THE POPE CANONIZES FOUR BLESSEDS ON HIS BIRTHDAY

VATICAN CITY, MAY 18, 2003 (VIS) - Today in St. Peter's Square, John Paul II celebrated Mass in the presence of 50,000 people during which he canonized the Polish Blesseds Jozef Sebastian Pelczar and Urszula Ledochowska and the Italian Blesseds Maria De Mattias and Virginia Centurione Bracelli. Half of the pilgrims present came from Poland for the canonization.

At the beginning of the Mass, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the College of Cardinals, wished the Holy Father for his 83rd birthday. "I would like to express from the bottom of my heart," he said, "our gratitude for all that you do and to assure you of our prayers and to ask that God's benevolence accompany you every day and be a light on your way."

In his homily, speaking about the new saints, the Pope said that St. Jozef, bishop and founder of the Congregation of the Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, "expressed his own faith in the universal call to holiness. ... The motto of his life was 'Everything for the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the immaculate hands of the Virgin Mary. ... He intended his gift to Christ above all as a response to His love, contained and revealed in the sacrament of the Eucharist."

Speaking about St. Urszula, virgin and foundress of the Ursuline Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Agony, the Holy Father recalled that "in her times she was an apostle of the new evangelization, and with her life and her activity she gave proof of a constant authenticity, creativity and effectiveness of the love of the Gospel. ... From her we can all learn how, with Christ, to construct a more human world, a world in which values such as justice, freedom, solidarity and peace are practiced more and more."

The Pope then spoke about St. Maria De Mattias, virgin and foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters, Adorers of the Blood of Christ: "She was overcome interiorly by the mystery of the Cross. ... Love for Jesus crucified turned into passion for souls and humble abandonment to her brothers and sisters, to her 'beloved neighbor', as she liked to say."

St. Virginia, lay person and foundress of the Sisters of Our Lady of Refuge on Calvary and the Religious Daughters of Our Lady on Calvary, "dedicated herself to helping the needy with extraordinary apostolic zeal, putting aside her noble origins. The efficacy of her apostolate derived from an unconditional adherence to the divine will which she nourished with incessant contemplation and obedient attention to the Lord's Word."

Upon concluding the ceremony and before praying the Regina Coeli, the Holy Father expressed his gratitude for the birthday wishes he received from all over the world. "I ask everyone," he said, "to continue to pray that God helps me to faithfully fulfill the mission He has entrusted to me." Addressing his fellow countrymen at the end, he thanked Aleksander Kwasniewski, president of the Republic of Poland, and the civil and religious authorities for their participation in this canonization.

AC;CANONIZATIONS;...;...;VIS;20030519;Word: 520;