SHORT NOTICES
BEATIFICATION OF CHIARA BADANO
16 March 2010
Bishop Pier Giorgio Macchiardi of Acqui (Italy) announced that the
beatification of Ven.
Chiara
“Luce” Badano (1971-90) will take place on 25 September at the
Sanctuary of Our Lady of Divine Love (Madonna del Divin Amore) in Castel
di Leva, Rome, to be presided by Archb. Angelo Amato, prefect of the
Congregation of the Causes of Saints.
Athletic and sociable, Chiara
Badano spent most of her brief life in her native town of Sassello
(province of Savona, Italy). From childhood, she sought to center
her life on the Gospels and actively participate in the life of her
local church. At the age of nine, Chiara became part of GEN, the
youth branch of the Focolare Movement. The spirituality and vitality
of the association further deepened her commitment to the Word of
God, the practice of meditation, and the exercise of Christian
virtues. During secondary school (liceo classico), Chiara was
diagnosed with osetosarcoma. With faith, she accepted her fatal
illness and remained cheerful and hospitable even during its painful
and paralyzing spasmodic episodes. Relatives, friends, and attending
physicians attested to the extraordinary peace and luminous joy she
radiated from her room at the Regina Margherita Children’s Hospital
in Turin. “I feel that God is asking me for something more,
something greater. I could be confined to this bed for years, I
don’t know. I am only interested in God’s will, doing that well in
the present moment: playing God’s game. . . . I was too taken
by ambition, projects, and who knows what else. Now they seem
meaningless, futile and temporary. . . now I
feel a part of a wonderful plan that is slowly revealing itself to
me.” Chiara spent her last days in her family’s house in Sassello.
Envisioning her death as a marriage, she chose a
bridal gown for her burial dress and the hymns and readings which transformed her funeral mass into a
celebration of life. Since her death in
October 1990, pilgrims from all over - both young and old -
continually visited her tomb at the town cemetery, drawn by her
reputation of holiness. The diocese of Acqui opened the canonical
inquiry for her beatification process in June 1999.
UNANIMOUS VOTE FOR DELILLE CAUSE
03 March 2010
Fifteen cardinals and bishops of the CCS who met in an ordinary
congregation on 02 March unanimously voted in favor of the cause of the Servant of God
Henriette
Delille (1812-62). The decisions affirmed the judgment of the
congress of theological consultants on 29 May 2009 that Delille
practiced virtues to a heroic degree.
According to canonical legislations, the
Secretary of the CCS will now draw up a report of the opinions of
the cardinals and bishops which would be later presented to the
pope. A papal ratification of their vote, which would likely take
place before Easter 2010, paves the way for the public promulgation
of the decree on heroic virtues. After that the title “Venerable”
could be officially given to Henriette Delille.
ORDINARY CONGREGATION OF CARDINALS TO DISCUSS HENRIETTE DELILLE
26 February 2010
The Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family announced that an
ordinary congregation of cardinals and bishops of the CCS will evaluate
the Positio of their founder, the Servant of God
Henriette
Delille (1812-62) on 02 March. If the majority of the prelates vote
favorably, the CCS will establish a date for the promulgation of the
decree recognizing her practice of heroic virtues.
A native of New Orleans (USA), Delille was the
offspring of the common-law union between an already married French
man and a Creole woman, an extralegal system called plaçage
sanctioned in antebellum Louisiana. Society expected her to enter
into a plaçage like her mother. Also, as a fair-skinned woman
of color, she could have passed herself of as white ― as her two
older siblings did. Instead, she denounced the plaçage out of
her Catholic convictions and openly claimed her black heritage. With
a group of like-minded women, she ministered to poor blacks of New
Orleans, both free and enslaved. On coming of age and after selling
the property she inherited, Delille and Juliette Gaudin laid the
foundations for a community of black women religious which would
continue the ministries in which they were engaged. Their project
met very strong opposition from fellow Catholics who ridiculed the
idea on racist grounds. With the help of Rev. Etienne Rousselon,
vicar-general of the diocese, the Sisters of the Holy Family
eventually received ecclesiastical recognition in 1842. However, ten
years elapsed before they were allowed to undergo a formal novitiate
with the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and publicly profess
religious vows in October 1852. Under Delille’s leadership, the
congregation grounded itself in the practices of religious life and
established schools, orphanages and a home for the elderly. Delille
died on 17 November 1862, a few months after Union forces captured
New Orleans during the American Civil War. Despite the long-standing
public acclaim of her holiness, the archdiocese of New Orleans
canonically opened her beatification process only in 1988.
BEATIFICATION OF MANUEL LOZANO GARRIDO
21 February 2010
Bishop Ramón del Hoyo López of Jaén (Spain) announced that the Vatican
Secretariat of State has favorably accepted his request to
establish the date for the beatification of the Venerable
Manuel
Lozano Garrido (1920-71). The solemn celebration will take place on
Saturday, 12 June, in the town of Linares, birthplace of the future
blessed.
“Lolo” (as he is fondly known) was a committed
member of Catholic Action and a budding journalist at 22 when he
suffered his first attack of chronic articular rheumatism. Confined
to a wheelchair, he nonetheless continued to animate young members
of Catholic Action and persisted in his writing career. Lolo’s
publications and joyful acceptance of illness drew many people ―
especially the young ― to visit him and seek his counsels. He
enthusiastically followed the proceedings of the Second Vatican
Council and helped those who were less open to the reforms to
understand and accept its decrees and constitutions. His illness,
however, continued to progress that, by the time he was in his 40s, he
had completely lost physical mobility and eyesight. Lolo
died in November 1971.
CLOSING AND OPENING OF PROCESSES OF CONCEPTIONIST NUNS
20 February 2010
On 03 February, the archdiocese of Madrid closed the diocesan inquiry on
the presumed martyrdom of the Servants of God
María Isabel Lacaba Andia and 13 companions,
professed nuns from the Order of the Immaculate Conception, who were
killed during the religious persecution in the Spanish Civil War.
Rev. Ricardo Quintana Bescós, head of the archdiocesan delegation
for Causes of Saints, presided over the canonical ceremony in the place
of Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela. Two of the presumed
martyrs came from the Conceptionist Monastery of El Pardo (Madrid),
while another two were from the Conceptionist Monastery of Escalona
(Toledo). Two of the presumed
martyrs came from the Conceptionist Monastery of El Pardo (Madrid),
while another two were from the Conceptionist Monastery of Escalona
(Toledo). The other ten belonged to the Conceptionist Monastery of
Las Rozas (Madrid). All were killed within the Community of Madrid
between August and November 1936.
The archdiocese will also open the diocesan inquiry on the life,
virtues, and reputation of holiness of the Servant of God
María Ana Alberdi (1912-98) on 04
March. Cardinal Rouco Valera will preside over the ceremony at the
Conceptionist Monastery of “La Latina” (Madrid). A vibrant woman
religious remembered for her spirit of prayer and humility, Alberdi
served as abbess of “La Latina” for 34 years and the first president
of the Castile Federation of the Order of the Immaculate Conception.
OPENING OF DIOCESAN PROCESS OF TITUS ZEMAN
19 February 2010
On 26 February, Archbishop Stanislav Zvolenský of Bratislava (Slovakia) will
formally open the diocesan inquiry on the presumed martyrdom of the
Servant of God
Titus Zeman (1915-69), a professed
priest of the Salesian Society of Don Bosco. The canonical
proceedings will take place at the hall of the Roman Catholic
Faculty of Theology of Cyril and Methodius at Comenius University.
After the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia banned the existence of
religious congregations in April 1950, Zeman organized secret
expeditions to bring young Salesians to Italy in order to continue
their formation and studies. Arrested and tortured for these
activities, Zeman was condemned as a “Vatican spy” and sentenced to
25 years of imprisonment in February 1952. Although conditionally
released from jail in March 1964, his health was permanently damaged
as a result of harsh imprisonment. During the remaining years of
his life, Zeman worked as a storekeeper but was given permission by
the Communist government to preside over public celebrations of the
Eucharist in 1968. From the time of his death in January 1969, his
reputation as a martyr persisted among the faithful.
ORDINARY PUBLIC CONSISTORY
19 February 2010
VATICAN CITY - At 11 a.m. (Central European Time) this
morning, in the Concistory Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, Pope
Benedict XVI held an ordinary public consistory during the celebration of
midday prayers for the canonization of six blesseds.
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SCHEDULED BEATIFICATIONS
19 February 2010
Seven beatification ceremonies are scheduled to take place between
April to September 2010 in Italy, Spain, and Poland.
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