Pope Francis makes John XXIII, John Paul II saints

By NICOLE WINFIELD

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has declared his two predecessors John XXIII and John Paul II saints in an unprecedented canonization ceremony made even more historic by the presence of retired Pope Benedict XVI.

Francis recited the saint-making formula in Latin, saying that after deliberating, consulting and praying for divine assistance "we declare and define Blessed John XXIII and John Paul II be saints and we enroll them among the saints, decreeing that they are to be venerated as such by the whole church."

Benedict was sitting off to the side with other cardinals in St. Peter's Square during the rite at the start of Sunday's Mass. He and Francis briefly greeted one another after Francis arrived.

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• Pope Francis makes John XXIII, John Paul II saints

Pope John Paul II to get sainthood, Vatican says

By Hada Messia

(CNN) -- The Roman Catholic Church will declare the late Pope John Paul II a saint, the Vatican announced Friday.

Pope Francis signed the decree Friday morning, the Vatican said. John Paul was pope from 1978 until his death in 2005, and was in a way the first rock star pontiff, drawing vast crowds as he criss-crossed the globe.

At his funeral, thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square and chanted "Santo Subito" -- Sainthood Now! The Polish-born pope was fast-tracked to beatification and became "the blessed" John Paul II barely six years after his death, the fastest beatification in centuries.

Pope John XXIII, who convened the Vatican II council in the 1960s, will also be declared a saint, the Vatican said

No date has been announced for the canonization ceremony.

Pope John Paul II, the third-longest serving pope in history, died in April 2005 at the age of 84.

He had suffered from Parkinson's disease, arthritis and other ailments for several years before his death.

During his tenure, he became the most widely traveled pope in history, and canonized more saints than any other pope.

His papacy included a lot of firsts. He was the first modern pope to visit a synagogue, and the first pope to visit Cuba.

There are essentially three steps to becoming a Catholic saint after death.

First, the title "venerable" is formally given by the pope to someone judged to have exhibited "heroic virtues." Second, a miracle must be attributed to the deceased person's intervention, allowing beatification. Canonization -- or sainthood -- requires a second attributed miracle.

In 2010, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI approved John Paul's first reported miracle: a French nun supposedly cured of Parkinson's disease.

Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, a nun whose order prayed to the pope after he died, said she was cured of the disease, an ailment that also afflicted John Paul.

The second miracle reportedly occurred in Costa Rica, where a woman said she recovered from a severe brain injury thanks to the intervention of John Paul, sources told CNN Vatican analyst John Allen.

Patrick Kelly, executive director of the Blessed John Paul II Shrine in Washington, explained the church's process for investigating reported miracles.

"A team of doctors first examine the miracle. Secondly, the team of theologians look at the miracles and then they discuss amongst themselves the legitimacy and all the facts surrounding the miracles," he said.

Despite being so beloved, John Paul didn't live up to expectations at a crucial moment in the church's history, as revelations of sexual abuse scandals involving thousands Catholic priests erupted across the world in the early 2000s, critics say.

In the United States alone, the scandal involved more than 16,400 victims or alleged victims and cost the church $2.6 billion in settlements, therapy bills, lawyers' fees and care for priests removed from ministry, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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• Late Pope John Paul II to get sainthood, Vatican says

Pope Francis gives church hundreds of new saints

Pope Francis, middle, kisses the altar as he arrives to celebrate his first canonization ceremony in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, May 12, 2013. The pontiff will canonize Antonio Primaldo and his companions, also known as the Martyrs of Otranto, Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya of Colombia, and Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala of Mexico in a ceremony at the Vatican on Sunday. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

By FRANCES D'EMILIO
 
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis on Sunday gave the Catholic church new saints, including hundreds of 15th-century martyrs who were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam, as he led his first canonization ceremony Sunday in a packed St. Peter's Square.

The "Martyrs of Otranto" were 813 Italians who were slain in the southern Italian city in 1480 for defying demands by Turkish invaders who overran the citadel to renounce Christianity.

Their approval for sainthood was decided upon by Francis' predecessor, Benedict XVI, in a decree read at the ceremony in February where the former pontiff announced his retirement.

Shortly after his election in March, Francis called for more dialogue with Islam, and it was unclear how the granting of sainthood to the martyrs would be received. Islam is a sensitive subject for the church, and Benedict stumbled significantly in his relations with Muslims.

The first pontiff from South America also gave Colombia its first saint: a nun who toiled as a teacher and spiritual guide to indigenous people in the 20th century.

With Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos among the VIPS, the Argentine pope held out Laura of St. Catherine of Siena Montoya y Upegui as a potential source of inspiration to the country's peace process, attempted after decades-long conflict between rebels and government forces.

Francis prayed that "Colombia's beloved children continue to work for peace and just development of the country." He also canonized another Latin American woman. Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala, a Mexican who dedicated herself to nursing the sick, helped Catholics avoid persecution during a government crackdown of the faith in the 1920s.

Also known as Mother Lupita, she hid the Guadalajara archbishop in an eye clinic for more than a year after fearful local Catholic families refused to shelter him.

Francis prayed that the new Mexican saint's intercession could help the nation "eradicate all the violence and insecurity," an apparent reference to years of bloodshed and other crime largely linked to powerful drug trafficking clans.

Francis told the crowd that the martyrs are a source of inspiration, especially for "so many Christians, who, right in these times and in so many parts of the world, still suffer violence." He prayed that they receive "the courage of loyalty and to respond to evil with good."

The pope didn't single out any country. But Christian churches have been attacked in Nigeria and Iraq, and Catholics in China loyal to the Vatican have been subject to harassment and sometimes jail over the last decades. Christians in Saudi Arabia must worship out of the public eye because the ultraconservative kingdom does not officially permit churches and non-Muslim religious sites.

Francis, the first pope from the Jesuit order, which is known for its missionary zeal, praised the Colombian saint for "instilling hope" in the indigenous people. He said she taught them in a way that "respected their culture." Many Catholic missionaries over the centuries have been criticized for demanding natives renounce local traditions the outsiders viewed as primitive.

He hailed the Mexican saint for renouncing a comfortable life to work with the sick and poor, even kneeling on the bare floor of the hospital before the patients to serve them with "tenderness and compassion."

Mother Lupita's example, said Francis, should encourage people not to "get wrapped up in themselves, their own problems, their own ideas, their own interests, but to go out and meet those who need attention, comprehension, help" and other assistance.

After shaking hands with the prelates and VIPS in the front rows at the end of the Mass, Francis shed his ceremonial vestments. Wearing a plain white cassock, he climbed into an open white popemobile to ride up and down the security paths surrounding the crowd of more than 60,000.

He stopped to pat children on the head, kiss babies and bantered in his native Spanish with some at the edge of the crowd.

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• Pope Francis gives church hundreds of new saints

Dead Branches

Benedict XVI: Christ is the stable centre of our lives

All Saints' Day calls for deeper belief in eternal life, pope says

By Carol Glatz 
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The feast of All Saints should prompt Catholics to believe more deeply in eternal life, Pope Benedict XVI said.

The day "reminds us of our eternal destiny, where we will dwell, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, in true and perfect light, total fulfillment, everlasting joy and gladness without end," he said Nov. 1, reciting the Angelus on the feast of All Saints.

He urged people to "believe more strongly in eternal life and feel in true communion with our departed loved ones," who will be commemorated on the feast of All Souls, Nov. 2.

"May the intercession of all the saints lead us and our departed loved ones to our everlasting home in heaven," he told the pilgrims who gathered under stormy skies for the midday prayer in St. Peter's Square.

The feast of All Saints includes a celebration of the holy men and women, "whom only God knows," but who have not officially been proclaimed saints; they made Christ present in their lives and carried out God's will, the pope said.

The saints show that "being united to Christ, in the church, does not negate one's personality, but opens it up, transforms it with the power of love and confers on it an eternal dimension here on earth," he said.

By becoming united to Christ, people also join in communion with all members of his mystical body, the church, "a communion that is perfect in 'heaven,' where there is no isolation, no competition or separation," the pope said.

"On today's feast we get a taste of the beauty of this life fully open to the gaze of love of God and neighbor, in which we are sure to reach God and one another in God," he said.

"In the saints we see the victory of love over selfishness and death; we see that following Christ leads to life and eternal life, and gives meaning to the present ... because it is filled with love and hope," he said.

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• All Saints' Day calls for deeper belief in eternal life, pope says

Saint Maximina and Saint Hyacinth

"In 304 A.D., a native of Belgrade, widow and mother, was martyred for her magnificent defense of the Catholic Faith at Mitrovica, Yugoslavia. This was near the end of one of the fiercest Roman persecutions. She was beheaded and cast into the Sava River. Devoted Christians retrieved and buried her in the Roman catacomb of St. Priscilla, until she was given to the Sinibaldi family chapel. In 1927 her relics were given to the Poor Clares in Rome, who later moved them to the Poor Clares in Chicago. The remarkably preserved bones of the Saint were partly encased in wax and a be-jeweled red robe. Cardinal Mundelin of Chicago gave permission to celebrate her feast day on May 4th. After 40 years, St. Adrian's Church in Chicago received her relics for veneration and she became known as the "Miraculous Saint of Great Faith," and the saint of many miracles. With the coming of the Vatican II spirit, controversy arose and the Chicago cardinal made sounds like he wished to be rid of her and to bury her bones in the local cemetery. However, devoted clients of St. Maximina transported her remains to the Byzantine nuns of St. Clare in North Royalton, Ohio, where they remain to this day the object of many devoted visits and prayers. Many miracles are still being reported as the result of prayers made to this marvelous Martyr of the holy Catholic Church. If you need a miracle in your life, my advice is for you to go to St. Maximina." - from The Angelus

"St. Hyacinth is in a similar wax sculpture with the nuns in Ohio. He was a young Roman, about age 16, who was also beheaded for the Faith. He died in the year 109 A.D." - from randada at forums.catholic.com

Which Catholic Saint are you?

St. Padre Pio

While a young Franciscan, Padre Pio miraculously received in his own body the wounds of Christ. Then followed fifty years of a wondrous ministry to the world, in which this living image of Christ healed the minds, hearts, and bodies of countless thousands who sought his help. This ministry continues to this day through the blessed friar's heavenly intercession. He lead souls to Heaven through prayer, sacrifice and the Sacrament of Confession. He exemplified Christ in his suffering.

Which Catholic Saint are you?

Little-known Saints backup quarterback...

Looter Guy

Benedict XVI: Saints proclaim the Glory of God

Benedict XVI: Vacation a Great Time to Study Saints

Recalls That Holiness Is Everyone's Vocation

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 20, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says it is important and advantageous to cultivate devotion to the saints, and recommends vacation as a good time to study their lives.

The Pope said this today at the general audience, during which he reflected on several saints whose feastdays are celebrated in these weeks. He mentioned Sts. John Eudes, Bernard of Clairvaux, Pius X, Rose of Lima, and the celebration of the Queenship of Mary.

"Dear brothers and sisters," he said, "day after day the Church offers us the possibility to walk in the company of the saints."

The Pontiff recalled how Hans Urs von Balthasar wrote that the saints are the most important Gospel commentary and represent for us "a real path of access to Jesus."

And he noted how Jean Guitton described saints as "'the colors of the spectrum in relation with the light,' because with their own hues and accents each one of them reflects the light of God's holiness."

"How important and advantageous, therefore, is the determination to cultivate the knowledge and devotion of the saints, together with the daily meditation of the word of God and filial love for the Virgin," the Bishop of Rome affirmed.

Universal

Benedict XVI went on to note that saintliness is a universal call.

"The period of vacation is certainly a useful time to review the biography and writings of some men or women saints in particular, but each day of the year offers us the opportunity to become familiar with our heavenly patrons," he said. "Their human and spiritual experience shows that holiness is not a luxury, it is not the privilege of a few, an impossible goal for a normal man.

"In reality, it is the common destiny of all men called to be children of God, the universal vocation of all those who are baptized. Holiness is offered to all."

The Holy Father said the testimony of the saints shows that "only when one is in contact with the Lord, is one full of peace and joy, and in this way it is possible to spread everywhere serenity, hope and optimism."

Finally, he expressed his hope that the faithful allow themselves "to be attracted by the supernatural fascination of holiness. May Mary, Queen of all saints, Mother and refuge of sinners, obtain this grace for us."

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St. Peter Wright, Priest and Martyr

From WDTPRS:

"Today is the Feast of St. Peter Wright, slain in 1651 at Tyburn for being a Catholic and a priest.

Here is his entry in the Roman Martyrology:

11*. Londinii in Anglia, beati Petri Wright, presbyteri et martyris, qui, fidem Ecclesiae catholicae professus, in Societatem Iesu admissus et ad ordines sacros promotus, tempore Reipublicae, propter sacerdotium ad Tyburni patibulum ductus est.

He was hanged till dead and then disemboweled, etc. Many of the English martyrs were only lightly hanged, then while alive had various bit cut off and then their intestines pulled out which were burned as they watched. Then the were beheaded and quartered.

The establishments really didn’t want Catholics around.

I have been thinking much of the English Martyrs these days, and learning more about them as well.

They have been on my mind for two reasons.

First, I am watching a series (one of these drama things, so it is spiced up) called The Tudors. Also, I am reading Joseph Pearce’s great book The Quest for Shakespeare. It seems the Bard, a recusant, had a good deal to do with Jesuit priests, including a couple martyrs. I recall there was pretty accurate scene of hanging, drawing and quatering in the two-part movie produced by HBO about Queen Elizabeth I.

So, over at Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit, I found this edifying entry:

Bl. Peter Wright (†1651)

Blessed Fr Peter Wright, S.J., of Slipton, Northamptonshire, England suffered for his priesthood, his vows of religion and his Catholic Faith at Tyburn on 19 May, 1651. His execution on Whit Monday took place before over 20 000 spectators, as Bishop Challoner relates: Having celebrated Mass with great devotion, the time drew near when he was to go down in order for execution. Hearing the knocking at the iron grate, he took it as a summons from Heaven, and cried out:

I come, sweet Jesus, I come.

When Fr Wright was called out to the hurdle, he went with so much alacrity and speed that the officers could scarce keep pace with him; then being placed on the hurdle he made a short act of contrition; and in the midst of mutual embraces was absolved by Fr Cheney, and then drawn away to Tyburn through the streets crowded with an innumerable multitude of people. He was drawn on the hurdle more like one sitting than lying down; his head was covered, his countenance smiling, a certain air of majesty, and a courage and cheerfulness in his comportment, which was both surprising and edifying, not only to the Catholics who crowded to ask his benediction, but to the Protestants themselves, as many publicly declared. Thirteen malefactors were appointed to die with him, to whom the father endeavoured to give seasonable advice for the welfare of their souls, but was continually interrupted by the minister, and therefore desisted, betaking himself to silent prayer, in which he employed about an hour, standing with his eyes shut, his hands joined before his breast, his countenance sweet and amiable, and his whole body without motion as one in deep contemplation. When the minister took occasion to tell him it was not yet too late, and that he might save his life if he would renounce the errors of Popery:

If I had a thousand lives I would most willingly give them all up in defence of the Catholic religion. The hangman having fitted the rope to his neck, the confessor made a short speech to the spectators: Gentlemen, this is a short passage to eternity; my time is now short, and I have not much to speak. I was brought hither charged with no other crime but being a priest. I willingly confess I am a priest; I confess I am a Catholic; I confess I am a religious man of the Society of Jesus, or as you call it, a Jesuit.

This is the cause for which I die; for this alone was I condemned, and for propagating the Catholic faith, which is spread through the whole world, taught
through all ages from Christ’s time, and will be taught for all ages to come.

For this cause I most willingly sacrifice my life, and would die a thousand times for the same if it were necessary; and I look upon it my greatest happiness, that my most good God has chosen me most unworthy to this blessed lot, the lot of the saints. This is a grace which so unworthy a sinner could scarce have wished, much less hoped for. And now I beg of the goodness of my God with all the fervour I am able, and most humbly entreat Him that He would drive from you that are Protestants the darkness of error, and enlighten your minds with the rays of truth. And as for you Catholics, my fellow soldiers and comrades, as many of you as are here I earnesdy beseech you to join in prayer for me and with me till my last moment; and when I shall come to Heaven I will do as much for you. God bless you all; I forgive all men. From my heart I bid you all farewell till we meet in a happy eternity.

Having spoken to this effect, he again recollected himself a while in prayer, and then the cart was drawn away, and he was suffered to hang till he quietly expired. His dead body was cut down, beheaded, bowelled, and quartered. His friends were permitted to carry off his head and quarters which were translated to Liege, and there honourably deposited in the college of the English Jesuits. He suffered aged 48, and after 22 years of religious life. He was beatified in 1929.

Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints, †

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• St. Peter Wright, Priest and Martyr

The 2nd Miracle of St. Gianna Molla

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