Benedict XVI Canonizes 4 Saints

 

Says They Invested in Heaven

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 15, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Saints gain heaven by trusting in the word of God, said Benedict XVI on proclaiming the sanctity of a bishop, a priest and two women religious.

"Their names will be remembered forever," he said today at the canonization Mass of the four saints in St. Peter's Square.

Among those canonized is St. Rafael Guízar Valencia (1878-1938), a bishop of Veracruz, Mexico, who is the first bishop-saint born in Latin America.

St. Teodora Guérin (1798-1856) of France, born Anne-Thérèse, is Indiana's first saint. Sent by the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence to Indiana in 1839, the religious founded St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana in the United States.

St. Filippo Smaldone (1848-1923) of Italy was a diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Salesian Sisters of the Sacred Heart. He is known as the apostle of those who cannot hear or speak.

St. Rosa Venerini (1656-1728) of Italy, founded the Congregation of Religious Teachers Venerini and the first public school for girls in Italy.

The four new saints left a lesson, Benedict XVI said during the homily of the canonization Mass: "If man puts his trust in riches in this world he does not attain the full meaning of life or authentic joy."

"On the contrary, if, trusting in the word of God, he denies himself and his properties for the kingdom of Heaven, he seems to lose much, but in reality gains everything," the Pope said.

"The saint is precisely that man or woman who, responding with joy and generosity to Christ's call, leaves everything to follow him," the Holy Father said.

The Pontiff added: "Earthly riches occupy and preoccupy the mind and heart.

"Jesus does not say that they are evil, but that they separate us from God if they are not 'invested' so to speak, in the kingdom of heaven, if they are not spent for those who are in poverty."