BENEDICT XVI: FOUR EUROPEAN SAINTS, "EXEMPLARY WITNESSES OF THE GOSPEL" (3)

Then, the Pope outlined a profile of the four new saints. "A friend of Jesus’ and the witness of the holiness that comes from Him was Giorgio Preca": "he was a priest, all devoted to evangelisation: through preaching, through writing, through spiritual guidance and the delivery of the Sacraments and first and foremost through the example of his own life". Szymon of Lipnicy "lived in distant times, but just today he is re-proposed by the Church as a relevant model of a Christian who, driven by the spirit of the Gospel, is ready to devote his life to his brothers". During Karel van Sint Andries Houben’s long priesthood in England and Ireland, people "went to him to receive his wise advice, his piteous attention and his healing touch". As to Marie Eugénie de Jésus Milleret, commented Benedict XVI, "she understood "the importance of transmitting to the young generations, especially to girls, an intellectual, oral and spiritual education that would turn them into adults, able to take care of the life of their family, able to make their contribution to the Church and society". Hence the wish that the example of the new saint may "inspire today’s men and women to transmit to the young the values that will help them become strong adults and joyful witnesses of the Resurrection".