Sainthood causes – Page 10

2 new Blesseds added US liturgical calendar

At their annual
meeting, the US bishops voted to have add to the US liturgical calendar Blessed
John Paul II and Blessed Marianne Cope, both are optional liturgical memorials
in the proper of saints. October 22 is designated to honor Blessed John Paul and January 23
for Mother Marianne.

The Church sets dates for liturgical “memorials are typically set for the
date of the person’s death, which in Mother Marianne’s case was Aug. 9, 1918.
However, that date is the feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith
Stein), who died Aug. 9, 1942. Jan. 23 is the optional memorial in the United
States for St. Vincent de Paul. That date was transferred from Jan. 22 so that
the U.S. church can observe the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of
Unborn Children — which itself shifts to Jan. 23 when Jan. 22 falls on a
Sunday.”

Clelia Merloni’s canonization cause advances, miracle investigated

The Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the congregation of sisters founded by the Servant of God Mother Clelia Merloni (1861-1930), are thankful that the diocesan phase of a miracle attributed to Mother Clelia was closed on 11 April 2011. The documentation is now at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Holy See. These efforts move Merloni one step closer to beatification.

The Diocese of Rome which is handling the study for Mother Clelia’s cause finished its work on 1 April 1998; on 7 August 1999, approval from the Congregation for Saints the diocesan work. The postulator is Father Luca M. DeRosa, OFM.

This year marks Mother Clelia’s 150th anniversary of birth; she was a native of Forli, Italy. Her mother died when Clelia was 4 years old and her grandmother raised her. She died on November 21, 1930.

Continue reading Clelia Merloni’s canonization cause advances, miracle investigated

Emil Kapaun’s cause for beatification moves to Vatican

The Church in the US could have another saint if US Army chaplain Father Emil Kapaun‘s cause for beatification is accepted by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

The work of getting the relevant materials ready has been under the able hands of Father John Hotze, the bishop’s delegate for the study of Father Kapaun’s beatification and canonization. A priest of the Diocese of Wichta since 1940, Father Kapaun served in the US Army from 1944 until his death in 1951. In fact, he died in a prison camp hospital on May 23, 1951 (he was born on April 20, 1916). The Diocese of Wichita has the competence to present the dossier of his life when it officially opened the cause for his beatification on June 29, 2008.

Father Emil Kapaun, a native of Pilsen, Kansas, served in the Korean War as a US Army chaplain, and was known for his selflessness. Kapaun is on record for courageously rescuing wounded soldiers from the battlefield, risking his own life to prevent their execution at the hands of the Chinese. The care of the priest saved the lives of sick and injured soldiers.

The well-known Dr. Andrea Ambrosi, is going to shepherd the Kapaun case. He’ll be the person who will present Kapaun’s case, all 8,268 documents about the chaplain’s deeds and sacrifices in the Korean War, to the Congregation of Saints at the Vatican said based on what he knows thus far, Father Kapaun has a good chance at being beatified. Ambrosi said: “He showed that there was not just a devil working on the battlefields of the war, but something else.” The face of Christ.

Two miracles are being studied.

In 2006, Avery Gerleman, then 12 years-old, near death for 87 days. She recovered after her parents prayed to Kapaun.
In October 2008, Chase Kear, a college track athlete, medically inexplicable, he survived a severe pole vaulting accident. His skull was fractured in several crucial places and caused bleeding on his brain. The prognosis was very grim. Family prayed for Father Emil’s intercession.

Joseph Muzquiz, priest: possible saint

The Archdiocese of Boston announced on June 2 that it is taking to the next step in overseeing the study of the cause of canonization of Father Joseph Muzquiz (1912-1983).

In the summer of 2010 the initial steps with the Archdiocese and the Congregation for Saints took place. Now, the key task of this process is to see if, in fact, Father Joseph Muzquiz lived a life of heroic virtue.

Father Muzquiz, a priest of the Prelature of the Opus Dei, worked with two others in bringing Opus Dei to the USA. Saint Josemaría had admitted Joseph to Opus Dei in 1941 and had him ordained a priest in 1944 and sent him to the USA in 1949.

With the opening of the sainthood cause, Father Joseph is now referred to the Servant of God Father Joseph Muzquiz. Father Byran K. Parrish presided over the June 2nd ceremony in the name of Sean Cardinal O’Malley and the Most Reverend Emilio S. Allue, the episcopal delegate for the inquiry participated as well as the postulator of the cause, Father David Cavanagh of Opus Dei. About 150 people participated in this ceremony.

John F. Coverdale authored Putting Down Roots: Fr. Joseph Muzquiz and the Growth of Opus Dei (Scepter Publishers), the narrative of Muzquiz meeting Saint Josemaría and the story of early days of Opus Dei in the US. A brief piece on Putting Down Roots can be read here.

The prayer of petition for Muzquiz’s canonization

God, you helped your servant Joseph work with generosity and simplicity. He spread the message of sanctity in secular life to many people, teaching them to find joy and peace in their daily life. Help me to seek first the kingdom of God by sanctifying my everyday work and dedicating myself generously to the salvation of souls. Glorify your servant Joseph and through his intercession, grant me the favor I ask of you.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

Who are saints? They are “Flesh and Blood Human Beings”

As Father Gabriel B. O’Donnell reminds, being a saint doesn’t mean that you are divested of your own personality, to have intimacy with God doesn’t mean you change who you are as a person. Domincan Father Gabriel O’Donnell is currently the academic dean at the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC.

Watch PBS Religion & Ethics Newsweekly which helps us to understand the role of saints today.

Father Gabriel speaks to the process of sainting a person based on shepherding the process for two Americans, Father Michael J. McGivney and Rose Hawthorne. See the “Sainthood Process.”

Another piece is worth watching, too: “Path to Sainthood.”

What’s the difference between beatification and canonization?

Subtle
differences need certain light in a canonization process. Scholasticism
advocates that we always distinguish. Benedict XVI will be beatifying his
friend, colleague and boss, Pope John Paul II on May 1. So, the faithful are
asking what’s the difference between the ecclesial acts of beatification and
canonization?

The Holy See told us what’s considered to be the distinguishing
marks of any beatification. There are three differences:

location of dioceses
that can hold annual public liturgical celebrations in the holy person’s honor;
who ceremonially requests the pope to act;
and the level of papal authority
involved in the proclamation.

What Pope Benedict has worked hard to remind the
Church, “at a beatification ceremony, the bishop of the diocese where the
person dies asks that the candidate be declared blessed; at a canonization, the
prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes speaks in the name of the whole
church and asks that the candidate be declared a saint.”

But a central
difference between a beatification and canonization is that with a canonization
there is an act of declaring dogmatically, that God has revealed this person
with Him in beatitude. Essentially, it is a matter of papal infallibility.
Being a saint is a dogmatic statement; being a blessed is not. A saint can be
liturgically commemorated at the sacred Liturgy worldwide and remembered in
other circumstances like naming buildings after the person. When the Church
says a person is a blessed, it is an administrative act of the papal office; a
blessed can be liturgically commemorated is limited to certain circumstances,
like where the person lives or in the houses of the religious congregation
should the person be a religious.

Adolphe Chatillon (Frère Théophanius-Léo)

The accepted the recommendation of the Congregation for Saints today advancing to the next step several causes for saints, including the North American, Adolphe Chatillon (known in religious life as Frère Théophanius-Léo). Pope Benedict signed a decree that said Chatillon lived the Christian virtues in a heroic way. The Servant of God Adolphe Chattillon will now be called “The Venerable Servant of God Adolphe Chatillon –many will just use the simple form of the title “venerable.”

Adolphe Chatillon (1871-1929) was a professed member of the LaSalle Christian Brothers. He served in the Canadian schools administered by the Christian Brothers as a teacher, headmaster, novice-master for 30 years and a General Vicar for the USA.

Chatillon needs a miracle attributed to his intercession before he would be beatified and another prior to a declaration of sainthood.

We pray to God the Father almighty that He’ll give us the gift of calling Aldophe Chatillon a saint in the near future. Venerable Servant of God Adolphe Chatillon, pray for us.

The other holy people of Canada can be found here.

3 new saints for the Church universal

The Pope called an ordinary consistory of cardinals to today to discuss and then announce that 3 new saints are to recognized. The new saints: Don Luigi Guanella, Don Guido Maria Conforti and Sister Bonifacia Rodriquez de Castro.

Blessed Luigi Guanella founded Congregation of the Servants of Charity and the Institute of the Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence
Blessed Guido Maria Conforti founded the Xavierian Missionaries
Blessed Bonifacia Rodriquez de Castro founded the Congregation of the Servants of Saint Joseph

The Sacrifice of the Mass and the Rite of Canonization will take place on October 23.

The news clip.

John Paul II’s coffin to be viewed

The Holy See is allowing the coffin of Pope John Paul II to be viewed following the May 1st beatification ceremony which will be celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI.

After the viewing the papal body will repose in the Chapel of San Lorenzo in the Basilica of Saint Peter.

The video story is here.

The Vicariate of Rome website for Pope John Paul’s beatification ceremony