8 20th-century beatification causes advance

June 14, 2016

In a June 14 audience with the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis approved the publication of decrees that advance eight beatification causes.

In approving a decree on the martyrdom of Father José Álvarez-Benavides y de la Torre and 114 companions from the Diocese of Almería, Spain, killed out of hatred for the faith between 1936 and 1938, Pope Francis paved the way for their beatification.

Pope Francis also approved separate decrees on the heroic virtues of seven servants of God, who may now be honored with the title “venerable”:

• Archbishop Antonín Cyril Stojan (1851-1923) of Olomouc, Czech Republic
• Father Vicente Garrido Pastor (1896-1975), priest of the Archdiocese of Valencia (Spain) and founder of the Workers of the Cross
• Father Pablo María Guzmán Figueroa (1897-1967), a Mexican priest of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit and founder of the Eucharistic Missionaries of the Holy Trinity
• Luigi Lo Verde (1910-32), an Italian Conventual Franciscan religious
• Bernardo of the Annunciation (Bernardo de Vasconcelos, 1902-32), a Portuguese Benedictine cleric and poet
• Sister Josefa (María Elisea) Oliver Molina (1869-1931), the Spanish foundress of the Sisters of the Virgin of Mount Carmel
• Sister María de Jesús Guízar Barragán (María of the Merciful Love of Jesus, 1899-1973), the Mexican foundress of the Guadalupan Handmaids of Christ the Priest

 

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Further information:

• Promulgazione di Decreti della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi (Holy See Press Office)