Franciscans advance toward sainthood

Pope Benedict XVI has advanced the sainthood causes of 16 of the faithful - including 5 Franciscans.

The announcement was made following the Pope’s meeting with Cardinal Angelo Amato, head of the Vatican’s office for the causes of saints, Dec. 10.

The New Blesseds include:

Servant of God Marie Clare of the Child Jesus (nee Libania do Carmo Galvao Meixa de Moura Telles e Albuquerque), Portuguese foundress of the Franciscan Hospitaller Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (1843-1899);

Servant of God Antonio (Miguel Faundez Lopez), Spanish professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor (1907-1936), killed during religious persecution in Spain;

Servant of God Bonaventura (ne Baltasar Mariano Munoz Martinez) Spanish cleric of the Order of Friars Minor (1912-1936), killed during religious persecution in Spain;

Servant of God Pedro Sanchez Barba (1895-1936), Spanish priest of the Third Order, killed during religious persecution in Spain;

Servant of God Fulgencio Martinez Garcia (1911-1936), Spanish priest of the Third Order, killed during religious persecution in Spain.

The others whose causes were advanced included a bishop declared a saint: Blessed Guido Maria Conforti, who founded the Pious Society of St. Francis Xavier for Foreign Missions, the Xaverian missionaries.

Declared Blesseds were Servant of God Francesco Paleari, Italian priest of the "Cottolengo" Institute (1863-1939); Servant of God Anna Maria Janer Anglarill, Spanish foundress of the Institute of Sisters of the Holy Family of Urgell (1800-1885); Servant of God Dulce (nee Maria Rita Lopes Pontes), Brazilian religious of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God (1914-1992); and Servant of God Alois Andritzki, German diocesan priest who died in the concentration camp of Dachau (1914-1943).

The new Venerables are Servant of God Antonio Palladino, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of Dominican Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (1881-1926); Servant of God Bechara (Selim Abou-Mourad), Lebanese religious of the Basilian Salvatorian Order of the Melkites (1853-1930); Servant of God Maria Elisa Andreoli, Italian foundress of the Congregation of Reparatrix Sisters Servants of Mary (1861-1935); and Servant of God Maria Pilar of the Sacred Heart (Maria Pilar Solsona Lamban), Spanish religious of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary, Religious of Pious Schools (1881-1966).

Pax et bonum