Consistory to vote on canonization of 3 blessed

The Holy See announced today that there will be an Ordinary Public Consistory to vote on the Canonization of three of the Church’s Blessed. Each of the three Blessed, on whose canonization the Consistory will vote, is a religious founder:

Blessed Guido Maria Conforti was Archbishop-bishop of Parma, Italy, and the founder of the Xaverian Missionaries, which he established on December 3^rd, 1895 out of his zeal for the conversion of non-Christian peoples. Pope John Paul II declared Guido Maria Conforti Blessed in the eyes of the whole church on March 17, 1996.

Blessed Luigi Guanella was a priest and the founder of the Servants of Charity & the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence. The ninth of thirteen children, he entered the seminary when he was 12 years old and was ordained in 1866, and for many years assisted St. Don Bosco. He was also a friend and a contemporary of Pope St. Pius X. Both of the societies he founded are still at work in Italy, the United States and other countries.

A virgin and Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Saint Joseph, Blessed Bonifacia Rodriguez de Castro was born in Spain in 1837. She had a profound concern for the spiritual and material well-being of manual labourers – especially unemployed women – which characterized the charism of the religious company she founded.

The Ordinary Public Consistory will vote on the causes of these three Blessed on February the 21^st.

Listen to Chris Altieri's report: