Pope canonizes 4 new saints

October 13, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI presided on October 12 at the canonization of four new saints. St. Gaetano Errico, a priest from Naples, founded a congregation in honor of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary; St. Mary Bernard (Verena) Bütler founded the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Sinners amid heroic apostolic labors in South America; St. Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception, a Franciscan Clarist nun, is India’s first canonized saint; and St. Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran was a lay Dominican from Ecuador who practiced severe mortifications.

In his homily at the canonization Mass-- attended by 40,000 people in St. Peter's Square-- the Holy Father remarked on the day's Gospel reading, saying that the parable of the wedding feast "anticipates the final feast of heaven, to which the Lord invites us every day and in which we should participate with the wedding garments of His grace."

The Vatican has released official biographies of each of the new saints.

 

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Further information:

• Papal homily: May the saints sustain us in our daily struggle (VIS)
• St. Gaetano Errico (1791-1860)
• St. Mary Bernard (Verena) Bütler (1848-1924)
• St. Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception (1910-1946)
• St. Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran (1832-1869)