Today, Pope Francis agreed to advance the Servant of God Father Giorgio Guzzetta, C.O., to the next step on the road to sainthood. The announcement came in the normal course of a meeting between the Roman Pontiff and the Prefect of the Congregation for Saints.
Father Giorgio Guzzetta (April 23, 1682 – 21 November 1756) is a well known priest in the Italo Greek Byzantine Catholic Church. Guzzetta was a priest of the Congregation of the Oratory in Palermo, Italy.
The incorrupt remains of Father Giorgio Guzzetta rest in the Cathedral of Piana degli Albanesi. The Congregation of the Oratory has another son that will be raised to the altar and this one as a Byzantine Catholic priest. He was tireless worker for the unity of the Eastern and Western Churches. He is considered to be “illustrious father Giorgio Guzzetta, an exemplary character not only from a spiritual point of view, but also as a great luminary of Arbëreshe culture.”
The process for beatification was begun by the Eparchy of Piana of the Albanesi on 26 October 2001 under the direction of Bishop Sotir Ferrara. Father Giorgio will now carry the title of Venerable Servant of God until a miracle is determined for advancement to beatificaiton.
A brief biography for Father Giorgio may be read here but it is in Italian AND the Congregation for Saints has this biography. In 2007, Guzzetta’s home eparchy celebrated the 250th anniversary of his death when the bishop and other scholars presented the state of his Cause for sainthood, his Oratorian spirituality, and his importance in the Church.
The prayer for Father Giorgio’s beatification:
Blessed are You, Lord, God of our Fathers, because you raised up Your Servant Father Giorgio Guzzetta in your Church, consecrated with a prophetic spirit and full of apostolic charity in favor of your people. We humbly beg you to glorify him on earth, so that we can invoke him as our intercessor at your heavenly throne. By the mercies of Jesus Christ, your only begotten Son, with whom you are blessed together with your All-Holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and always and forever and ever. Amen.
Venerable Servant Father Giorgio Guzzetta, pray for us.