POPE BEATIFIES SIX SERVANTS OF GOD

VATICAN CITY, OCT 3, 1999 (VIS) - This morning, during the celebration of Mass in St. Peter's Square, the Pope beatified six Servants of God, five Italians and a Belgian, whom he called in his homily "faithful workers in the vineyard of the Lord."

The Holy Father spoke first of Ferdinando Maria Baccilieri (1821-1893), priest of the Third Order of the Servants of Mary, founder of the Sisters Servants of Mary of Galeazza. "As a poor 'rural priest,' as he loved to call himself, he gathered souls through his preaching, in which he expressed his own deep interior conviction. In this way he became a living icon of the Good Shepherd."

Speaking of Blessed Edward Maria Joannes Poppe (1890-1924), priest, the Pope said: "He is today a model for priests, especially for those of his own country, Belgium. He invites them to conform their lives to that of Christ the Shepherd, in order to be like Him; 'ardent priests' who love God and their brothers and sisters."

Referring to Blessed Arcangelo Tadini (1846-1912), priest, founder of the Sisters Workers of the Holy House of Nazareth, he recalled that, "in the school of the Eucharist he learned to break the bread of the Word of God, to exercise charity, to respond with pastoral dynamism to the social and religious challenges that characterized the end of last century."

John Paul II said that "the poor and humble life" of Blessed Mariano da Roccacasale (1778-1866), religious of the Order of Friars Minor, "following the example of Francis and Clare of Assisi, was constantly directed towards his fellow man. He desired to hear and share the sufferings of all, and then present them to the Lord during the long hours of adoration before the Eucharist."
"That same Franciscan spirituality, centered on an evangelically poor and simple life, also characterized Diego Oddi," (1839-1919) who "was a true angel of peace and goodness to all those who met him, especially because he knew how to attend the poorest and most sorely tried."

Speaking of Blessed Nicola da Gesturi (1882-1958), religious of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, the Pope emphasized that he was "a man of silence. ... Liberated from the superfluous and in search of the essential, he did not allow himself to be distracted by useless and destructive details, and wished to be a testimony of the presence of the Word Incarnate beside all men."

At the end of Mass and before praying the Angelus, the Holy Father greeted pilgrims who had participated in the beatification ceremony and asked everyone to support the synod fathers of the Special Assembly for Europe with prayer and recitation of the Rosary, "which the Church encourages in this month of October."

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