent to the Vatican to support the priest’s canonization.

Read more: Fr. Stanley Rother Beatified

New Jersey Nun Beatified

East meets West in America’s new Blessed - News excerpt and photo from Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) “It’s interesting that God has chosen to honour a contemplative instead of an activist for the next American to be beatified,” said Bishop Kurt Burnette of the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Passaic. He was speaking to Vatican Radio about Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, who was beatified on Saturday in New Jersey.

Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, Sr. Miriam Teresa is the fourth American-born woman to be beatified. However, this is the first time that the Rite of Beatification will take place on U.S. soil. Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided the ceremony, which took place in Newark’s Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

The process of investigation was opened in 1945 to investigate the sanctity of Sr. Miriam Teresa’s life. She was raised in the Byzantine Ruthenian Church and taught for a brief period in Jersey City, before entering the convent of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth in 1925.

Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to Sr. Miriam Therese when a young boy who lost his eyesight due to macular degeneration was cured after prayers through her intercession. For Bishop Burnette, this miracle along with her profound humility, spirituality and insight are clear signs of God’s confirmation of her sanctity. “I don’t believe we really choose who is going to be canonized, God does,” he concluded.

Read more: Vatican Radio

Álvaro del Portillo: Couple talks about the miracle that will pave the way towards his beatification

News excerpt from RomeReports.com

July 11, 2013 - Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Alvaro del Portillo. This means Del Portillo will be recognized as a blessed in the coming months.

The story of this miracle is striking. It all started in Chile, where young José Ignacio Ureta Wilson, a young boy from Santiago, was declared clinically dead. 

The events took place back in 2003. Just two days after José Ignacio was born, he underwent surgery for a serious malformation in both his abdomen and his heart. But  suddenly his health worsened.

SUSANA WILSON
Mother“We were at my in-laws' house. At about 2pm they called us from the clinic and told us to go there immediately because José Ignatio wasn't well.”

The young boy's heart stopped beating and he went into cardiac arrest. The doctors tried to resuscitate him. But no matter how hard they tried, the boy was declared dead shortly after.

JOSÉ IGNACIO RODRÍGUEZ
Pediatrician“We kept on resuscitating him, we kept on and on. After 30 minutes we simply saw nothing was happening, so we started reducing our efforts.”

But the child's mother, never lost hope. In her desperation, she turned to Alvaro del Portillo in prayer.

FRANCISCO JAVIER URETA
Father“I saw her praying in an incredible way. She was praying with extreme fervor and faith.”

That's when she says, something really incredible happened. Young José Ignacio's pulse rhythm began to grew faster and steadier, until the boy's heart regained its normal function. That's something the doctors still can't explain.

JOSÉ IGNACIO RODRÍGUEZ
Pediatrician“Without an any... without any explanation José Ignatio's heart regained its rhythm, progressively and with a quick pace. And now he is here with us.”

Today he is alive and well. He loves soccer, tennis and is a big fan of dancing. His parents say they have no doubt, it all happened through the intercession of Alvaro del Portillo. 

What is a Canonization?

News excerpt from RomeReports.com

A person is not born a saint. In fact, the process of actually being declared a saint is quite lengthy. It includes an investigation on the life, faith and possible miracles the person interceded in. If they are approved  the candidate becomes canonized, which means being declared a saint.

The process itself is divided into four main stages. The first begins at a local diocese. It's here that a detailed report on the life and virtues of the candidate is prepared before being submitted to the Vatican. If it gets the green light the person is declared a Servant of God. The next phase is being declared 'Venerable.' That happens when historians, theologians and cardinals agree that the candidate's heroic virtues merit that title.

In the third stage the person is declared a Blessed. For that to happen a miracle has to be attributed to his or her intercession. The miracle has to be scientifically inexplicable and it must be approved by scientists and theologians. From that point on, blesseds can be venerated in sites that are connected to their lives. Once a year, their feast day is celebrated.

The fourth and final step requires a second miracle that must happen after the candidate was beatified. If the miracle is approved, the candidate can then be declared a saint.

But before any of this happens, the Pope must first approve the entire process. Once the candidate is officially declared a saint, he or she is recognized as someone who lived an exemplary life that's worthy of the Church's highest honor.

Pope Recognizes 'heroic virtues' of late American Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Fulton Sheen declared venerable. Cause for beatification moves forward

The following excerpt is from RomeReports.com:

The Pope has formally recognized the 'heroic virtues' of late American Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He's mostly known for his work as a 'televangelist' during his 20 year career in radio and television. In fact, he was recognized with two EMMY awards for his work on the show. He also served as the Archbishop of New York and Rochester in the 50's and 60's.

The decree signed by the Pope, recognizes that Sheen exemplified Christian values in his life. It also furthers his cause for beatification. In the next step, the Vatican must acknowledge that a documented miracle happened through the intercession of Sheen. If it's approved by experts, theologians and the Pope, it could further his cause for beatification and eventually sainthood.

Sheen's cause for beatification was opened in 2002. He died at the age of 84 in 1979 after a lifetime of work in the Church.

Tito Yupanqui could become the first Bolivian saint

Tito Yupanqui could become the first Bolivian saint

The video and following excerpt is from RomeReports.com:

The bishops of Bolivia have opened the beatification process of Francisco Tito Yupanqui. If approved, he would become the first blessed Bolivian. He was born in 1550 and was one of the first indigenous people to convert to Catholicism.

He carved the image of the Virgin of Copacabana, which is an extremely important figure in Bolivia. The miracles attributed to the image have prompted the possible holiness.

Carlos Federico de la Riva
Bolivia's ambassador to the Vatican
"The attribution of the miracle is not directly related to the sculptor, Tito Yupanqui. Rather the miracles are linked to the image of the Virgin. That's simply a fact."

The sculptor is so popular in his native country, there's actually a village in the western part of Bolivia, named after Tito Yupanqui. Now, Catholics in Bolivia are hoping his beatification will come soon.

Carlos Federico de la Riva
Bolivia's ambassador to the Vatican
"In a way Bolivians see it as justice. People say, 'gee, all the saints are from other countries,' as if there was no room for holiness in Bolivia.”

If he does in fact become a blessed, the ambassador says it will promote a Christian way of living in his home country.

Hawaiian nun's cause for sainthood jumps forward with second miracle

Hawaiian nun's cause for sainthood jumps forward with second miracle

The following information is from RomeReports.com:

(Romereports.com) The cause for sainthood of Blessed Hawaiian nun Marianne Cope has received Vatican approval of a second miracle. A group of doctors from the Vatican's Congregation for Causes of Saints declared there is no medical explanation for the cure of a woman who was on her deathbed and made a miraculous recovery.

No other details on the case have been released.

Before moving to Hawaii in 1883 to help care for those suffering with leprosy, Marianne Cope worked as a member of the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, New York. Her cause for beatification has been taken up there.

Mass of thanksgiving for beatification of Pope Blessed John Paul II

YouTube - Mass of Thanksgiving for Beatification of Pope Blessed John Paul II

The following excerpt is from Catholic Online:

VATICAN CITY, (VIS) - At 10:30 Monday morning in St. Peter's Square, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., secretary of state, presided over the thanksgiving Mass for the beatification of Pope John Paul II. The liturgical texts were those of the new Blessed.

The celebration included music performed by the Choir of the Diocese of Rome, with the participation of Warsaw's Polish Union of Choirs and the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra of Katowice. Preparation for the holy rite began at 9:30am with the reading of poems by Blessed John Paul II in alternation with pieces performed by the orchestra and choir. Before Holy Mass, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, addressed those present.

"The dialogue of love between Christ and the human person characterized the entire life of Karol Wojtyla ...", Cardinal Bertone said in his homily. "We all recall how, on the day of his funeral, during the ceremony there was a moment when the wind shut the book of the Gospels placed on the coffin. It was as if the wind of the Spirit wanted to signal the end of the spiritual and human existence of Karol Wojtyla, illumined by the Gospel of Christ. With this Book he discovered God's plan for humanity and for himself, but he also learned of Christ, His face and His love, which was always a call to responsibility for Karol".

"He was a man of faith, a man of God," the cardinal emphasized. "His life was a constant prayer that lovingly embraced all who inhabit our planet, created in the image and likeness of God, and therefore worthy of the greatest respect; redeemed by Christ's death and resurrection the human person is therefore truly become the living glory of God. Thanks to the faith that he expressed, above all, in prayer, John Paul II was a true defender of the dignity of every human person and not a mere activist for political or social ideologies".
 
Read More: Pope John Paul II

Sister Marie Simon-Pierre to Speak at Beatification of Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II
Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

The Canadian Press: 'Miracle nun,' John Paul II aides to be protagonists in beatification ceremony

The following excerpt is by Nicole Winfield of The Associated Press:

VATICAN CITY — A French nun whose inexplicable cure from Parkinson's disease was the miracle needed to beatify Pope John Paul II will have a starring role in the Vatican's three-day, around-the-clock beatification extravaganza, officials said Tuesday.

Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, as well as John Paul's closest aide, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, and longtime spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, will all speak about their experiences with the beloved pope at a prayer vigil at Rome's Circus Maximus on the eve of the May 1 beatification.

The Vatican on Tuesday released details about the ceremonies, which are expected to draw some 300,000 people to the Eternal City on charter trains, planes and boats. Tent cities are being planned at two locations outside the city in case hotel rooms become scarce.

Eight churches in Rome's historic centre will remain open all night from April 30 to May 1 for a "white night" of prayer reminiscent of the all-night cultural events that Rome and many other cities organize, said Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the pope's vicar for the diocese of Rome which is organizing many of the events.

St. Peter's Basilica itself is expected to keep its doors open well into the night of May 1 to accommodate the faithful who want to pray before John Paul's tomb, which will be moved upstairs from the grottoes underneath the basilica for the occasion.

Shortly after John Paul died, Sister Simon-Pierre says she experienced an inexplicable cure of her Parkinson's disease. Benedict earlier this year confirmed that her healing was indeed miraculous, setting the stage for the beatification.

Beatification is the last major step before possible sainthood, and means John Paul can be publicly venerated. No feast day has yet been set, Lombardi said.

Read more: Beatification of Pope John Paul II

Nun tells of healing after intercessory prayers to Pope John Paul II

Nun tells of healing after praying to John Paul II - FoxNews.com

The following excerpt is from FoxNews.com:

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France – A French nun says she felt new inner strength and vitality as her Parkinson's disease suddenly disappeared in 2005 — a recovery the Vatican attributes to the miraculous intercession of Pope John Paul II.

Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, who works at a Paris maternity clinic, told reporters in a rare appearance Monday that she felt "reborn" on waking June 3, 2005 after she had prayed for healing to John Paul.

"There was a new strength inside me, and my body was rediscovering its vitality and fluidity," Simon-Pierre, appearing in good health, told reporters in the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence.

The 49-year-old nun — who has largely been shielded from the media — said she still sometimes talks to John Paul.

"For this news conference, I told him to stay right beside me!" said Simon-Pierre, who appeared smiling and wearing a white habit at the news conference.

Pope Benedict XVI has set May 1 as the date for his predecessor's beatification, a step toward possible sainthood.

Church authorities have studied Simon-Pierre's cure and determined it was inexplicable and due to the intercession of John Paul, who also suffered from Parkinson's. Benedict approved the miracle last week, paving the way for the beatification.

Simon-Pierre's healing came about two months after John Paul's death on April 2, 2005, at age 84. Soon before her mysterious recovery, she had asked to stop working, saying she was "ready to finish out her days in a wheelchair," her former mother superior recalled.

"When she came to ask me to replace her, I noticed that she was very worn out. I told her to wait. I told her that John Paul II hadn't had his last word on the subject," Sister Marie-Thomas recalled.

Read More: Nun Tells of Healing

Pope John Paul II's beatification Approved for May 1, 2011

John Paul II's beatification approved for May 1, Divine Mercy Sunday : Catholic News Agency (CNA)

The photograph and following excerpt is from the Catholic News Agency:

Vatican City, Jan 14, 2011 (CNA/EWTN News).- The much-anticipated beatification of Pope John Paul II will take place on May 1, the Sunday after Easter, the Vatican announced.

The healing of a French nun with Parkinson's disease is to go down in history as the miracle that made John Paul II a "blessed." The title is given to martyrs and other Christians to whom a miracle has been officially attributed, thus bringing them one step closer to sainthood.

Pope Benedict XVI approved the decree for the beatification of his predecessor during a Jan. 14 audience with the head of the Vatican department for saints' causes, Cardinal Angelo Amato.

John Paul II's cause arrived in the current's Pope's hands for approval after doctors studied the miraculous healing of Sister Marie Simon Pierre Normand and concluded it was "scientifically unexplainable." Following approval from theologians and Church officials, Pope Benedict promulgated the decree with his signature.

The atmosphere was electric at noon in the the Holy See's Press Office with journalists from all over the world expecting news of the beatification decree.

During the rather cheerful press briefing, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi explained some of the details of the process and revealed preliminary plans for the ceremony.

In what some have called "record time," the Pope's cause was seemingly expedited through the trials to prove his sainthood. Fr. Lombardi admitted that the cause for the Pope was "facilitated" because of his "great fame of sanctity."

At Pope Benedict's bidding, norms stipulating that saints' causes begin five years after the individual's death were waived. His cause, as those of others Popes and special cases, also leapfrogged others in what is usually a "first in, first examined" process.

This being the case, no corners were cut, the Vatican spokesman assured. He insisted that "each of the legislative steps of the inquiry have been fulfilled, they have been taken with care. They have not been facilitated, rather the cause has proceeded with great attention and fidelity."

Pope John Paul II’s cause is extraordinary in the history of the Church both for the speed with which it was advanced to beatification and because it will be his immediate successor to preside over the ceremony.

The Pope's cause was brought to beatification in just over five years, rivaling that of his good friend Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta for its speed.

His beatification will be celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square on May 1, the first Sunday after Easter.

As Fr. Lombardi explained, the choice is full of significance for the late-Pope, who died just a day before the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005. That year, it fell on April 3.

The date changes from year-to-year, but is always the first Sunday after Easter.

"For those who followed John Paul II's pontificate, it is a special Sunday," said Fr. Lombardi.

It is a "fundamental date in his life and his encounter with the Lord," the Vatican spokesman said. He explained that it is the day the Church celebrates the apparition of Jesus to the disciples in the upper room and the institution of Confession.

The day was particularly important to the late-pontiff because it was the day in 2000 that he celebrated the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska and declared that the Sunday after Easter should henceforth be known as "Divine Mercy Sunday."

Sister Faustina, known for promoting the Divine Mercy chaplet, which is prayed using a rosary, said that all who go to Confession and receive the Eucharist at Mass the Sunday after Easter will be given full remission of their sins.

Divine Mercy is "absolutely fundamental" to the pontificate of John Paul II.

"It's precisely the vision, we could say, of the pontificate of John Paul II that has this theme of the Divine Mercy," Fr. Lombardi said.

The staff at St. Peter's Basilica is already preparing for what is sure to be a grand occasion, drawing pilgrims from all over the globe. Workers are already cleaning the mosaics in the Chapel of St. Stephen, just next to Michelangelo's Pietà, where the soon-to-be "blessed's" body will lie.

John Paul II's body will be taken from the crypt below and set below the chapel's altar.

Because the process came about so quickly after his death, Fr. Lombardi said that the body will not be exhumed for examination.

Read More: Pope John Paul II

Pope Decrees Sainthood for Blessed Guido Maria Conforti and Beatification for Several Others

Pope decrees sainthood for Italian, beatification for 11 others - Catholic News Agency (CNA)

The following excerpt is from CNA/EWTN News:

Vatican City (CNA/EWTN News)- Pope Benedict XVI has advanced the sainthood causes of 16 Catholics. The announcement was made following the Pope’s meeting with Cardinal Angelo Amato, head of the Vatican’s office for the causes of saints, Dec. 10.

The Church’s newest saint will be Blessed Guido Maria Conforti, a missionary order founder and Italian bishop who died in 1931. The Pope has authorized a miracle attributed to Conforti’s intercession, the second needed to affirm his sainthood.

He founded the Pious Society of St. Francis Xavier for Foreign Missions, the Xaverian missionaries, who through his guidance brought about a renewal of the missionary spirit at the turn of the 20th century. The missionaries first spearheaded evangelization efforts to China. They are now present in a variety of countries throughout Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas.

While his most recent miracle was not described, the first miracle attributed to Blessed Conforti came about in 1965. After prayers for his intercession from Xaverian sisters in Burundi, 12-year old Sabina Kamariza was cured of pancreatic cancer. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1996.

In addition to the miracle attributed to Blessed Conforti, the Pope has also authorized miracles attributed to an Italian priest, the Spanish foundress of a religious institute, the Portuguese foundress of an order of hospitalier sisters and a Brazilian sister who died in 1992. They will all be beatified for miracles attributed to their intercession.

Further papally-authorized decrees will recognize the martyrdom of German Father Alois Andritzki killed in the Nazi’s Dachau concentration camp in 1943 and six Spanish priests who all died for the faith during their country's civil war in 1936. No dates have been released yet for the ceremonies that will recognize them as blesseds.

"Heroic virtue" was decreed in the lives of a 20th-century Italian priest, a Lebanese religious brother of the Melkite Catholic tradition, an Italian sister and foundress of a religious congregation and a Spanish religious sister.

A series of steps marks the road to sainthood. First, the cause is begun on a local, diocesan level at which time information is collected on the person known to have led an exemplary or "heroic" Christian life.

Information is collected at the local bishop's request, resulting in a biography of the person, any writings they created, and testimonies from witnesses being sent to the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints. After further investigation by a panel, those who advance are either recognized for their "heroic virtue" and declared "venerable" or declared martyrs for the faith, thus bypassing the venerable stage to be beatified and declared "blessed."

"Venerables" to whose intercession a miracle is attributed advance by further papal decree to be beatified and declared “blessed.”

Once a person is declared “blessed,” the final step to canonization and recognition as a saint is the attribution of a second miracle for non-martyrs and a single miracle for those who suffered martyrdom.

Read More: CNA News

Catholic Officials to Investigate Claims of Second Newman Miracle

CNS STORY: Catholic officials to investigate claims of second Newman miracle

The following story is from the Catholic News Service:

By Simon Caldwell

Catholic News Service

LONDON (CNS) -- Catholic officials are investigating claims that a severely deformed baby was born in a perfectly normal condition after the child's mother prayed to Cardinal John Henry Newman for a miracle.

Andrea Ambrosi, the Vatican lawyer in charge of Cardinal Newman's cause for canonization, has revealed in a BBC program to be broadcast Sept. 18 that he hopes the inexplicable healing may be the miracle needed to canonize Cardinal Newman as Britain's next saint.

Pope Benedict XVI will beatify Cardinal Newman at a huge open-air Mass in Birmingham's Cofton Park Sept. 19, the last day of his four-day visit to England and Scotland. However, a second miracle is needed to name the 19th-century cardinal as a saint.

"I am about to leave for Mexico City precisely because that could be the miracle for his canonization," Ambrosi said in the documentary -- "Newman: Saint or Sinner?" -- excerpts of which were released by the BBC Sept. 9.

"We are in a very preliminary phase," he added. "I cannot say anything yet, but this shows how the cardinal answers these prayers."

Former British government minister Ann Widdecombe -- who, like Cardinal Newman, was Anglican before becoming Catholic -- will present the television program. She told Catholic News Service Sept. 13 that the alleged healing occurred after prenatal scans revealed that the unborn baby was "severely deformed."

The doctors, she said, were convinced they could do nothing to help the fetus, but the mother, a devout Catholic, insisted on going through with the pregnancy.

"The child was born perfect following the mother praying to Newman, and scientists can't explain it," said Widdecombe.

Father Richard Duffield, provost of the Birmingham Oratory, confirmed in an e-mail to CNS that "an investigative tribunal into a further miracle ... is about to open in the Archdiocese of Mexico City."

"The reported miracle took place after the formal announcement of Newman's beatification (in July 2009)," he said. "This means that if it is found to be genuine it would be eligible for consideration as the second miracle necessary for Newman's canonization. It is expected that witness statements from those concerned and from the medical teams will be ready to send to Rome in early 2011.

"The process of investigation needs to be very thorough, and we should be cautious," he said. "But it is always exciting to hear reports of Newman's intercession and the evident devotion there is to him all over the world."

U.S. Deacon Jack Sullivan of Marshfield, Mass., whose healing from a crippling spinal condition in August 2001 was the miracle that allowed for Cardinal Newman's beatification, will read the Gospel during the beatification Mass.

Pope Benedict has waived his own rules to preside over the ceremony rather than sending a Vatican delegate to conduct the ceremony.

Cardinal Newman was an Anglican theologian who became a Catholic after first founding the Oxford Movement to try to return the Church of England to its Catholic roots.

END