VATICAN CITY, APRIL 3, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI approved today the proclamation of the heroic virtues of an Italian layman and a French laywoman, bringing both of them closer to canonization.
The heroic virtues of Giacomo Gaglione (1896-1962) and Benoite Rencurel (1647-1718) were among 11 proclamations that the Pope approved today in a meeting with Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes.
The other decrees of heroic virtue were regarding:
— Austrian Bishop Franz Joseph Rudigier of Linz (1811-1884);
— Father Johannes Evangelist Wagner, a German diocesan priest (1807-1886);
— Innocenzo da Caltagirone Marcinnò (born Giuseppe), Italian minister-general of the Capuchin Friars Minor (1589-1655);
— Teresa de la Cruz Candamo Álvarez Calderón, Peruvian founder of the Congregation of Canonesses of the Cross (1875-1953);
— María Inés-Teresa del Santísimo Sacramento Arias Espinosa (born Manuela de Jesús), Mexican founder of the Poor Clare Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and the Missionaries of Christ for the Universal Church (1904-1981);
— Marie de la Ferre, French co-founder of the Daughters of St. Joseph of La Fleche (now the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph) (1589/1590-1652);
— Teresita del Niño Jesús Pérez de Iriarte Casado (born Felisa), Spanish Dominican (1904-1954);
— Dulce Lopes Pontes (born Maria Rita), Brazilian sister of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God (1914-1992).
The Holy Father also approved the proclamation of a miracle attributed to the intercession of Maria Pierina de Micheli, an Italian sister of the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception of Buenos Aires (1890-1945).
