Fourteen Europeans

Eight from Spain, four from Italy, one from Germany, one from Portugal: these – along with Lebanon (one) and Brasil (one) – are the native lands of the new saints (1), Blessed (11), and Venerables (4). During a private audience with Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, on 10 December Benedict XVI authorized the promulgation of the decrees that, among others, pave the way to the canonization of Blessed Guido Maria Conforti, the founder of the Saverian Missionaries, and raises to the altars six martyrs killed during the civil war in Spain and a martyr murdered by the Nazis in Dachau concentration camp. The decrees equally acknowledge the heroic virtues of four new Venerables. A saint. The first decree of which the Pope authorized the promulgation regards the miracle ascribed to the intercession of Blessed Guido Maria Conforti, archbishop-bishop of Parma and founder of the Pious St. Francis Xavier Society for Foreign Missions (Saverian missionaries). Born in Ravadese (Italy) on March 30 1865, Conforti’s adolescence is conditioned by his precarious health. Nonetheless he soon enters the priesthood and in 1895 founds the Pious Society. Already in the year after its foundation, two Saverians leave for a mission to China. At 37 Conforti is appointed archbishop of Ravenna. After a year his poor health forces him to resign. In 1907 he is appointed coadjutor of the bishop of Parma, and later his successor. In these capacities he served the diocese for 25 years. Three years before his death in 1928 Msgr. Conforti crowned his dream of reaching China for a visit to the missionaries. He died in Parma on November 5 1931. In 1995, John Paul II proclaimed him Blessed. Priests and religious. Father Francesco Paleari, two years younger than Guido Maria Conforti, was a priest of the Cottolengo Institute. He was born in Pogliano Milanese (Italy) on October 22 1863, he died in Turin on May 7 1939. He was an educator of young people, formator of consecrated adults and lay people. Father Paleari is one of the many priests, apostles of charity, who enlighten Italian Church history in the period between the 19th and 20th centuries. Also two founders of religious institutions are due to be declared Blessed. These are Maria Chiara di Gesù Bambino (in the world, Libânia do Carmo Galvão Meixa De Moura Telles e Albuquerque), born in Amadora (Portugal) on 15 June 1843. In 1871 she establishes the Congregation of Immaculate Conception Hospital Franciscan Nuns, who are present today across the world, from Asia to the Americas, with their dedication to the care to the sick. She died in Lisbon on December 1st 1899. Anna Maria Janer Anglarill, founder of the Institute of the nuns of the Sacred Family of Urgell was born in Cervera (Spain) on 18 December 1800. She died in Talarn (Spain) on January 11 1885. A miracle has been recognized to both. The same is true for Dulce (in the world Maria Rita Lopes Pontes), sister of the Congregation of the missionary nuns of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God; born on May 26 1914 in São Salvador de Bahia (Brazil), where she died on March 13 1992.The seven martyrs. Of the seven martyrs that will be raised to the altars one is diocesan priest Luigi Andritzki, born in Radibor (Germany) on July 2 1914. At 28, on February 3 1943, he died in Dachau’s concentration camp. The other six – two diocesan priests and a group of priests and Franciscan clerics of the Order of Friars Minor and of the Third Order Secular of St. Francis were killed, in “hatred of the faith” during the 1936 persecutions against the Catholic Church in Spain. The diocesan priests are: Giuseppe Nadal y Guiu, born in Bell-lloc (Spain) on July 25 1911, and Giuseppe Jordán y Blecua, born in Azlor (Spain) on May 27 1906, both were killed in Monzón on August 12 1936. In the same year, but in different dates, died also the other four Spanish martyrs: Antonio (in the world Michele Faúndez López), priest of the Order of Friars Minor, born in La Hiniesta (Spain) on July 23 1907, and Bonaventura (in the world Baltasar Mariano Muñoz Martínez), cleric of the Order of the Friars Minor, born in the Santa Cruz district (Spain) on December 7 1912. To them are associated the names of two priests who are members of the Third Order Secular of St. Francis: Pietro Sanchez Barba, born in Llano de Brujas (Spain) on July 1° 1895, and Fulgenzio Martínez García, born in Ribera de Molina (Spain) on August 14 1911.The four venerables. Finally, the decrees authorized by the Pope, owing to the recognition of heroic virtues, ascribe the title of Venerable to the four servants of God: Antonio Palladino (Italy, 1881-1926), diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of Dominican sisters of the Most Holy Sacrament; Béchara (Lebanon, 1853-1930), priest of the Brasilian Order of the Most Holy Saviour of the Melchites; Maria Elisa Andreoli (Italy, 1861-1935), founder of the Congregation of Reparatrix Sisters Servants of Mary; Maria Pilar del Sacro Cuore (Spain, 1881-1966), religious of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary of the Pious Schools.