A teen has been beatified, a martyr and a missionary will be canonised, a priest and two lay companions recognised as martyrs and three priests’ and an engineer’s heroic virtues as Servants of God have been approved.
Venerable Carlo Acutis
The teenager, computer geek and leukemia victim will be beatified. The Medical Council of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes has approved a miracle attributed to the Venerable Carlo, who died in 2006.
The miracle involved a Brazilian child who was healed from a rare congenital anatomic anomaly of the pancreas in 2013.
The Italian teen’s beatification is expected to take place in Assisi, which is where Acutis is buried.
Acutis, who was 15 when he died, offered his suffering for the pope and for the Church.
Last May, his mother, Antonia Salzano, said “Jesus was the center of his day.”
He attended daily Mass, frequently prayed the rosary, and made weekly confessions.
His mother said priests and nuns would say they could tell the Lord had a special plan for her son.
“Carlo really had Jesus in his heart, really the pureness … When you are really pure of heart, you really touch people’s hearts,” she said.
Acutis’s gift for computer technology resulted in a website which catalogued Eucharistic miracles.
This website was the genesis of The Eucharistic Miracles of the World, an international exhibition which highlights such occurrences.
Blessed Lazarus (also called Devasahayam)
A miracle has been attributed to 18th century Indian martyr Blessed Lazarus, who suffered severe persecution after converting from Hinduism to Catholicism.
Blessed Maria Francesca of Jesus
A miracle has also been attributed to the intercession of Blessed Maria Francesca of Jesus. Francesca, who died in Uruguay in 1904, was the missionary foundress of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of Loano.
Both Blessed Lazarus and Blessed Maria Francesca of Jesus can now be canonized as saints. Their canonisation dates have yet to be announced.
Fr Rutilio Grande García and two lay companions
The Vatican has recognized the martyrdom of a Jesuit priest, Fr. Rutilio Grande García, and his two lay companions, who were killed in El Salvador. Grande, a close friend of St. Oscar Romero, was shot by a right-wing death squad while travelling in a car on March 12, 1977.
Servants of God
The heroic virtues of Servant of God Mario Hiriart Pulido, a Chilean engineer and lay member of the Secular Institute for the Schoenstatt Brothers of Mary who died in Wisconsin in 1964, have been recognised.
So have the heroic virtues of three Italian priests: Fr. Emilio Venturini, Fr. Pirro Scavizzi, and Fr. Emilio Recchia.
Source
- Catholic News Agency
- Image: Patheos