VATICAN CITY, FEB. 16, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Church will soon have five new saints — a Chilean, two Poles and two Italians — according to the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
A note released by the Vatican office said the date of the canonization of the future saints will be made public Feb. 24, at a public consistory in Clementine Hall.
Decrees recognizing the respective miracles that led the way to this proclamation were promulgated last year.
Among the future saints is Blessed Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, a Chilean Jesuit (1901-1952), considered one of the most outstanding figures of the Church in his country.
He entered the Society of Jesus after obtaining a law degree. As a priest, he dedicated himself to teaching and the apostolate among young people.
He was an assistant of Catholic Action and founded the Home of Christ to help the homeless poor. He was beatified in 1994.
Chilean President Ricardo Lagos signed a letter of petition to the bishops’ conference requesting that Father Hurtado be proclaimed patron of Chilean trade unionists, because of the extraordinary work he carried out in applying the Church’s social doctrine to the world of labor.
The two Poles to be canonized are Jozef Bilczewski and Zygmunt Gorazdowski.
Joseph Bilczewski was born April 26, 1860, in Wilamowice. An archbishop of Lviv of the Latins, he was a point man for Catholics, Orthodox and Jews during World War I and later conflicts. He exercised his priesthood in pastoral ministry, especially in education. He died March 20, 1923, in Lviv, Ukraine.
Blessed Zygmunt Gorazdowski was a Ukrainian diocesan and parish priest who belonged to the Lviv Archdiocese.
He was born Nov. 1, 1845, in Sanok, Poland. He carried out his work in parishes and promoted works for priests, young people, the sick and the poor.
He was the author of a popular catechism, and founded a newspaper, several charitable institutions, and the Congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph. He died Jan. 1, 1920, in Lviv.
The Italians to be proclaimed saints are Gaetano Catanoso and Felice Da Nicosia.
Catanoso was born Feb. 14, 1879, in Chorio di San Lorenzo. A priest of the Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria-Bova, he was parish priest in Pentidattilo, a village of Aspromonte, and later worked at St. Mary of the Purification Church in Candelora.
He was also canon penitentiary of the cathedral; spiritual director of the diocesan seminary; chaplain for hospitals; and confessor of several religious institutes. He founded the Congregation of the Daughters of St. Veronica, Missionaries of the Holy Face. He died in Reggio Calabria on April 4, 1963.
The other soon-to-be canonized saint is Blessed Felice Da Nicosia (born Giacomo Amoroso), a lay Italian of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins (1715-1787).
For more than 40 years he offered his service of mendicant, carrying out «a fruitful itinerant apostolate,» recalled Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Sainthood Causes, last April. «Illiterate, he had the knowledge of charity and humility,» said the cardinal.
