JOHN PAUL II CANONIZES FOUR BLESSEDS FROM EUROPE

VATICAN CITY, NOV 25, 2001 (VIS) - Today, solemnity of Christ the King, the Pope celebrated Mass in St. Peter's Basilica and canonized Blesseds Giuseppe Marello (1844-1895), Paula Montal Fornes de San Jose de Calasanz (1799-1889), Leonie Francoise de Sales Aviat (1844-1914) and Maria Crescentia Hoss (1682-1744).

Speaking of St. Giuseppe Marello, Italian bishop, founder of the Congregation of the Oblates of St. Joseph, the Holy Father emphasized the "fullness of grace, inspired in him by intense devotion to Mary Most Holy; fullness of the priesthood, which God conferred upon him as both gift and commitment; fullness of sanctity, which he attained by conforming himself to Christ, the Good Shepherd. ... From St. Joseph he was strongly attracted to hidden service, nourished by a profound interior life. He instilled this style in the Oblates of St. Joseph."

The Spaniard, St. Paula Montal Fornes de San Jose de Calasanz, virgin, foundress of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary, religious of the Pious Schools, was committed, the Pope said, "to diverse apostolic activities and entered, with prayer and with sincere piety, into the mysteries of God; subsequently as foundress of a religious family, she dedicated herself to the promotion of the woman and the family." Her message "is always current and her educational charism is a source of inspiration in the formation of the generations of the third Christian millennium."

St. Leonie Francoise de Sales Aviat, virgin, French, foundress of the Sisters Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, "at the center of her commitment and her apostolate, placed prayer and union with God, from which she drew light and strength to overcome trials and difficulties, and until the end of her life persevered in this journey of faith. ... The resolution which so well characterized Mother Aviat, 'to forget myself entirely', is also for us a call to go against the current with respect to egoism and easy pleasures, and to open ourselves to the social and spiritual necessities of our time."

Referring, in conclusion, to St. Maria Cresentia Hoss, virgin, German, nun of the Third Order of St. Francis, the Pope highlighted her "capacity to confront - in the name of the Gospel - the great difficulties of her time. This saint had to bear sorrows and suffer the pressures which marked her epoch. She endured intrigues in her own community, without doubting her vocation."

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