February 24, 2010

Pope to canonize Mary MacKillop, Andre Bessette Oct. 17

VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Pope Benedict XVI will create six new saints Oct. 17, including Blessed Mary MacKillop, who will be Australia’s first saint, and the Canadian Blessed Andre Bessette, who will be the first saint of the Holy Cross Brothers.

The pope announced the date for the canonization ceremony at the end of what is known as an ordinary public consistory, a very formal ceremony opened and closed with prayer, during which cardinals present in Rome express their support of the pope’s decision to create new saints.

Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, read brief biographies of the six in Latin. Blessed MacKillop, founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, was born Jan. 15, 1842, in Fitzroy near Melbourne; she died in Sydney Aug. 8, 1909.

Blessed Bessette founded St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal and was known for his intense piety, famed for miraculous cures and praised for his dedication to building the shrine to honor St. Joseph.

The others to be canonized Oct. 17 are: Blessed Stanislaw Soltys Kazimierczyk, a Polish-born member of the Canons Regular of the Lateran, who lived 1433-1489; Blessed Juana Josefa Cipitria Barriola of Spain, who founded the Daughters of Jesus; Blessed Giulia Salzano, the Italian founder of the Catechetical Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; and Blessed Camilla Battista Varano, an Italian Poor Clare who lived 1458-1524.

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