Sister Faustina's Confessor to Be Beatified

(August 21, 2008) Sister Faustina's confessor and St. Thérèse's parents are among the six who will be beatified in the next two months. The group also includes an Italian founder and two Italian priests, one of whom was martyred in Yugoslavia. Polish Father Michal Sopocko, Sister Faustina Kowalska's confessor and spiritual director, and principal promoter of the revelations the nun received on Divine Mercy, will be beatified Sept. 28 in Poland. Father Sopocko who died in 1975 also founded the Congregation of Sisters of Merciful Jesus. Another witness of Divine Mercy, Vincenza Maria Poloni founder of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy, will be beatified Sept. 21. Father Francesco Bonifacio, martyr and victim of ethnic cleansing in Communist Yugoslavia, will be beatified Oct. 4 in Italy. Diocesan priest Father Francesco, founder of the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Queen of Peace, will also be beatified that same day. Louis and Marie-Zélie Martin, parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, will be beatified on Mission Sunday at the Cathedral of Lisieux. Mission Sunday is celebrated this year on Oct. 19. St. Thérèse, together with St. Francis Xavier, is the patron of missions.