Pope Francis canonised seven new saints on Sunday in front of 70,000 people. The new saints are: Pope Paul VI, Archbishop Oscar Romero, Francesco Spinelli, Vincenzo Romano, Maria Caterina Kasper, Nazaria Ignazia of Saint Teresa of Jesus and Nunzio Sulprizio. St Paul VI was like St Paul, who “spent his life for Christ’s Gospel,” Francis Read more
Archbishop Oscar Romero’s canonisation this weekend will be a special time for Brisbane man, German Silva. Romero was shot dead while celebrating Mass 38 years ago. Silva – who met Romero in El Salvador, says he will remember “a spiritual father” who offered “many key messages” throughout their five-year friendship. Describing Romero as a humble Read more
The second anniversary of martyred priest Jacques Hamel’s assassination was marked with secular and religious ceremonies last week. He was murdered by Islamic terrorists while celebrating Mass on 26 July 2016. Priests, laity and parishioners say they have been changed by his death. Hamel’s parishioners speak of how it strengthened bonds between them: “In killing Read more
Sainthood causes Pope Francis advanced this week included that of Sister Leonella Sgorbati. Sgorbati was an Italian missionary nun shot to death in Somalia in 2006 along with her Muslim driver and bodyguard, Mohamed Osman Mahamud after Pope benedict XVI’s Regensburg lecture. Read more
A new oratorio is the latest honor commemorating 11 year-old Brigitte Irrgang, whom Saint Pope John Paul II named a martyr. “Brigitte. Musikalisches Leuchten” (Brigitte. Musical Beacon) premiered in Brigitte’s home town of Loitz in northeastern Germany last weekend. Since then, performances have been held in Greifswald and Berlin. Read more
Father Jacques Hamel, the French priest murdered just after praying for world peace while saying mass a year ago, has become a ‘brother to all,’ his sister Roselyne Hamel says. The two men who killed him claimed allegiance to ISIS. “We certainly come with many emotions,” Hamel said on Tuesday, the day before her brother’s Read more
Lithuania’s first Soviet-era martyr, Blessed Archbishop Teofilius Matulioni, was beatified yesterday. Thirty-thousand people gathered in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, to attend the official beautification ceremony, which was broadcast live on Facebook. Pope Francis recognised Blessed Teofilius as a martyr in December last year. At the beatification Mass, Vatican Representative Cardinal Angelo Amato spoke of Blessed Teofilius’s “heroism” under Read more
St Peter Chanel was born on 12 July 1803, the fifth of eight children, in a farming family with a small-holding in south-eastern France. The area was still troubled by the political instability that followed the Revolution. That, plus the need to help on the farm, meant his primary schooling was rather fragmented. In his Read more
The first US martyr, Father Stanley Rother from the Oklahoma City diocese, has been recognised by Pope Francis. He was murdered in 1981 in a Guatemalan village where he ministered to the poor. Read more
Witch or martyr? It seems the last woman to be hanged as a witch in Boston may have been a martyr. After falling ill (and perhaps spreading her illness to the children in her care) Ann Glover was convicted of being an “idolatrous Roman Catholick” and a witch. She was hanged on Boston Common on Read more