Pope Francis will canonize 14 new saints on Sunday October 20 at the Vatican. Who are they? In addition to a group of eleven Christians martyred in Syria in the 19th century, three founders of religious orders will be honored on Sunday at Saint Peter’s in Rome.
► The eleven martyrs of Damascus
On July 9, 1860, the Christian quarter of Damascus was attacked by the Druze, followers of a religion derived from Islam. The country then experienced a period of persecution against Christians which left several thousand dead. That day, several churches were burned. During the night, the attackers entered the Franciscan convent. Eight Spanish Franciscan priests and brothers and one Austrian, including the superior of the community, Father Emmanuel Ruiz, refuse to renounce the Christian faith, as well as three Maronite Christians, three brothers – François, Abdel Mooti and Raphaël Massabki –, who came every day to mass at the convent and took refuge there that night. They were tortured and massacred “in hatred of the Christian faith”, according to the expression used for martyrs. Pope Pius XI declared them blessed in 1926. They are celebrated on July 10.
► Elena Guerra (1835-1914)
This Italian nun, who studied the Bible and the Fathers of the Church, founded with a group of friends a new congregation initially dedicated to the education of young girls, the Sisters of Saint Zita. Her student was a future saint, Gemma Galgani. But she gradually felt called to develop devotion to the Holy Spirit, and she wrote several times to Pope Leo XIII in this sense. In 1895 he published an apostolic brief to promote a novena to the Holy Spirit for Christian unity. In 1898, he received the nun and authorized her to change the name of her congregation, which became the Oblates of the Holy Spirit. She was beatified by Pope John XXIII in 1959, and she is celebrated on April 11.
► Marie-Léonie Paradis (1840-1912)
This Canadian, born in a village in Acadia, joined the Marianites of the Holy Cross, a teaching and hospitable congregation, in Montreal at the age of 14. At age 22, she was sent to New York to work at an orphanage and school for poor children. At 34, she is director of novices at Saint-Joseph College in Memramcook, a French-speaking university founded by a priest from her congregation. In 1880, she founded a new congregation with fourteen young women, the Little Sisters of the Holy Family, whose vocation was teaching. The congregation is growing. Marie-Léonie will supervise the creation of a total of 38 colleges. She was beatified in 1984 by Pope John Paul II. His feast day is celebrated on May 4.
► Joseph Allamano (1851-1926)
Ordained a diocesan priest in 1873 in Turin, Italy, he was named rector of the Consolata sanctuary in 1880, dedicated to the Virgin Mary the Consolator. He will remain so until the end of his life. In 1901, he founded the Missionary Institute and the Missionary Sisters of the Consolata in 1910. He trained and sent numerous priests and nuns all over the world. At his request, Pius XI established a World Mission Day in 1926, intended to raise awareness among Catholics of mission activity. Today, his order has around 900 priests and more than 500 nuns. Beatified by John Paul II in 1990, he is celebrated on February 16.
These 14 new saints are in addition to the more than 900 saints that Pope Francis has already canonized since his election in 2013. For comparison, John Paul had canonized 482 saints in twenty-seven years of pontificate. Francis’ absolute record can be explained by the canonization, in 2013, of some 800 Italian martyrs of Otranto, who refused to convert to Islam and were massacred by the Turkish occupiers in 1480.