Today came news that several of our favorite “saints-to-be” will soon be canonized and beatified.
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BL. CHARLES de FOUCAULD, a French missionary killed in Algeria in 1916 will be declared a saint. The blessed, also known as Brother Charles of Jesus, was a soldier, explorer, Catholic revert, priest, hermit, and religious brother, who served among the nomadic Tuareg people in the Sahara desert in Algeria. Bl. Charles wanted to live among “the furthest removed, the most abandoned.”
He was assassinated by a band of men at his hermitage in the Saharaon Dec. 1, 1916. (See Blog: 3/20/13)
Closer to home, VENERABLE MICHAEL McGIVNEY has been approved for beatification due to a first miracle. From Connecticut, very near where our Prioress grew up, he was a 19th-century American priest who founded the Knights of Columbus. (See Blog: 10/29/12)
Father McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus to encourage greater, active participation of lay Catholics in their faith and to care for families when the breadwinner died. Today the Knights are one of the biggest Catholic organizations in the world, known for their charitable efforts and counting about 2 million members in the Americas, Caribbean, Asia and Europe. They also promote vocations to the priesthood and religious life. We have very active members as frequent helpers to our monastery.
Ven. McGivney died amid a 19th-century pandemic which may have been caused by acoronavirus. Biologists using gene-sequencing methods have attributed the pandemic to a type of coronavirus. This virus, which first appeared in Russia, killed a total of 1 million people worldwide, including 13,000 in the United States.
Father McGivney became seriously ill with pneumonia and died on Aug. 14, 1890, at age 38. His beatification will take place in Connecticut.
French laywoman VENERABLE PAULINE MARIE JARICOT, who lived from 1799 to 1862 in Lyon, will also now be beatified.
She founded the Living Rosary Association and the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, which later became the first of the four pontifical mission societies.
Pauline Jaricot, a member of the lay Dominicans, was devoted to promoting support of the Church’s missionary efforts around the world.
BL. CHARLES de FOUCAULD, a French missionary killed in 
