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Vol: 32, No.7
July, 2010
4 LAYPEOPLE AMONG 9 UPCOMING BEATIFICATIONS
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Slovenian Martyr, Spanish Journalist on List OK'd by Pontiff.
VATICAN CITY, (Zenit.org): Benedict XVI approved nine beatifications to be held in the coming weeks, including those of two young laypeople: a 19-year-old Slovenian martyr and an Italian girl who died at age 18.
The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff announced Tuesday the rites of beatification approved by the Holy Father to be held over coming months.
Manuel Lozano Garrido, known as Lolo, was beatified first on 12 June, 2010. This Spanish layman was a journalist and writer and he will be beatified in Linares, Spain.
Another layman who will be raised to the altars is Lojze Grozde of Slovenia. Born in 1923 but rejected by his mother because he was conceived out of wedlock, Grozde endured a difficult childhood before finding God through Catholic Action. He came to live an intense life of prayer, but in 1943 on a trip to visit relatives, he was detained and accused of spreading anti-Communist propaganda. He was tortured to death the night of his arrest. He will be beatified in Celje, Slovenia.
Also in June, Stephen Nehme (born Joseph), a Lebanese professed religious of the Order of Maronites was beatified. His ceremony took place June 27 in Kfifan, Lebanon.
September will bring three beatifications:
n Leopoldo Sánchez Márquez de Alpandeire (born Francisco), a Spanish professed layman of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins, on Sept. 12 in Granada, Spain.
n María de la Inmaculada Concepción (born María Isabel Salvat y Romero), Spanish superior-general of Sisters of the Company of the Cross, on Sept. 18 in Seville, Spain.
n Chiara Badano, an Italian lay woman, on Sept. 25 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Divine Love, Rome. Badano died of cancer at age 18; she will be the first member of the Focolare Movement to be beatified.
Three more beatifications approved by the Pope are:
n Anna Maria Adorni, Italian founder of the Handmaidens of Blessed Mary Immaculate and of the Institute of the Good Shepherd of Parma, on Oct. 3 in Parma, Italy.
n Szilard Bogdanffy, Romanian bishop and martyr, on Oct. 30 in Oradea Mare, Romania.
n Maria Barbara of the Blessed Trinity (born Barbara Maix), Austrian founder of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on Nov. 9 in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Spreading News of Angels
Group Succeeds at Promoting Angelology
CAMPAGNA, Italy, (Zenit.org): Father Marcello Stanzione, a self-described "simple rural priest", took up angelology as his lifework after coming across a book that purported to offer prayers to guardian angels, but actually linked these spiritual creatures to stars and planets in a work about "magic, not spirituality—a theologically incorrect publication."
Father Stanzione in 2002 re-founded the Militia of St Michael the Archangel, which promotes an annual theological-pastoral conference on angelology. This year's two-day meeting was held last week and focused on "The Angels of Priests and of the Church."
Father Stanzione told ZENIT that the group is gaining strength and the annual conferences (begun in 2005) now draw more than 200 participants, while more than 1,000 are regular visitors of the Web site.
The roots of Father Stanzione's passion for angels are linked to the saint of Pietrelcina, Padre Pio.
Padre Pio encouraged spreading devotion to the angelic hosts. "And I, even in my littleness, want to carry forward this teaching of his," Father Stanzione says.
"My interest in the angels was born by chance some 20 years ago," the priest explained. "I was on pilgrimage in San Giovanni Rotondo [...] called to Puglia by Padre Pio of Pietrelcina himself.
"I met a lady there who had a book titled 'Prayers to the Guardian Angels'. The title aroused my interest and I asked her to lend it to me.
"I was profoundly disturbed by the reading—I was fired with indignation because it linked the figure of the angels with stars and planets.
"It was magic, not spirituality —a theologically incorrect publication, published to catch people in crisis, in search of hope, of something to hold on to, like the poor woman in San Giovanni Rotondo, [who wanted] to help her husband who was in the House for the Relief of Suffering."
Righting the wrong
After that experience, Father Stanzione decided to help the faithful rediscover angels and understand the correct importance of the function they carry out in Catholic doctrine.
"I am a self-taught angelologist, I don't have the formation of a dogmatic theologian," clarified Father Stanzione. The priest holds degrees in theology and the social doctrine of the Church, but through years of study has come to promote angelology, together with demonology, as something serious that has involved elite scholars over the centuries.
"Many today forget that it is a branch of theology and that it is related to demonology," the priest noted. "One cannot speak of the devil if one doesn't know the angels."
Father Stanzione laments that a "devious and partial reading" of the Second Vatican Council "has put in doubt the existence not only of the angels but also of Purgatory and of the devil."
"It is sad that not everyone addresses the phenomenon with theological seriousness and respect," he said. "[...] We must react; there are theologians who are almost ashamed to speak of the angels, when the Catholic magisterium has never fuelled doubts."
Bit by bit, Father Stanzione has obtained a seriousness and credibility recognized internationally.
"Not everyone has the charism of Padre Pio, of Natuzza, of St Faustina or of St Mary Frances of the Five Wounds," he acknowledged. But echoing St Thomas, the priest affirms the "angelic influence in all that was good given by God."
Father Stanzione is hoping the Holy Father will convoke a year in honour of St Michael the Archangel, and that the tradition of praying to the angel after Mass will be re-established.
"He can do everything," Father Stanzione affirmed, referring to the archangel.
Iraqi Christian Targeted in Shooting
KIRKUK, Iraq, (Zenit.org): Christians in Iraq are expressing fear of renewed violence after 34-year-old Hani Salim Wadi was killed Monday night in Kirkuk.
The incident has sparked an atmosphere of insecurity, Asia News reported today.
Wadi, a Christian businessman, was married with a daughter. He owned a mobile phone store downtown.
Eyewitnesses said that he was shot in front of his house in a "targeted killing".
"We Christians are once more targets of attacks," an anonymous source told Asia News.
A series of attacks have been targeted at Christians in Kirkuk and Mosul over the past months.
Beginning of May, a bus convoy of Christian students was attacked with explosive devices, leaving almost 200 wounded and four dead.
Chaldean Archbishop Emil Nona said: "We are seeing another, the umpteenth, attack against Christians. The violence continues without relief."
An auxiliary of the Chaldean patriarch, Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad, lamented that no one in the administration is speaking out to express solidarity with the Christian community.
"Truly," he said, "we do not know what to do with this violence."
