ROME, NOV. 12, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A conference series at Rome’s John Paul II Institute on Marriage and the Family will be considering the testimony of couples who have been recognized — both man and wife — for their sanctity.
The «Profili di santità coniugale» [Profiles of Conjugal Holiness] series begins next week and will run through May.
The first conference will look at the testimony of Yu Hanggeom (John) and Lee Suni (Rugalda): Chaste Spouses and Martyrs — An Exceptional Vocation to Love in Times of Persecution.
A second conference will consider Franz and Franziska Jaegerstaetter: The Complete Testimony of Vocation — Abandonment in God.
Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi: The Fruitfulness of the Lived Sacrament will be the subject of the third conference.
Finally, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux will be the topic of the fourth conference: Louis Martin and Marie-Zélie Guerin Martin: To Educate for Sanctity in the Family.
Members of the Roman Curia will be presiding over the conferences, and experts from various fields will give the presentations.
Those who will preside over the sessions are Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry; Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes; and Bishop Jean Laffitte and Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, secretary and president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, respectively.
In the homily of the beatification ceremony of the Beltrame Quattrocchi couple on Oct. 21, 2001, Pope John Paul II stressed the importance that spouses grow together in holiness: «Dear families, today we have distinctive confirmation that the path of holiness lived together as a couple is possible, beautiful, extraordinarily fruitful, and fundamental for the good of the family, the Church and society.»
