Last month, Pope Francis held the first canonization in St. Peter’s Square since 2019. Our church now has 10 new saints – six men and four women – from whom we can learn and to whom we can draw close in friendship.
Get to know them
Who are these 10 new saints? Our Sunday Visitor has a great rundown on each of them. Their names are:
- St. César de Bus
- St. Devasahayam Pillai
- St. Anne-Marie Rivier
- St. Luigi Maria Palazzolo
- St. Maria Francesca Rubatto
- St. Charles de Foucauld
- St. Carolina Santocanale
- St. Maria Domenica Mantovani
- St. Titus Brandsma
- St. Justin Russolillo
We can learn something from all the countless saints that make up the great cloud of witnesses.
What things can we learn from this group, in particular?
Listen to the call of God
Several of the newly canonized saints who started religious orders and ministries include St. Cesar de Bus, St. Anne-Marie Rivier, St. Luigi Maria Palazzolo, St. Carolina Santocanale, and St. Maria Domenica Mantovani. By their action, they listened to the call of the Lord in their lives. They saw a need and, asking God’s grace and blessing, set about using their gifts and talents to serve His people.
In our own lives, we may not be called to start a mission or an order, but we are certainly called every day to be faithful to our own vocation, whether at work, with family, or in recreation.
Living in opposition to the world
These saints also remind us that we ought to be prepared to live in opposition to the world and what the world sometimes asks of us. As a Catholic, you are probably already familiar with that principle. Iindeed, Jesus Himself came to be a sign of contradiction in the world: forgiving the unforgivable, turning the other cheek, living among the poor, and eschewing material wealth.
Serving the poor, as many of these saints did, will get you to Heaven. Being overly concerned about your worldly legacy will not. In God, we can find the courage to live the faith, even in opposition to the world.
One new saint in particular demonstrates this willingness to embrace the faith and live in opposition to the world: St. Charles de Foucauld was a hermit! Similarly, our one lay person in this group of 10, St. Devasahayam Pillai, was an Indian convert to Catholicism who lost his influential job and ultimately lost his life as a martyr for the faith.
God can give us the grace to follow Him, even when it proves culturally or materially challenging. If this is an area in which you struggle, it is an excellent topic to bring truthfully to prayer
The role of the laity
This group of saints also provides us with a few reminders of the role of the laity in the life of the church. Two in particular have a connection to the important role of the laity: St. Devasahayam was a nobleman who, before his conversion, was a Hindu working in India’s state affairs. He was not a monk or priest but was a professional with a career.
St. Justin Russolillo started a third order, or secular institute, for the laity to promote the universal call to holiness through union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In that manner, his work foreshadowed the Second Vatican Council’s emphasis on the important role of the laity in the Catholic church.
A truly universal Church
“Catholic” means universal, and in all of the church’s saints, you see a diversity of nationality, personality, interests, and talents. Yet, the saints are totally united in the witness of their love of Christ.
These newly-canonized saints prove our Church’s universality, as they come from everywhere and from all walks of life: a high society nobleman like St. Charles de Foucauld, someone raised by a dairy farming family like St. Titus Brandsma, the life of the party like St. Cesar de Bus, physically disabled like St. Anne-Marie Rivier, a world traveler like St. Maria Francesca Rubatto. In the saints, we see ourselves and glimpse a path to God.
New friends
“Meeting” new saints is like getting to meet a new family member. Just think about it: you may not know them now, but one day in the future, you may attend a church named after one of these new saints. Perhaps your grandchildren or great-grandchildren will go to a school named after one of them. You could receive treatment in a hospital named after them. The saints’ place in the life of the church is eternal, and witnessing their elevation at this particular time in history is a special privilege.
Learn about these saints, invite them into your prayer life, and ask for their intercession. Most of all, thank God for the gift of their beautiful witness to the Church and for all the ways we can grow closer to God in friendship with His saints.
Interested in hearing more? Listen to my interview on the Church’s 10 newest saints on Relevant Radio here.
