The path to New Zealand sainthood of missionary Mother Meri Hōhepa Suzanne Aubert has been delayed. A Vatican medical council concluded recently that a potential miracle attributed to her can be explained by medical science. Sister Margaret Anne Mills, leader of the Sisters of Compassion in Island Bay, Wellington, says the medical council’s ruling means Read more
The Catholic Church’s most recent candidate for sainthood is also its most modern. Lying in a glass-sided casket in jeans and a track jacket, the body of Carlo Acutis, an internet enthusiast who died in 2006 of leukemia at the age of 15, was venerated by some 41,000 visitors during a 19-day-long celebration of his Read more
You are called by God to be a saint! And that all important calling from the Lord is not just to be seriously considered on All Saints Day – but every day! It is no coincidence that the Catholic Church proclaims the Gospel passage of the Beatitudes on the Solemnity of All Saints. For in Read more
Following the recent announcement that the cause for sainthood for celebrated writer Gilbert Keith Chesterton would not go forward in his home diocese, Dale Ahlquist, an expert on the author, said this stall “points to the difficulty of getting a layperson canonized.” Ahlquist noted one reason given for halting Chesterton’s cause was that the author, Read more
J. R.R. Tolkien, in this writer’s opinion, has one of the best innate grasps of evangelizing through beauty of anyone writing in the 20th century. Why? Because his work is permeated with a Catholic understanding of beauty. Read more
King Louis XVI’s sister, who was executed in the French Revolution, is a step closer to sainthood. French bishops have approved officially opening of her Cause. Princess Elisabeth of France was executed along with her brother and sister-in-law, Queen Marie Antoinette. Read more
The cause of Fr Antoine Garin SM was launched on 14 April at a Mass at St. Michael’s Church, Remuera, Auckland. The launch, sponsored by an Auckland lay group, acknowledges Fr Garin’s founding of the parishes of Howick and Panmure. A good number of people were at the launch, including members of every branch of Read more
Pope Francis on Tuesday said Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata will become a saint on Sept. 4. Affectionately known as the “saint of the gutter” for her unconditional love for the poor, abandoned and marginalized, Mother Teresa earned several international honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She was beatified in 2003 by Read more
The Theologians examining Suzanne Aubert’s cause have accepted the writings, spirituality and goodness of Suzanne Aubert. In 1997 the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference agreed to support the first part of the formal process, called the “Introduction of the Cause of Suzanne Aubert”. Then a historical consultation (Posito) was completed and presented for theological consultation Read more
The cause for the sainthood of Fr Edward Flanagan, the priest who founded Boys Town, is heading for Rome. The Omaha Archdiocese in Nebraska closed the diocesan phase of the investigation with a June 18 Mass at St Cecilia’s Cathedral. The notary for the diocesan tribunal investigating the cause said he was struck by stories Read more