US bishops highlight 10 saints for Year of Faith

Last updated on: October 23, 2012 at 4:17 pm by CNA Daily News

US bishops highlight 10 saints for Year of Faith 2012-10-23T16:17:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Washington D.C., Oct 23, 2012 / 10:17 am (CNA).- To help Catholics learn more about the lives of the saints, the U.S. bishops’ conference has offered a list of 10 American saints for the Year of Faith.

Jeannine Marino, program specialist for the bishops’ conference’s Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis, created the list. As an advisor to several causes for canonization and a postulator, she researches the lives of proposed saints.

The list includes St. Isaac Jogues, a Jesuit missionary and North American martyr who traveled to the New World from France. In 1641, the Iroquois captured him and his companions. The Iroquois tortured and killed most of his group. He was killed by a tomahawk in 1646.

St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, the foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is also on the list. Known as Mother Cabrini, she is the first U.S. citizen to be canonized.

She came to the U.S. from Italy as a missionary. In her 35 years in the country before her death in 1917, she founded six institutions for the poor, the uneducated and the sick. She is the patron saint of immigrants.

The U.S. bishops’ secretariat also highlights St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born U.S. citizen to be named a saint.

She was a poor widow with five children who in the early 19th century converted to Catholicism and founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, the first order of religious women in the U.S. She helped begin the first free Catholic school in the country.

Another of the Year of Faith saints is St. John Neumann, a Bohemia-born Redemptorist priest who became the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia in 1852. He founded the first diocesan school system in the U.S. and helped start almost 100 Catholic schools before his death in 1860.

St. Katharine Drexel, foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, was a wealthy young woman from Philadelphia who became a missionary to American Indians and African Americans and started many schools and missions for them. She died at age 96 in 1955. Pope John Paul II canonized her in 2000.

The U.S. bishops have put forward the Society of the Sacred Heart missionary St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, who arrived in U.S. territory from France in 1818. She founded the first Catholic school for Native Americans. The Pottowami Indians called her the Woman Who Prays Always.

St. Damien de Veuster, the Belgian-born missionary to the lepers of Molokai, Hawaii, built schools, churches and hospitals for Leprosy sufferers. He also made coffins for those who died.

He contracted leprosy but served until his death in 1889.

The bishops’ conference list includes two people whom Pope Benedict XVI will canonize Oct. 21: Bl. Marianne Cope and Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha.

Bl. Marianne Cope, a Franciscan missionary to the lepers of Molokai, was born in Germany and raised in New York. She became a leader in health care in Syracuse, N.Y. before volunteering to care for the outcast in Hawaii. She helped women and girls with leprosy and helped educate them. She died in 1918.

Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha, the “Lilly of the Mohawks,” converted to the Catholic faith in the 17th century at the age of 19. Her conversion angered her family. Her refusal to work on Sundays caused her Mohawk village to deny her meals that day. She left her family for Montreal where she could practice her faith freely. She took a vow of virginity and lived a life of penance and extreme prayer before her death in 1680.

The Year of Faith lasts from Oct. 11 through Nov. 24, 2013. It is meant to strengthen the faith of Catholics and to help evangelize. It marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council in 1962.

Previous Post

October 23, 2012

Ohio abortion figures show large drop in 2011

Next Post

October 23, 2012 Vatican reveals new leaks trial, report on butler's sentencing

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was thrown into a muddy cistern for prophesying Jerusalem's fall?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Isaiah Micah Jeremiah Baruch