Chapter 18
Waiting for Their Halos: Saints in the Pipeline
In This Chapter
Discovering some miraculous youngsters
Getting to know Mother Teresa, the people’s pope, and others
As we discuss in Chapter 1, before one is formally canonized a saint, he or she is first named a servant of God. After one proven miracle (postmortem), the person is beatified and called blessed. If a second miracle can be established, the pope can declare the person an official saint of the Church, who is venerated as being with the Lord in heaven.
Not everyone who is beatified is automatically canonized; that is, not all blesseds become saints. Only those beatified men and women whose intercession can be proven by an additional indisputable miracle are eligible for canonization (sainthood). In this chapter, we introduce you to some notable beatified persons whose causes for canonization are moving along as more evidence is discovered.
Blessed Francisco and Blessed Jacinta
Fatima, Portugal (1909–1919 [Francisco]; 1910–1920 [Jacinta])
Beatified: 2000
Feast day: February 20
Francisco and Jacinta Marto, along with their cousin Lucia Santos, would have been ordinary children in the obscure town of Fatima, Portugal, were it not for six monthly visits from the Mother of God.
Francisco and Jacinta, ages 8 and 7, respectively, accompanied Lucia, age 10, as she tended sheep on May 13, 1917. On that day, the three experienced the first of six apparitions of the Virgin Mary; the other five occurred on the 13th day of each of the ensuing months.
The children received three prophecies from the Virgin Mary, as well as a vision of hell, where damned souls endure eternal punishment for their unrepentant sins. The Virgin Mary warned the children in the first prophecy of the spread of Communism and its attendant abandonment of faith, six months before the Russian Revolution deposed Tsar Nicholas II. The second prophecy was of another and deadlier war to follow World War I if people didn’t stop offending God by engaging in sinful behavior. Finally, the Virgin Mary presented in the third prophecy a vision of a bishop “dressed in white” (an allusion to the Bishop of Rome, the pope, who wears white) who would be attacked and shot. (Pope John Paul II was shot by would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Aca on May 13, 1981.)
The deep faith of the children following the apparitions was apparent in ways as different as the children themselves. Francisco, a quiet boy, preferred to pray alone, while Jacinta became deeply convinced that suffering through penance and sacrifice was the best way to save sinners. She believed so deeply, in fact, that while lying in a hospital bed dying of influenza, she refused to be anesthetized for surgery. Her pain, she believed, would help convert sinners.
Miracle of the sun
After the first apparition on May 13, word spread and crowds grew month after month, despite attempts by the local government to discourage such activity. On the morning of the Virgin Mary’s final visit (October 13, 1917), more than 70,000 bystanders came to see what was bringing the children each month to a seemingly abandoned place.
Shortly after noon, the sun appeared in the sky after being obscured by clouds all morning. It then looked like a disc, dancing and spinning in the heavens, ebbing and growing as if the earth had been plunged toward the sun. People were able to look directly at the sight without any harm or irritation to their eyes. Despite standing in a torrential downpour before the event, everyone’s clothing was dry when it ended.
Francisco and Jacinta were both victims of the influenza epidemic that swept through Europe in 1918. Francisco died peacefully at home in 1919, and less than a year later, after countless trips to the hospital, Jacinta died alone in a hospital room. Their cousin, Lucia, became a Carmelite nun and died in 2005.
A 69-year-old Portuguese woman, Maria Emilia Santos, was totally paralyzed for 22 years until February 20, 1989, when she had an instant and complete cure through the intercession of Francisco and Jacinta. This was the first miracle needed to beatify the two children.
The process for canonization for the siblings began in 1945, and their case was officially opened in 1952. They were declared venerable in 1989, and Pope John Paul II beatified Francisco and Jacinta on May 13, 2000, 83 years to the day after the first visit from the Virgin Mary.
In 2005, just a week after Sister Lucia Santos died, the canonization petition for Francisco and Jacinta was sent to the cardinal prefect of the Congregation for Sainthood Causes. The final decision is up to the pope.
In February 2008, Pope Benedict XVI announced he would waive the five-year waiting period and that the beatification process for Sister Lucia Santos could begin.
What canonization will mean
Because they were brother and sister, canonizing Jacinta and Francisco will have a great impact on family life in general and in each individual family as well. It will encourage siblings to work together and to pray together. Not only will Catholics and all Portuguese citizens be proud of these two holy children (three, if and when Lucia is canonized), but families and children around the world will find an example and beacon of hope to live as real children of God.
Pope Blessed John XXIII
Sotto il Monte, Italy (1881–1963)
Beatified: 2000
Feast day: October 11 (opening day of Vatican II in 1962)
Often called the “smiling pope” or “good Pope John” because of his congenial manner and constant smile, Pope John XXIII was known for his desire to extend an olive branch of peace to promote ecumenical dialogue. His work wasn’t an attempt to dilute Catholic teaching or alter Catholic worship; rather, he sincerely wanted to build bridges among all the Christian churches and other religions to work together for the peace of mankind.
Life of service
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born on November 25, 1881, in Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo, in northern Italy. He was the firstborn son of peasant parents and 4th in a family of 14. Financially poor but spiritually rich, Angelo had a burning desire to study for the priesthood and was supported financially by an uncle.
The discovery of his own intellectual and cultural awkwardness in comparison to that of his seminary classmates sowed the seeds for Christian humility, which became his hallmark in life.
After his ordination as a priest in 1904, Angelo served as secretary to his bishop, Giacomo Maria Radini-Tedeschi, and taught in the seminary of the Diocese of Bergamo until the outbreak of World War I. He was drafted into the Italian Army Medical Corps and served as a stretcher-bearer.
After the war ended, Angelo returned to his diocese until 1921, when Pope Benedict XV named him Italy’s director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the official organization that promotes evangelization and provides for the social welfare of the sick, the injured, the unemployed, and the homeless. Angelo was so successful in restructuring the old organization to meet the needs of the postwar world that Pope Pius XI promoted him to bishop in 1925. He joined the Vatican Diplomatic Corps, and his first assignment was as Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria.
In 1935, he was named Apostolic Delegate to Greece and Turkey. In 1944, at the height of World War II, he became Apostolic Nuncio to France for Pope Pius XII. He worked with a German ambassador and saved the lives of more than 24,000 European Jews who were condemned to a horrible death in the Nazi concentration camps. For this, many survivors in Israel consider Roncalli a Righteous Gentile. (Only those non-Jews who worked to help the persecuted escape imprisonment or death, especially during World War II, are given this title of appreciation and affection.)
Following the end of the war in 1945, Bishop Roncalli hoped to return to some quiet obscurity, but Pope Pius XII elevated him to cardinal and made him Patriarch of Venice in 1953. This enabled him to participate in the papal conclave of 1958 after the death of Pius. After four days of balloting, the electors chose him to succeed Pius XII.
The new pope chose John XXIII as his papal name. Just shy of his 77th birthday, John XXIII was considered a “transition” pope, expected to serve for a short time. He surprised everyone when he announced three months after his coronation that he intended to convene an Ecumenical Council (see the nearby sidebar on Vatican II).
Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council, initiated the long-needed revision of the 1917 Code of Canon Law (which would finally be completed by John Paul II in 1983), and convened a diocesan Synod for the Diocese of Rome, all before his death on June 3, 1963. His aim was to open the windows of the Vatican and let in some fresh air, as he called it. Though he staunchly defended all defined dogmas and doctrines and was faithful to authentic discipline (priestly celibacy), John XXIII wanted the Catholic Church to be part of — and not necessarily contend with — the modern world, as long as the revealed laws of God weren’t compromised.
In 1966, Sister Caterina Capitani (Daughter of Charity from Sicily) suffered from a tumor, severe gastric bleeding, and infection. Other nuns put an image of John XXIII on her stomach. The nun immediately rose from her bed and began eating. Her total and complete miraculous cure was used to promote the beatification of John XXIII.
Pope John XXIII was beatified by Pope John Paul II on September 3, 2000, before a huge crowd. His papal encyclicals (authoritative letters from a pope explaining the teachings of the Church as applied to modern times), “Pacem in Terris” (Latin for “Peace on Earth”) and “Mater et Magistra” (Latin for “Mother and Teacher”), are still revered for their profound insight into Catholic social teaching on justice and morality. The first document dealt with a nonmilitary and nonconfrontational approach to resolving disputes among nations, employing realistic diplomacy whenever possible. It also strongly promoted international recognition and defense of human rights for all human beings, regardless of nationality. The second document concerned the moral responsibility of the state (secular government) to provide help for basic human needs (food, shelter, employment, and education) for citizens who are unable to secure these for themselves. While not advocating a socialist type of government (Pope John XXIII remained politically neutral), John XXIII did underscore the moral imperative for all people to help each other, not just individually but communally as well. He defended the intrinsic right of ownership of private property and repudiated forced nationalization of business while advocating social responsibility to care for the poor and disadvantaged.
What canonization will mean
Canonizing a modern pope will encourage the faithful that even their leaders can and ought to seek holiness — saintly pastors have saintly parishioners and vice versa. It would also dispel the urban legend that only monks and nuns can become Saints. John XXIII is considered the Father of the Second Vatican Council, so his canonization would be seen by some as a vindication of Vatican II across the board.
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
Ossernenon, New York (1656–1680)
Beatified: 1980
Feast day: July 14 (USA); April 17 (Canada)
Kateri Tekakwitha was a young Native American woman who followed her devout faith despite knowing she would become estranged from her family and friends.
Following her faith
Kateri was born in 1656 in a village called Ossernenon, near Aurielsville, New York, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior chief and a Christian Algonquin who had been captured by the Iroquois. Kateri’s parents and her brother died from a smallpox epidemic when she was only 4 years old; though she survived, her eyesight was impaired and her face slightly disfigured from the disease.
A turning point came in 1667, when Kateri met some French Jesuit missionaries who preached to her about Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. It took her nine years, however, to ask for Baptism, because she knew she would incur the disapproval — and even wrath — of many of her tribe.
Eventually, Kateri left her village, as they refused to accept her conversion to Christianity. She ended up in Caughnawaga on the St. Lawrence River, where some Christian Native Americans found a refuge and home. There, she cared for the sick and elderly of the village and spent time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle (the large metal container, often fashioned to look like the Hebrew Ark of the Covenant, that contains the consecrated hosts of bread that Catholics believe have become the Body of Christ).
Kateri died at the age of 24 on April 17, 1680. Her devout faith inspired many Native Americans to embrace Christianity and Catholicism. She was declared venerable by the Catholic Church in 1943 and beatified in 1980. Paul Vezina, a 32-year-old Canadian, was miraculously healed of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1939 after praying a novena (nine-day prayer) to Kateri Tekakwitha. This was the needed miracle for her beatification.
What canonization will mean
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha is the first Native American to be beatified and would be the first to be canonized, as well. She has therefore been declared the patroness for all Native Americans.
Canonizing Kateri Tekakwitha will be a huge source of pride and joy for Native Americans and for all women, too. Having a Native American saint will help evangelization (spreading the faith) and sustain those already baptized and confirmed as Catholic Christians who have similar ancestry as Kateri. Sadly, there were instances where Native Americans were physically forced to convert and abandon their natural religions, but they weren’t the majority, and many more like Kateri freely, willingly, and happily embraced Catholic Christianity. While not abandoning all her traditions and heritage, canonizing a Native American like her will show that Christianity is compatible with the Native American people and that those who accept it do so because they see it as a natural completion and fulfillment of the faith given them by their forefathers and foremothers.
Blessed Marie Rose Durocher
Quebec, Canada (1811–1849)
Beatified: 1982
Feast day: October 6
Sister Marie Rose Durocher’s life was dedicated to caring for the poor and the sick and to educating young children. She created the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary just two years after a government action established legal protection for Catholics in Canada.
A life of work, sacrifice, and love
Eulalie Durocher was born on October 6, 1811, at St. Antoine in Quebec, Canada, the 10th of 11 children. When Eulalie turned 16, like most girls her age, she fell in love, but not with any earthly boy. She fell in love with Christ and desperately wanted to become a Bride of Christ (the metaphorical term for religious sisters and nuns) by entering the convent. Her poor health initially kept her from being admitted into the religious order.
In 1931, two years after her mother died, she and her father moved in with her brother, Theophile, a priest. She became his housekeeper and cook. Bishop Ignace Bourget asked Eulalie to form a religious community of women in 1843. She took the name Marie Rose and called the group the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.
Sister Marie Rose, along with companions Mélodie Dufresne and Henriette Céré, dedicated herself to the teaching and welfare of children. Despite poor health, she wasn’t averse to hard work and often labored long into the night, only getting minimal sleep. Still, she saw her work as a labor of love and did everything joyfully and enthusiastically. Personal comfort and convenience were alien concepts to Marie Rose Durocher, while Christian charity and patience were her life mottos. Her legacy was a life dedicated and devoted to serving the poor and the sick and educating children.
What canonization will mean
Declaring Marie Rose Durocher a saint will be an important milestone for Catholic Canadians and for religious women as well. Europe has had the most saints, only because the Church has been there for two millennia. Catholicism wasn’t brought to the New World of North and South America until 15 centuries after the time of Christ. So countries like Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. are much younger than their elder European brethren. Having homegrown saints inspires a nation and encourages vocations to serve the Church.
Marie Rose’s canonization will boost Canadian pride and bear witness to the personal piety and shared faith of millions of citizens who practice the same religion as this holy woman. St. Marie Rose would also inspire other women to be pioneers in working for the Church and serving the poor.
Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez, S.J.
Zacatecas, Mexico (1891–1988)
Beatified: 1988
Feast day: November 23
Father Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez spent his life caring for abused and exploited workers, despite his own illness, and boldly shared his faith at a time when his native Mexico banned the exhibition of religious garb and the government persecuted the Catholic Church.
Fighting persecution
Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez was born January 13, 1891, at Zacatecas, Mexico, the son of a mining engineer. The 3rd of 11 children, Miguel entered the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1911. He was soon exiled because of the Mexican Revolution and traveled to the U.S., Spain, Nicaragua, and Belgium, where he was ordained in 1925.
Father Miguel suffered from stomach ulcers but remained vigilant in his mission to work among his own people in Mexico, especially among the mineworkers who were being brutally exploited and abused. By the time he returned to his homeland, the new Mexican constitution had banned all Catholic schools and the wearing of any religious garb whatsoever. The Church was violently persecuted, and many priests, bishops, and nuns were deported, arrested, tortured, and killed as a result of the government’s promotion of virulent anti-Catholicism.
Father Miguel was arrested and charged with a failed assassination attempt on the president; his only true crime was clandestinely celebrating Mass for his people. Politicians made him a scapegoat, however, and he was condemned to death by firing squad on November 23, 1927. As he stood before the firing squad, he held his Rosary and crucifix and declared, “Viva Cristo Rey” (“Long live Christ the King”).
Pope John Paul II beatified Miguel Pro on September 25, 1988, in an open-air public Mass before thousands in Mexico — which, ironically, was still an illegal activity even six decades after Miguel’s death.
What canonization will mean
Canonizing Miguel Pro will be an enormous shot in the arm to the Catholic Church in Mexico, as he was one of the most beloved martyrs to die for the faith at the hands of an aggressively antireligious government. Despite improvements in church-state relations, Mexico still evinces a noticeable tension and residual anticlericalism. Recognizing a national and religious hero will be of mutual benefit, because many laity also fought an unjust administration for the sake of the common good of all Mexicans.
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (Also Known As Mother Teresa)
Macedonia (1910–1997)
Beatified: 2003
Feast day: September 5
Mother Teresa worked among the poorest of the poor — lepers and untouchables, those very often shunned in Hindu culture. Literally picking these abandoned men, women, and children from the gutters and ghettos of Calcutta, India, this little nun and her companions rescued many from an ignoble death.
A life of empathy
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Macedonia. Her father died when she was 8, and her mother supported the family with her embroidery. When she was 18, Agnes joined the Sisters of Loreto convent (formally called the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary) in Dublin. There she took the name of her beloved heroine, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (also known as St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus). In 1929, Sister Mary Teresa (this was her complete and formal religious name) was sent to teach at St. Mary’s School for Girls, Loreto, in Calcutta. After she took her final solemn profession of vows (poverty, chastity, and obedience), committing herself to this life in 1937, she became known as Mother Teresa to her sisters and eventually to the world.
While riding the train from Calcutta to Darjeeling on September 10, 1946, for her annual retreat, Mother Teresa felt a “call within a call.” She described it as an awareness of the presence of God and a deep conviction that the Lord was calling her to branch out of her current apostolate. She was made aware of the thirst that Jesus had for the poorest of the poor, for in their suffering, he, too, shared their pain and misery.
After two years of prayer and discernment, Mother Teresa got ecclesiastical permission to establish her own religious community, the Missionaries of Charity. Over time, the Missionaries of Charity would grow into a community of 4,000 sisters in 123 countries around the world.
Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She addressed the United Nations in 1985 and that same year opened the first house to care for AIDS patients in New York City. She was given honorary U.S. citizenship in 1991 and the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal just a few months before her death on September 5, 1997.
Normally, no one can be considered for beatification (and, their supporters hope, eventual sainthood) until five years after death. This waiting period provides time for emotions to return to normal so the process can be guided not by sentimentality but by facts. In the case of Mother Teresa, though, Pope John Paul II allowed the process to begin in 1999 because a verified miracle had occurred soon after Mother Teresa’s death. A 30-year-old Indian woman, Monica Besra, was apparently cured of stomach cancer after praying to Mother Teresa.
Pope John Paul II officially beatified Mother Teresa on October 19, 2003, with more than 300,000 pilgrims in attendance at St. Peter’s Square, Rome.
What canonization will mean
Mother Teresa’s canonization as a saint will have great influence not only to promote work for the poor but also for perseverance in times of adversity. Despite opposition and suspicion, she held her ground and kept doing what she knew she had to do. Even recent disclosures of her “dark night of the soul” reveal a very human phenomenon. Many people of faith feel abandoned at some time, even though they know that the Lord is always there. But feeling this way doesn’t indicate lack or weakness of faith. Faith is an act of the intellect where one assents to the existence and presence of God. You can believe in God and not always feel his affection. Theologians say this is to entice us to want heaven all the more, where there is both knowledge of God and the enjoyment of his love. Anyone who has ever felt dryness in his spiritual life will be encouraged to know that Mother Teresa went down that same road. Her canonization as a saint will prove that this is not an impediment but merely a necessary trial to achieve holiness.