Including Polish Priest Stanislaus Papczynski
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 18, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is inviting the Church to follow the "luminous testimony" of three people recently proclaimed blessed.
After praying the Angelus on Sunday, the Pope mentioned the beatification in Poland of Father Stanislaus Papczynski.
Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone celebrated the Mass of the beatification, and the Holy Father sent his greeting to the faithful gathered there, saying Father Papczynski was "a priest who was exemplary in preaching, in the formation of the laity, a father of the poor and an apostle of intercessory prayer for the dead."
The Polish priest died in 1701 at the age of 72. He was the first founder of a men's congregation dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of Mary, long before the dogma was defined, the Congregation of Marian Clerics.
In his homily, Cardinal Bertone highlighted the Marian devotion of the priest, "an authentic friend of Christ, and his tireless apostle."
He recalled what Father Papczynski said: "A man without charity, a religious without charity, is a shadow without sun, a body without a soul. Simply, he is nothing. What the soul is for the body, charity is for the Church, for religious orders and centers."
A French nun
The Holy Father also mentioned that Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, was in Bordeaux in the Pope's name to proclaim as blessed Sister Marie-Céline of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a French nun from the Second Order of St. Francis.
"She wanted her life, which was marked by the cross, to be a sign of Christ’s love, as she herself said: 'I thirst to be a rose of charity,'" Benedict XVI said.
Sister Marie-Céline died in 1897 at age 19.
Cardinal Saraiva Martins said in his homily: "The new blessed, who lived a humble existence, without notable accomplishments, but completely captivated by the love of God and for her brothers and sisters, confirms for us that we can also reach, in joyful perseverance, that which the Servant of God John Paul II called with profound joy the 'high measure' of ordinary Christian life, that is, sanctity."
A founder
The Pope also recalled Father Basile Antoine-Marie Moreau, who was beatified Saturday in Le Mans by Cardinal Saraiva Martins.
The French priest, founder of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, was 73 when he died in 1873.
Cardinal Saraiva Martins said he "was a Christian of great spiritual stature, and at the same time, a man of action. He dedicated himself to the missions among the people, to the education of youth, to works of charity, and to the foreign missions."
"He contributed to the growth of the Church in the United States, to the foundation of the first Catholic schools in Algeria and to the first rural orphanage in Rome," the cardinal said. And he was in France, "one of the pioneers in the fight for the freedom of education," and contributed to the "rebirth of the Church in France after the revolution."
The Pope concluded his reference to the three newly beatified, saying: "I entrust in a special way to the intercession of these newly beatified their spiritual sons and daughters, that they follow with ardor the luminous testimony of the prophets of God, who is Lord of every life."
ZE07091809 - 2007-09-18