World News
Pope says four new saints offer beautiful example of holiness
Published: October 13, 2008
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI canonized four new saints, including the first native-born saint from India, during a two-hour liturgy in St. Peter's Square Oct. 12. The new Indian saint is St. Alphonsa Muttathupandathu, a nun from southwestern India who was known for her holiness during a lifetime of suffering. "She wrote, 'I consider a day without suffering as a day lost.' May we imitate her in shouldering our own crosses so as to join her one day in paradise," the pope said. The others canonized were: St. Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran, a 19th-century Ecuadorean laywoman known for her deep prayer and penitence; St. Gaetano Errico, an Italian priest who founded the Congregation of Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in the 19th century; and Sister Maria Bernarda Butler, a Swiss nun who founded the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary, Help of Sinners. The four saints together, the pope said, offer a beautiful example of holiness and deserve attention by the universal church.
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