POPE CANONIZES FIVE BLESSEDS, INCLUDING FIRST SAINT OF BRAZIL

VATICAN CITY, MAY 19, 2002 (VIS) - At 10 a.m. today, the Solemnity of Pentecost, the Pope celebrated the Eucharist in St. Peter's Square and canonized five Blesseds: Alonso de Orozco 1500-1591; Ignazio de Santhia (ne Lorenzo Maurizio Belvisotti), 1686-1770; Umile da Bisignano (ne Luca Antonio Pirozzo), 1582-1637; Paulina do Coracao Agonizante de Jesus (nee Amabile Lucia Visintainer), 1865-1942 and Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello, 1791-1858.

"The mission of forgiving sins and accompanying human beings on the ways of evangelical perfection," said the Holy Father in his homily, "was lived in a singular way by the Capuchin priest Ignazio da Santhia," who was "father, confessor, counsellor and teacher."

John Paul II said that Umile da Bisignano "was a constant bearer" of Christ's peace. "In our society, in which too often God's imprints are lost, this monk represents a happy and encouraging invitation to gentleness, kindness, simplicity and a healthy detachment from the ephemeral goods of the world."

The Pope emphasized that Augustinian Saint Alonso de Orozco's "pastoral dedication to the service of the poorest people in the hospitals and jails makes him a model for those who, inspired by the Holy Spirit, base their whole existence on love for God and their neighbor, according to Jesus' supreme commandment."

Italian-born Mother Paulina, whose family went to Brazil when she was ten-years old, is Brazil's first saint, said the Pope. She founded "with a group of friends a house of refuge, which was shortly thereafter christened by the people as 'Saint Virgil's Little Hospital', for the material and spiritual attention of the sick and abandoned. Thus was born ... Brazil's first religious community, named the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception."

Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello, religious, foundress of the Institute of Benedictine Nuns of Providence, "worried about doing the will of God with faithfulness and coherence. With unlimited confidence in the kindness of the Lord, she abandoned herself to 'providential love', deeply convinced, as she used to like to repeat, that it is necessary 'to do everything for the love of God'."

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