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 3rd, 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 21st.