Pope Benedict XVI Canonize Seven More Saints

Pope Benedict XVI Canonize Seven More Saints

Pope Benedict XVI has added seven more saints to rekindle the faith in places where it's sheathing. After years of selfless acts and undying faith to God, the goodness and immeasurable servitude to God of the seven people have been recognized as they were added onto the roster of Catholic role models on Sunday.

Two of them are Americans: Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint from the U.S. and Mother Marianne Cope, a 19th century Franciscan nun who cared for lepers in Hawaii.

A third is a rather unlikely saint, Pedro Calungsod, a Filipino teenager who helped Jesuit priests convert natives in Guam in the 17th century but was killed by spear-wielding villagers opposed to the missionaries' efforts to baptize their children.

The fourth saints is Jacques Berthieu, a 19th century French Jesuit who was killed by rebels in Madagascar, where he had worked as a missionary. The fifth Giovanni Battista Piamarta, is an Italian who founded a religious order in 1900 and established a Catholic printing and publishing house in his native Brescia. The sixth, Carmen Salles Y Barangueras, is a Spanish nun who founded a religious order to educate children in 1892. The last one is Anna Schaeffer, a 19th century German lay woman who became a model for the sick and suffering after she fell into a boiler and badly burned her legs. The wounds never healed, causing her constant pain.

The ceremony in St. Peter's Square had drawn pilgrims from around the world to Rome and corresponded with a Vatican meeting of the world's bishops on trying to revive Christianity in places where it's fallen by the wayside.

Posted by James Fried on Tuesday October 23 2012, 6:54 AM EST. Ref: Reuters. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0