10 New Saints Canonized by Pope Francis - Including the 1st Lay Saint of India, St. Charles of France, a Dutch Priest who Opposed the Nazis and 4 Nuns

On Sunday, May 15, 2022, Pope Francis Canonized 10 new Saints. Below are brief biographies of each of the new Saints.

Who are the New Saints?

St. Titus Brandsma, to whom a miracle has been attributed. Born in 1881, Titus was a Dutch theologian, journalist, and author who forcefully opposed and spoke out against the anti-Jewish laws the Nazis were passing in Germany before World War II. He was also an ordained Carmelite priest. He was arrested when Germany invaded the Netherlands and told that he would be allowed to live a quiet life in a monastery if he would announce that Catholic newspapers should publish Nazi propaganda. Titus refused and he died of hardship and starvation in the Dachau concentration camp on 26 July 1942. Pope Saint John Paul II declared Titus Blessed in 1985, saying that he “answered hate with love."

St. Sister Maria of Jesus, born Carolina Santocanale, founder of the Capuchin Sisters of Immaculate Mary of Lourdes. The order continues to work with the sick, poor, disabled, and abandoned. She was beatified by Pope Francis on 12 June 2016. A miracle attributed to her has been recognized.

St. Charles de Foucauld, born in 1858, was a French aristocrat and religious, whose work and writings led to the founding of the Congregation of the Little Brothers of Jesus. During his adventurous life, he was a Cavalry Officer in the French Army, and then an explorer and geographer before becoming a Catholic priest and hermit who lived among the Tuareg in Algeria’s Sahara Desert. He lived a life of prayer, meditation and adoration, in the incessant desire to be, for each person, a "universal brother", a living image of the love of Jesus. On the evening of December 1, 1916, he was killed by bandits.
The others to be canonized are:
St. Lazarus (Devasahayam Pillai). Known as Devasahayam, the Blessed Lazarus was a Brahmin of the Nair caste in India. Converted to Catholicism by a Jesuit priest in 1745, Devasahayam Pillai took the name Lazarus when he became a Christian. In his preaching, he particularly insisted on the equality of all peoples, despite caste differences. This aroused the hatred of the higher classes and he was arrested in 1749. After enduring increasing hardships, he received the crown of martyrdom when he was shot on 14 January 1749.
St. César de Bus, was ordained in 1582 in Avignon. He was profoundly affected by the life and writings of Saint Charles Borromeo whom he held up as a model, especially his devotion to the catechesis. In fact, he worked as a catechist in Aix-en-Provence during times of turmoil following the French Wars of Religion. He founded the orders of the Ursulines of Province and the Fathers of Christian Doctrine (Doctrinarians). The Fathers were disbanded during the French Revolution but an Italian branch of the Doctrinarian Fathers continues today with houses in Italy, France and Brazil.
St. Luigi Maria Palazzolo, a northern Italian parish priest, he dedicated his life to abandoned, orphaned and neglected children. Together with the Venerable Maria Teresa Gabrieli, he founded the Sisters of the Poor, an Order that continues to care for and educate girls in Brazil, Burkina Faso, Congo, Italy, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Peru and Switzerland. He died of natural causes in 1886.
St. Giustino Maria Russolillo, a 20th-century Italian priest, is the founder of the Society of Divine Vocations (Vocationists) which encouraged and supported those discerning a call to the priesthood and religious life. They continue their work in many countries across the world.
St.  Maria Francesca di Gesù (born: Anna Maria Rubatto) entered a community of women religious at the beginning of the 20th century and became the superior and formation director of the group, giving life to the Institute of the Capuchin Sisters of Mother Rubatto. Together with some Sisters, she went as a missionary to Uruguay and to Argentina. During her work in Latin America, she was asked to begin a mission in the rain forest. She died in Uruguay in 1904.

St. Maria Domenica Mantovani is the co-founder and first Superior General of the order of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family who can be found in Italy, Switzerland, Albania as well as in African and Latin American nations. They are dedicated to serving children and youth, families, priests, the elderly and the disabled in parishes.

-  St. Maria Rivier , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary;

Sister Maria Rivier was born on 19 December 1768 in the eastern French town of Montpezat-sous-Bauzon. When she was 16 months old, she fell off her bed and broke her hip, leading to 10 years of suffering. The ordeal aroused a desire in her to dedicate herself to God.  Later, she had another fall which laid her low again. But her determination and trust in God led her to full recovery in 1777. When the French Revolution broke out, despite the hostility of the insurgents towards the religious communities, she founded a community in 1796, which five years later took the name of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary. Shed died on February 3, 1838.

Edited from Vatican News