Saturday, February 14, 2015

Four new saints approved

At the conclusion of the Rite of Creation of the new Cardinals held this morning in the Vatican Basilica, the Holy Father, Pope Francis held an Ordinary Public Consistory for the Canonization of Blessed:

Giovanna Emilia de Villeneuve, Religious, Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of Castres.

Blessed Giovanna Emilia was born in France, at Toulouse in 1811.  In Castres, she founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception for the education of children and of poor girls, for the sick and for the missions in distant lands.  She died of colera on October 2, 1854 and was Beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.


Mary of Jesus Crucified (born Maria Baouardy), Professed Religious of the Order of Carmelites Discalced.

Blessed Maria of Jesus Crucified was born in Abellin, a village in the Galilean Hills, not far from Nazareth in 1846 of Arab parents.  Baptized in the Melkite Greek-Catholic Church, she experienced many trials and extraordinary mystic phenomena in her youth.  In France, she entered the Carmel of Pau.  She was sent to India to found a new Carmel, and then she was subsequently sent to Bethlehem where she died in 1878.  She was Beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1983.




Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas, Religious, Foundress of the Congregation of Sisters of the Rosary of Jerusalem.

Blessed Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas was born in Jerusalem in 1843.  At the age of fifteen years, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition.  Hers was an intense apostolate with teenagers and with Christian mothers.  She had a special mystical relationship with the Mother of God.  She founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem, of which she was a member until her death in 1927.  She was Beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.




During this morning's Consistory, the Pope decreed that these three Blesseds, as well as Blessed Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception (born Adelaide Brando), Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters Expiatory Victims of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, whose canonization was decided during the Consistory held on October 14, 2014, will be inscribed among the Saints on Sunday, May 17, 2015.

No comments: