The other 5 Saints

The banners of all the 7 Saints canonized yesterday, during the canonization ceremony.

I wanted to share with you a little background about the other 5 Saints that were canonized yesterday along with Pope St Paul VI and St Oscar Romero. Here is a little bit about each of them, all of them beatified over the past 20 years by either Paul VI or John Paul II.

Francesco Spinelli (1853-1913) was born in Milan, Italy, a holy priest who started a community of young woman dedicated to the adoration of the Eucharist. He then started a congregation called Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament.

Vincenzo Romano (1751-1831) was a priest from Naples, whose ministry was characterized by his special attention to those most in need, and his commitment to educating children and young people. When in 1794, the town of Torre del Greco was almost completely destroyed by a violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Vincenzo Romano spearheaded both the material and spiritual rebirth of the community.

Maria Catherine Kasper (1820-1898) was born in Germany and spent her adolescence working in the fields and even breaking stones for the construction of roads. In this context, she chose to found an Institute of Sisters at the service of the humblest social classes. In 1848 she opened the House of the "Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ", where the poor of the country were welcomed. The Congregation spread rapidly, even outside Germany and Europe, reaching the Americas and, later, India.

Nazaria Ignazia of Saint Teresa of Jesus (1889-1943) was born in Madrid, Spain and her family moved to Mexico where she met the Sisters of the Abandoned Elders and entered the Institute in 1908. After making her first vows in 1911, she was sent to Bolivia. As she became aware of the increasingly problematic social situation there, Nazaria founded the Congregation of the Missionary Crusaders of the Church to serve the poor and assist women. Her life was in grave danger both in Bolivia and in Spain during the civil war from 1936 to 1939.

Nuncio Sulprizio (1817-1836) was born in Pescara, Italy. Orphaned of both parents at the age of six, he was cared for by his maternal grandmother, who taught him to seek Jesus present in the Eucharist and to invoke the Blessed Virgin. When his grandmother died Nuncio was entrusted to an uncle, with whom he worked as a blacksmith. Hard work and ill-treatment caused him to contract bone tuberculosis. He moved to Naples and was admitted to the Hospital for Incurable Diseases. He died there aged only 19. Pope Leo XIII declared him a model of young people.