Who are the 14 New Saints Canonized by Pope Francis on World Mission Sunday? A Brief Biography of these New Heroes of the Catholic Church!
.png)
Pope Francis on World Mission Sunday, October 20, canonized 14 new saints from around the world.
The pope declared the following as Saints: Blessed Giuseppe Allamano, founder of the Consolata Missionaries; eight Franciscan friars and three Maronite laymen who were martyred in Syria in 1860; Blessed Marie-Léonie Paradis of Canada, founder of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family; and Blessed Elena Guerra, an Italian nun who founded the Oblates of the Holy Spirit.
Brief biographies of the new Saints:
— Blessed Allamano, was from Italy and lived from 1851 to 1926. He was the nephew of St. Giuseppe Cafasso and had St. John Bosco, founder of the Salesians, as his spiritual director.
He founded the men’s Institute of Consolata Missionaries in 1901 and the women’s branch of the order in 1910.
He was ordained to the priesthood in 1873 for the Archdiocese of Turin, and he worked in a parish for a few months then became part of the staff for the diocesan seminary. At the age of only 25, he was named spiritual director of the seminarians. Later, as rector of Turin’s Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation, he gathered Turin priests willing to be missionaries, forming an institute named after the shrine. The first group of priests traveled to Kenya in 1902.
— Blessed Manuel Ruiz López, six other Franciscans from Spain and one from Austria as well as three Maronite laymen, blood brothers — Abdel Moati, Francis and Raphael Massabki — were martyred in St. Paul’s Church and convent in Damascus, Syria, the night between July 9 and 10, 1860, by Druze militants.
Father Ruiz was superior of the convent and after the militants broke in, “his first thought was to go to the church and consume the Eucharistic hosts to prevent them from being profaned. He was put to death at the foot of the altar.” (Dicastery for the Causes of Saints)
The other Franciscan friars being canonized are: Carmelo Bolta Bañuls, Engelbert Kolland, Nicanor Ascanio Soria, Nicolás María Alberca Torres, Pedro Nolasco Soler Méndez, Francisco Pinazo Peñalver and Juan Jacob Fernández.
The Massabki brothers lived in Damascus and often assisted the Franciscan friars. Abdel Moati was married with five children and helped out at the friars’ school. Francis was a silk merchant who also was married and was the father of eight children. Raphael was single and often spent many hours praying in the church.
— Blessed Marie-Léonie Paradis was born Virginie-Alodie Paradis in L’Acadie, Quebec, Canada, in 1840. The future saint entered the convent of the Marianites of Holy Cross, a congregation of women dedicated to assisting priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross both through teaching and by cooking and cleaning for the priests. Given the religious name Marie de Sainte-Léonie, she had various teaching assignments in Canada before being sent to teach at St. Vincent’s orphanage in New York.
In 1880 in Memramcook, New Brunswick, she founded a new community, the Institute of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family, to support the ministry of priests. With 91 sisters, the community was approved in 1896 in Sherbrooke, Québec. Their website calls their mission “the spiritual and material support of the ministry of priests.” Mother Marie-Léonie died in 1912 in Sherbrooke at the age of 72.
— Blessed Elena Guerra was born in Lucca, Italy, in 1835 and was called to Christian service, first by founding a school for poor girls in her hometown. The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints mentions she had “a very special devotion to the Holy Spirit” since receiving the sacrament of confirmation at the age of 8. Eventually, in 1882, she founded the community that would become the Oblates of the Holy Spirit.
Afterward, “saddened to find that most Christians neglected devotion to the Paraclete,”she wrote a pamphlet called “Pious Union of Prayers to the Holy Spirit” to spread devotion to the Spirit, especially in the days leading up to Pentecost. She died in 1914 and was beatified in 1959 by St. John XXIII.
The other Franciscan friars being canonized are: Carmelo Bolta Bañuls, Engelbert Kolland, Nicanor Ascanio Soria, Nicolás María Alberca Torres, Pedro Nolasco Soler Méndez, Francisco Pinazo Peñalver and Juan Jacob Fernández.
The Massabki brothers lived in Damascus and often assisted the Franciscan friars. Abdel Moati was married with five children and helped out at the friars’ school. Francis was a silk merchant who also was married and was the father of eight children. Raphael was single and often spent many hours praying in the church.
— Blessed Marie-Léonie Paradis was born Virginie-Alodie Paradis in L’Acadie, Quebec, Canada, in 1840. The future saint entered the convent of the Marianites of Holy Cross, a congregation of women dedicated to assisting priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross both through teaching and by cooking and cleaning for the priests. Given the religious name Marie de Sainte-Léonie, she had various teaching assignments in Canada before being sent to teach at St. Vincent’s orphanage in New York.
In 1880 in Memramcook, New Brunswick, she founded a new community, the Institute of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family, to support the ministry of priests. With 91 sisters, the community was approved in 1896 in Sherbrooke, Québec. Their website calls their mission “the spiritual and material support of the ministry of priests.” Mother Marie-Léonie died in 1912 in Sherbrooke at the age of 72.
— Blessed Elena Guerra was born in Lucca, Italy, in 1835 and was called to Christian service, first by founding a school for poor girls in her hometown. The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints mentions she had “a very special devotion to the Holy Spirit” since receiving the sacrament of confirmation at the age of 8. Eventually, in 1882, she founded the community that would become the Oblates of the Holy Spirit.
Afterward, “saddened to find that most Christians neglected devotion to the Paraclete,”she wrote a pamphlet called “Pious Union of Prayers to the Holy Spirit” to spread devotion to the Spirit, especially in the days leading up to Pentecost. She died in 1914 and was beatified in 1959 by St. John XXIII.
Pope Francis concluded the canonization by upholding the examples of the 14 new Saints on Sunday, saying they were men and women who did not live for their own glory but for the glory of God, making themselves servants to their brothers and sisters. He invited Christians to pray through their intercession, “so that we too can follow Christ, follow him in service, and become witnesses of hope for the world.” (Vatican News)
Comments