This was done after Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, met with Pope Francis during an audience on May 23.

The pope will soon convene a consistory, which will also address the canonisation of Blessed Giuseppe Allamano, a friend of Saint John Bosco and founder of the Consolata Missionaries; Marie-Léonie Paradis, founder of the Institute of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family in Canada in the late 19th century; and Elena Guerra, founder of the Oblates of the Holy Spirit in 1882.

Carlo Acutis will thus be the first saint to have "owned a mobile phone and an email address," noted Father Will Conquer.

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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 it is time to consider the future path of the official process towards Meri Hohepa Suzanne Aubert's canonisation.

"From my point of view, the miracle is in the life of those concerned in this process.

"I witness daily the gift we have of asking Meri Hohepa to intercede for us on our behalf. It is extraordinary. It is tangible.

"We have much to be grateful for and we are on a journey of faith. I have witnessed the faith and healing of people as they request Meri Hohepa's intercession.

"This will continue," said Mills.

"Meri Hohepa would say at this moment: ‘It is God's will.' She said that ‘when all else fails this is the moment of God.'

"We need to rest in that moment for a while, before deciding where to go next."

Cardinal John Dew, President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference, says: "No matter the outcome of the Cause for Beatification, Suzanne Aubert is remembered, through her writings, prayers and sayings, and her life of working for those most in need.

"All of that lives on.

"There is no doubt that Suzanne, Meri Hohepa, was a holy woman, she was greatly loved and respected.

"All she would want is for us all to follow her example and carry on with works of compassion."

The case for a miracle, the details of which remain private to protect the privacy of the person concerned, was put in 2019 to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Vatican agency responsible for studying sainthood nominations. The Congregation appointed a medical council to study it.

New Zealand's Catholic bishops approved the introduction of the Cause of Suzanne Aubert's sainthood in 1997.

A formal Diocesan Inquiry was held in 2004, when the available evidence for promoting her as a saint was gathered. The results were sent to Rome and approved for further consideration.

Included with this material was Jessie Munro's biography, The Story of Suzanne Aubert.

As a result, Suzanne Aubert was given the title "Servant of God".

Subsequent presentation and approval of the relevant material led to Pope Francis declaring her "Venerable" in 2016.

After someone is declared venerable, the Catholic Church requires proof of two miracles before they can be declared a saint. Recognition of a first miracle would have resulted in Pope Francis awarding her the title "Blessed," the penultimate step on the path to her being declared "Saint".

Suzanne Aubert (1835-1926) founded the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion (the Sisters of Compassion) in 1892.

She was a friend and advocate for Maori, children, the poor and the sick, with the Sisters continuing her work to this day.

Thousands lined Wellington's streets for her funeral in 1926, an extraordinary tribute to a woman who dedicated herself to "people of all religions or none."

She continues to be known as Venerable Suzanne Aubert, a woman of outstanding Christian virtue.

Source

• Supplied: National Catholic Communications NZ

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 beatification, the last step before sainthood, that ended Monday (Oct. 19).

His hands locked above his chest, his unruly curls resting on a pillow, Acutis lay in repose at the Shrine of the Renunciation at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Assisi, Italy. A silicone mask was placed over his face and hands in order for the remains to be presented "with dignity for the veneration of the faithful," according to the church.

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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 this most wonderful teaching from the Son of God, we are shown the way to holiness, to blessedness, to joyfulness.

Situated in St. Matthew's Gospel within the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes chart a sure course on how to be "blessed," that is, how to be joyful!

The deeply spiritual scientist and theologian Jesuit Father Teilhard de Chardin said, "Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God."

In our hearts, you and I long for joy, that joy to the full that Jesus promises us, the joy that only he can give us. And the Beatitudes teach us the way!

And so it is that when we are

• "poor in spirit" - totally trusting and dependent on God;
• "mournful" - and allow God to comfort us;
• "meek" - living with gentle strength;
• "hunger and thirst for righteousness" - striving to live in right relationship with God, all others and ourselves;
• "merciful" to all;
• "clean of heart" - thinking, feeling and acting with purity and honesty;
• "peacemakers" - praying and working for peace within ourselves, within our families, within our nation and within our world; and
• persecuted for faithfully living out these Beatitudes, let us "rejoice and be glad" for our reward will be great in heaven! (Matt. 5:1-12).

Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation "Gaudete et Exsultate" (Rejoice and be Glad) urges us to apply the Beatitudes to the life and death situations facing our world.

He writes, "Our defence of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development.

"Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.

"We cannot uphold an ideal of holiness that would ignore injustice in a world where some revel, spend with abandon and live only for the latest consumer goods, even as others look on from afar, living their entire lives in abject poverty".

Daily I receive in my inbox the "Saint of the Day" from Franciscan Media. I always find the brief biography and refection interesting and inspiring.

Blessed are those who live the Beatitudes, for they are experiencing a wonderful taste of heaven right here on earth!

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag@zoominternet.net.

Ahlquist noted one reason given for halting Chesterton's cause was that the author, considered one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, lacked a discernible personal spirituality.

Speaking to Crux, he said that "now more than ever we need more lay saints, with clergy being under a cloud."

He said it often seems to be "easier" for priests or religious who found orders to be canonized, since the order typically promotes the person's cause for sainthood.

However, while these individuals might have been unquestionably holy, "they're not great inspirations for laypeople," Ahlquist said, adding, "I hate to say it, but they are not models of spirituality for what a layperson has to go through to live the Catholic life."

Chesterton is a "prime example of what lay spirituality is supposed to look like. I think all the evidence of his spiritual life is there," he said, saying doubt over Chesterton's spiritual life is a "weak reason" to halt the cause.

One of the best-known writers in the 20th century, Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born May 9, 1874, and died June 14, 1936.

A convert to Catholicism, he was widely considered one of the most influential writers of his time.

While in the United States he is best known for his book Orthodoxy, a groundbreaking defense of Christianity, Chesterton is most famous in his homeland for his Father Brown series, a collection of short stories about a priest detective more dedicated to converting the criminals he catches than incarcerating them.

In 2013, Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton, Chesterton's home diocese, ordered that an initial investigation into the possibility of Chesterton's sainthood be opened, however, he has decided not to pursue the cause, meaning the pipe-loving, cigar-smoking and general booze-enthusiast will not become a saint - at least, not yet.

Reasons given by Doyle for pulling the plug were due to what he said was a lack of "local cult," or worship, of Chesterton on his home turf, that he could not identify a pattern of personal spirituality for Chesterton, and concerns that some of Chesterton's writings contained anti-Semitic elements.

Ahlquist, president of the American Chesterton Society and the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, made the announcement at the Aug. 2 opening session of the American G.K. Chesterton Society conference happening in Kansas City this week, reading aloud a letter from Doyle.

In his comments to Crux, Ahlquist said he received the letter from Doyle in April informing him of the decision not to pursue Chesterton's cause.

• While Doyle said he would not get in the way of efforts to pursue Chesterton's cause elsewhere, Ahlquist said he took issue with Doyle's reasons for halting the cause. Continue reading
• Image: Crux

Why? Because his work is permeated with a Catholic understanding of beauty. Read more

Princess Elisabeth of France was executed along with her brother and sister-in-law, Queen Marie Antoinette. Read more

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 the Marist family, parish representatives from Howick and Panmure and representatives from local Catholic schools.

The father of Bibles in schools

In a country offering free and secular education, Garin was particularly noted nationally for his campaign for the Bible to be lawfully read in class as the last part of an ordinary school course of instruction and for school classrooms to be used for religious instruction outside of school hours.

It was a campaign he won and in 1867, with the support of Oswald Curtis, the Nelson provincial superintendent, the New Zealand Education Act was amended.

Is Garin a saint?

As well as preaching at the Mass, Fr Mervin Duffy posed the question whether Fr Garin was a saint.

Eighteen months after he was buried, Fr Garin's remains were exhumed and placed in a crypt underneath the chapel.

Despite the coffin being waterlogged, according to those present there was neither sign nor smell of corruption from the body and they all signed a document attesting to these facts.

However Archbishop Redwood wanted the account of Fr Garin's incorrupt body to remain secret and prevent a cult developing around him.

An incorrupt body or not Fr Garin was a man of great faith, a man who reached out across cultures and who has a popular following.

Duffy told the congregation that many of his contemporaries thought Garin was a saint.

Archbishop Redwood, who conducted his funeral declared "He was indeed a saint, and attracted universal respect, and in many sincere veneration."

Duffy therefore concluded, "Given his life and deeds, I think I can safely say that if he did not get into heaven then most of the rest of us do not stand much chance".

To mark the occasion, prayer cards were blessed and distributed with Duffy encouraging people to pray to God through the intercession of Fr Antoine.

Source

• sm.org.nz
• Image: sm.org.nz

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 Pope John Paul II after being attributed to a first miracle, answering an Indian woman's prayers to cure her brain tumor, according to the Vatican. One miracle is needed for beatification — described by the Catholic Church as recognition of a person's entrance into heaven — while sainthood requires two.

Francis officially cleared Mother Teresa for sainthood on Dec. 17, 2015, recognizing her "miraculous healing" of a Brazilian man with multiple brain abscesses, the Vatican said.

Five years must pass from the time of the candidate's death before an examination can begin. The pope can dispense with this waiting period. A bishop is placed in charge of the initial examination of the candidate's life. Once deemed worthy by the Vatican, the candidate is called a "Servant of God."

Continue Reading

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 by a panel of theologians.

The panel of theologians in the Congregation of Saints have examined the Posito and judged that the case has merit.

They will now send their recommendation to the Bishops and Cardinals who work in the Congregation of Saints.

If they approve the recommendation a Decree of Heroic Virtues is sent to Pope Francis for his final judgment.

A decree on the heroic nature of Suzanne Aubert's virtues will be issued and she will be given the title of Venerable.

These steps could be completed by early next year.

The next step in the process is the approval of a posthumous miracle, which would lead to Suzanne Aubert's Beatification. A person who is beatified is given the title "Blessed"

After beatification the Church looks for a second posthumous miracle before proceeding to canonisation.

The consent of the Holy Father to the decision of the Congregation results in a Decree of a Miracle.

Canonisation would then be possible.

Read more about Suzanne Aubert's cause.

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 from former Boys Town residents who knew Fr Flanagan.

"I have had World War II veterans weep in front of me as they recall what Fr Flanagan did for them when they were just boys," said Omar Gutierrez.

Fr Flanagan helped at least 10,000 boys at Boys Town in his lifetime, and his influence extended around the world.

The priest's work inspired 80 other Boys Towns around the world.

The original Boys Town now serves about 80,000 children and families each year.

Steven Wolf, president of the Father Flanagan League Society of Devotion and vice-postulator of his cause, said he thinks there is abundant evidence of the priest's heroic virtue.

"He completely poured his life into saving these kids nobody else wanted to deal with," Mr Wolf said.

Fr Flanagan integrated young boys, "built a society around them, and put love, God's love, in the middle of their circumstances and helped them to become whole and complete people".

After World War II, the priest helped care for orphans and displaced children in war-ravaged Japan, Germany and Austria, at the request of US President Harry Truman.

Mr Wolf noted that the priest broke with the segregationist practices of his time, serving all boys, regardless of their race and religion.

Fr Flanagan's response to racist criticism was to ask what colour a person's soul was.

Spencer Tracy won an Oscar for his portrayal of Fr Flanagan in the 1938 movie Boys Town.

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• Crux
• Image: Communio blog

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone announced that the position document for the beatification of Pope John Paul I will be submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the northern autumn.

This sets out the pros and cons for the case for beatification.

Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected pope on August 26, 1978.

He died after 33 days in office, prompting many conspiracy theories that he had been murdered.

One miracle has already been attributed to John Paul I's intercession: the healing of Giuseppe Denora from a malignant stomach tumour in 1992.

John Paul I was declared a Servant of God by his successor in 2003.

The only 20th century popes who have not yet begun the process toward sainthood are Benedict XV and Pius XI.

Continue reading

Sante Fe Archdiocese has received permission from the Vatican to open the cause of Sr Blandina Segale, who was a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati.

Sr Blandina taught poor children in Colorado in the 1870s and was later transferred to Sante Fe, New Mexico, where she co-founded public and Catholic schools and helped set up hospitals.

During her time in New Mexico, she worked with the poor, the sick and immigrants.

She also advocated on behalf of Hispanics and Native Americans who were losing their land to swindlers.

But her encounters with Old West outlaws later became the stuff of legend and were the subject of an episode of the CBS series "Death Valley Days".

The episode, called "The Fastest Nun in the West", focused on Sr Blandina's efforts to save a man from a lynch mob.

Her encounters with Billy the Kid remain among her most popular and well-known Western frontier adventures.

According to one story, she received a tip that The Kid was coming to her town to scalp four doctors who had refused to treat his friend's gunshot wound.

Sr Blandina nursed the friend back to health and when Billy came to Trinidad, Colorado, to thank her, she asked him to abandon his violent plan. He agreed.

Another story claimed that when The Kid spotted Sr Blandina during an attempt to rob a covered wagon, he called off the attack.

He just tipped his hat and left, according to legend.

Many of the tales were recorded in letters that Sr Blandina wrote to her sister, which were later published in the book, "At the End of the Santa Fe Trail".

Sr Blandina died in 1941, aged 91.

"She was just amazing. It's tough to live up to her example," Victoria Marie Forde, of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, said.

Archbishop Michael Sheehan of Santa Fe said Sr Blandina's work still resonates today, with poverty, immigration and child care still high-profile issues.

Sources

• New York Daily News
• Daily Mail
• Image: AZ Central

This is the first step in the process that leads to sainthood. His cause was opened in 1984 and was forwarded to Rome to 1996.

Guynot de Boismenu arrived at Yule Island in Papua New Guinea at the age of 28 and stayed there till his death in 1953 at the age of 83.

Read press release from Bishop Rochus Tatamai

• Born in Saint-Malo, France in 1870.
• Professed as a member of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1888
• Ordained a priest in 1895.
• Appointed Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Papua New Guinea in 1899.
• Became the second vicar apostolic of Papua New Guinea in 1908, retiring in 1945.

Source

• American Saints
• CatholicHierarchy.org
• Australian Dictionary of Biography
• Image: riposte-catholique 3.bp.blogspot.com

Experts at the Congregation for Saints Causes have recognised the healing of an unborn child through the intercession of the late Roman pontiff.

This is another step on the path to possible canonisation as a saint for Paul VI, who was one of the popes at the Second Vatican Council.

Continue reading

The process for seeking sainthood for Suzanne Aubert began in the 1980s. Jessie Munro wrote a biography of her life and the investigation of three recorded miracles began.

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".

Now that historical consultation has been completed the next step in the process is a theological consultation by a panel of theologians. A panel of nine theologians in the Congregation of Saints judge whether the case has merit.

If their decision is affirmative, they offer the cause to the Bishops and Cardinals who work in the Congregation.

If the Bishops and Cardinals approve, the case is given to the Pope for his personal decision.

A decree on the heroic nature of Suzanne Aubert's virtues would be issued and she would be given the title of Venerable.

The penultimate step in the process is the approval of a posthumous miracle, which would lead to Suzanne Aubert's Beatification. A person who is beatified is given the title "Blessed"

After beatification the Church looks for a second posthumous miracle before proceeding to canonisation.

The consent of the Holy Father to the decision of the Congregation results in a Decree of a Miracle. Canonisation would then be possible.

Source

• Archbishop John Dew's Newsletter 20 February 2014
• NZCBC
• Image: nzhistory.net.nz

The Vatican's Medical Commission of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints said the healing of an unborn child is medically "unexplainable," and could serve as the miracle that allows Paul VI to be beatified. Continue reading

I do not want this to be the case. Yet, when I think about all the images of consumptive 14-year-old girls that adorned the holy cards of my youth or all the silly stories about saintly young women who would rather die than disobey their parents, I fear it must be so.

I'm sure, of course, that Christ and the holy women those artists gravely misrepresented have forgiven them their sins. But those sins did damage and that damage must be atoned for. Thanks to them, countless Catholics (and non-Catholics too) are running around this world thinking sainthood a boring business and female sainthood more boring still.

For a long time, I was one of those Catholics. Somewhere along the way, between bad religious art and even worse religious storytelling, I picked up the idea that lady saints were like so many of the statues that represented them: cold, untouchable, and decidedly not real. How could they be real? They seemed to have so little life in them, so little blood—never speaking a cross word or giving a cross look, never getting angry, never even thinking a bad thought.

Those plaster women were not like any woman I'd ever met. And they were most definitely not like me, with my red hair and temper and excessively strong opinions. Maybe they were real, I concluded at one point. But they were also the rarest of birds, and neither myself nor anyone I knew could so much as hope to join their ranks.

Then, I met St. Teresa of Avila, who was a giddy flirt, even as a nun, until a mystical encounter with Christ brought her to her knees. When she got back up, she launched a reform of the Carmelite order. Her superiors tried to stop her, but she didn't give up in defeat. Instead, she launched a letter-writing campaign to King Phillip, begging him to intervene. Which he eventually did, bringing the inquisition against her to an end.

Around the same time, I met St. Catherine of Siena, who in 1376, marched off to Avignon and told Pope Gregory to get himself back to Rome post-haste and stay there. He obeyed.

Next I met St. Perpetua, who faced the lions of Carthage more calmly than I can manage to face the field mice in my kitchen. A lot more calmly.

Then, there was St. Joan of Arc, who commanded a motley crew of surrender-happy French soldiers and began her letters to the English army with the salutation, "Dear Heretics." Continue reading

Sources

• Emily Stimpson in Catholic Vote
• Image: Female Saints
  

Emily Stimpson is a freelance writer, based in Steubenville, Ohio.

What was not expected in today's announcement, which came during a meeting with the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, was the approval of the canonization of Blessed John XXIII, whose process seemed to have languished in the past few years. Still more surprising was the news that the Pope had waived the standard second miracle. Federico Lombardi, SJ, the papal spokesperson, explained, "Despite the absence of a second miracle, it was the Pope's will that the Sainthood of the great Pope of the Second Vatican Council be recognized." Fr. Lombardi noted that of course the pope has the authority to "dispense" with that requirement, and also added that there had been discussions among theologians and experts about whether two miracles were needed for beatification and canonization. As ever, Pope Francis surprises. (Perhaps John XXIII's second miracle was the election of Francis.)

The two popes appeal to a wide variety of Catholics. John Paul's popularity seemed only to grow as his papacy continued, and has remained strong among Catholics since his death. A man of firm faith, a tireless evangelist, and a strong foe of both communism and poverty, John Paul II became, much as he might dislike the use of the word, a religious rock star. Continue reading

Sources

• America
• Image: Fr Z's blog

Although the process is
supposed to be secret at this point, the Italian news agency ANSA reported that the proclamation of sainthood "needs only the approval of the commission of cardinals and bishops and the final signature of Pope Francis".

The miracle was reportedly approved by two doctors in April as having been a cure that cannot be explained in natural terms.

Continue reading