VATICAN CITY, NOV. 25, 2001 (Zenit.org).- When the first joint beatification of a married couple was approved, the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints wondered when their feast should be celebrated.
Usually the feast of blessed and saints is celebrated on the day of their death. The question was whether the memory of Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi should be observed on different dates.
John Paul II, who for years hoped to beatify a married couple, made a revolutionary decision: The feast of the two blessed would be held on the same day, their wedding anniversary.
That anniversary was today. The couple married Nov. 25, 1905.
For now, the feast is observed only in Rome, the couple´s diocese, since their beatification held last month is local in character. This year Rome will mark their feast Monday, since today is a solemnity. If the couple are canonized someday, their feast will have a universal character.
Luigi (1880-1951) and Maria (1884-1965) Beltrame Quattrocchi, natives of Rome, were married for 50 years and had four children, three of whom are still living and attended their parents´ beatification ceremony.
Maria was a teacher and writer on educational topics, committed to several associations, including Catholic Action, Scouts and the Red Cross. Luigi ended his legal career as attorney general of Italy.
John Paul II also decided that one miracle — the cure of bone alterations of Italian neurosurgeon Gilberto Grossi — was attributed to the intercession of both spouses and thus would open the doors for their beatification.
