Pope Proclaims Saints at Vatican Ceremony

(26 April 09 - RV) Pilgrims had come from near and far and even the threat of rain didn’t stop them from being present on Sunday in St Peter’s Square to watch Pope Benedict celebrate the Canonisation of 5 new Saints of the Church.
In his homily the Holy Father paid tribute to these Saints saying that their different lives both spiritual and human demonstrated the risen Christ which is at the heart of men and women.

The Pope said that all these Saints had something in common, a devotion to the Eucharist and invited everyone in this Easter season to lift their gaze and look to the risen Christ who is to be found in the Sacrament of Communion.

Of the five Saints canonised on Sunday four were Italian and one was Portuguese. During his sermon the Holy Father spent time talking about the qualities of each one; qualities and values which now make them Saints.


The pope described the Italian Born founder of the Congregation of the Worker Sisters of the Holy House of Nazareth, new Saint Archangelo Tadini, as a true man of God who was ready in times of urgency to seize the moment and find a solution and added that his charismatic intuition, today remains an example to us in a era of serious economic crises.

The Pope said the Italian Abbot and founder of the Benedictine Congregation of the Blessed Virgin of Monte Oliveto, Saint Bernardo Tolomei was also an example of selfless charity because he devoted himself to work and prayer and died helping others.

Paying homage to the only Portuguese Blessed among the 5 canonised, Pope Benedict speaking in Portuguese said that Saint Nuno De Santa Maria Alvares Pereira, founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Virgin of Monte Oliveto was a former soldier in battle, who had a deep love for God adding that he is a witness to the fact that even with a military character it is possible to act and carry out the values of Christian life.

Of the two women who became Saints on Sunday Pope Benedict described Gertrude Comensoli founder of the Institute of the Blessed Sacrament and Caterina Volpicelli founder of the Institute of the Handmaidens of the Sacred Heart, as witnesses of divine love.

St Gertrude the pope said even today by her devotion can show the young often injured and lost in our society the way to God in the form of the Eucharist.

The Holy Father also said that St Caterina’s strength in bringing Christ to the people of Naples at a time of spiritual and social crisis is an example of how is it possible to build an open society of justice, surpassing economical and cultural imbalance that continue to exist in much of our world.

Follow a celebration of the Eucharist Pope Benedict in his Regina Coeli address welcomed all the English speaking pilgrims who had come to Rome to present at canonisation of these 5 new saints.

I greet the English-speaking pilgrims who are here with us today, especially those who have travelled to Rome to be present at the canonization of today’s new saints. Through their intercession, may all of you be filled with joy in the Risen Lord, and bear witness to him courageously in your daily lives. I invoke God’s abundant blessings upon all of you, and upon your families and loved ones at home.

Sunday’s canonisation of these 5 blessed’s brings the number of Saints created by Pope Benedict to 19 since the start of his pontificate.

And as the Pope himself put it these new saints shine like bright examples of Sanctity.