FIVE SERVANTS OF GOD TO BE BEATIFIED ON MARCH 23

VATICAN CITY, MAR 18, 2003 (VIS) - On Sunday, March 23, Third Sunday of Lent, at 10 a.m. in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul will beatify five Servants of God, according to a communique published today by the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.

The future Blesseds are: Pierre Bonhomme, priest, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Calvary (1803-1861); Maria Dolores Rodriguez Sopena, virgin, foundress of the Dolores Sopena Catechetical Institute (1848-1918); Maria Caridad Brader, virgin, foundress of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate (1860-1943); Juana Maria Condesa Lluch, foundress of the Congregation of the Handmaids of Mary Immaculate (1862-1916); and Laszlo Batthyany Strattmann, layman, father of a family (1870-1931).

"On the Lenten path towards Easter," adds the communique, "we contemplate the mystery of Christ, the living temple of God, destroyed in death and rebuilt in the Resurrection. He, the power and wisdom of God, reveals the strength of the Cross in the men and women who, following Him closely, are glorified in Him by the Church."

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