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June 20, 2001
Pope canonizes first female Lebanese saint
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a ceremony that highlighted holiness as a liberating response to life's sufferings, Pope John Paul II canonized four Italians and Lebanon's first female saint.
As Lebanese pilgrims cheered and waved their national flag, the pope prayed that their new saint, a 20th-century monastic nun who died blind and paralyzed, would intercede to end the sufferings of the conflict-torn peoples of the Middle East.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims from around the world crowded St. Peter's Square June 10 for the canonization Mass, which the pope described in his homily as "a celebration of sanctity.''
In addition to the Lebanese nun, the new saints included a 17th-century swordsman-turned-ascetic, a 19-century priest attributed with the miraculous healing of an African seminarian with AIDS, and two 19th-century founders of female religious orders.
A common theme in each of their lives was suffering, ranging from physical pain to spiritual aridity to unjustified criticism from superiors.
A festive atmosphere dominated the celebration despite blackened and threatening skies. The pope was repeatedly interrupted by applause when he named the new saints in his homily and in the solemn reading of the formula of canonization.
Noting the example of the newly canonized, the pope told the pilgrims that the world "also needs saints today ... who are immersed in God and therefore able to transmit his truth and love.''
Such examples were especially needed in the Middle East, where people are "faced with a destructive and sterile spiral of violence'' that in recent months has killed hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians and raised regional tensions, he said.
He prayed that St. Rafqa Pietra Choboq ar-Rayes, the newly canonized Lebanese nun, would "watch over all those who know suffering.''
"Through her intercession, we ask the Lord to open hearts to the patient search for new paths of peace, hastening the days of reconciliation and concord,'' he said.
Lebanese pilgrims cheered, some wearing baseball hats that read: "Rafqa, a hope for a new Lebanon.''
St. Rafqa, a member of the monastic Lebanese Maronite Order of St. Anthony, died in 1914 at the age of 82. After asking God to send her suffering, she spent the last 29 years of her life in physical torment. A painful infection in her eyes blinded her, most of her bones came unjointed and a deep sore covered her back.
"She drew from her union with Christ, who died on the cross, the power to accept voluntarily and to love suffering, the authentic path to sanctity,'' the pope said.
The others whom the pope proclaimed saints were:
•Father Luigi Scrosoppi, 1804-1884, an Italian Oratorian and the founder of the Sisters of Providence of St. Gaetano Thiene, an order dedicated to caring for orphaned and abandoned girls.
The miracle recognized in his cause involved the healing of a South African seminarian who was on his deathbed from complications related to AIDS.
Although the seminarian is still HIV positive, he has shown no AIDS symptoms since the 1996 healing of a variety of severe infections, including an infection of the spine.
•Father Agostino Roscelli, 1818-1902, founder of the Congregation of Sisters of the Immaculate of Genoa, which especially looked after abandoned children and unwed mothers. His superiors at times tried to halt his work.
"Faith was the solid rock to which he clung so as to never cede to discouragement,'' the pope said.
•Brother Bernardo da Corleone, 1605-1667, a swordsman who converted after wounding an opponent in a duel. He spent the rest of his life as a Capuchin friar doing acts of penance. On a tapestry hung from St. Peter's Basilica during the canonization, the saint was depicted with knotted cords that he used to flagellate himself.
The pope said St. Bernardo's example was "an encouragement to us to never tire of praying, because prayer and listening to God are the soul of authentic sanctity.''
•Sister Teresa Eustochio Verzeri, 1801-1852, founder of the Institute of Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, spent many years living the mystical experience of "dryness of the soul,'' or feeling that God was silent.
"Only an unbreakable faith prevented her from losing confidence in the provident and mysterious Father who put her to the test,'' the pope said.
With the June 10 ceremony, the number of people whom Pope John Paul has declared saints rose to 451.
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