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DAMIEN-DATE (UPDATED) Feb-23-2009 (610 words) With photos posted Feb. 17, 20 and 23. xxxi
Pope sets dates to canonize 10, including Blesseds Damien, Jeanne
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Blessed Damien de Veuster, a missionary priest who served patients with Hansen's disease in Hawaii, will be canonized by Pope Benedict XVI Oct. 11 at the Vatican, the Vatican said.
The same day the pope will also canonize Blessed Jeanne Jugan, who founded the Little Sisters of the Poor, and three others.
The canonizations will take place during the Synod of Bishops for Africa and are expected to be celebrated in St. Peter's Square.
The pope presided over a Feb. 21 consistory that gave final approval for the canonization of 10 people, including Blessed Damien, a Belgian-born member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Born in 1840, Blessed Damien spent the last 16 years of his life caring for patients with Hansen's disease, or leprosy, on the island of Molokai. He died in 1889 and was beatified in 1995.
Last July, Pope Benedict authorized the publication of a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Damien, clearing the way for his canonization.
Blessed Damien sailed for Hawaii in 1864 and served there for eight years. When a priest was needed for the leprosy settlement on the island of Molokai in 1873, he volunteered.
At Molokai, he served as pastor, doctor, adviser and guardian to the approximately 800 residents suffering from leprosy. He later won permission to minister permanently at the settlement and eventually founded two orphanages there.
Blessed Damien died there five years after contracting leprosy. He continued to work until a month before his death.
Blessed Jeanne, born in 1792 in France's Brittany region, is the patroness of the elderly. In 1839, she opened her home to a sick and blind elderly woman. As time passed, more and more elderly women arrived at her home for help.
Eventually, other woman came to help Blessed Jeanne, and today the Little Sisters of the Poor care for more than 13,000 needy elderly men and women around the world.
Blessed Jeanne, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II, died in 1879.
On Oct. 11, the pope also will canonize:
-- Blessed Zygmunt Felinski, a former archbishop of Warsaw, Poland, and founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary. Born in 1822 near Volinia, which today is in Ukraine, he was deported to Russia and, after being freed, worked among the poor farmers of Ukraine and Poland. He died in 1895.
-- Blessed Francisco Coll Guitart, a Spanish Dominican priest who founded the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the 19th century.
-- Blessed Rafael Arnaiz Baron, a 20th-century Spanish Trappist brother known for his humility.
On April 26 in Rome, the pope will canonize the following:
-- Blessed Arcangelo Tadini, an Italian diocesan priest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and founder of the Worker Sisters of the Holy House of Nazareth, who went into the factories to work alongside other women.
-- Blessed Bernardo Tolomei, an Italian priest who founded the Olivetan Benedictine congregation early in the 14th century.
-- Blessed Nuno di Santa Maria Alvares Pereira, a lay member of the Portuguese Order of Friars of the Blessed Sacrament. Before his death in 1431 he was known for a life of prayer and penance and his devotion to Mary.
-- Blessed Gertrude Comensoli, the 19th-century Italian founder of the Institute of Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. She devoted her life to the Eucharist and educating girls.
-- Blessed Caterina Volpicelli, the 19th-century Italian founder of the Institute of Handmaidens of the Sacred Heart.
END
Copyright (c) 2009 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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