Consistory for the Causes of Canonization - July 1, 2024

Salt + Light Media

Thursday, June 27, 2024

Stylized images of Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Marie-Léonie Paradis.

On July 1, 2024, the College of Cardinals will gather to confirm the canonizations of Blessed Carlo Acutis, Blessed Marie-Léonie Paradis, and three others.

On Monday, July 1, 2024, Pope Francis will hold an Ordinary Public Consistory, the semi-regular formal gathering of the College of Cardinals currently residing in Rome. (An Extraordinary Consistory, by contrast, requires all the world’s cardinals to fly to Rome to take part.) A consistory often discusses matters that affect the Church throughout the world, and most commonly includes the induction of new cardinals. That was the case at the last meeting in September, 2023, which created 21 cardinals on the eve of the first session of the Synod on Synodality.

This time around, the consistory will fulfill another important function. After a short prayer service, the cardinals will vote to confirm the canonization of five blesseds as saints of the Universal Church, now that their second required miracles were recently recognized. Cardinal Marcelo Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, will read a brief report on the life and miracles of the candidates considered for sainthood. With the unanimous agreement of the cardinals, the pope can proceed with their canonizations and announce when those celebrations will take place.

While Monday’s occasion is mainly a formality, it provides an excellent opportunity for us to be inspired by the life and witness of these holy men and women. Of the five soon-to-be-saints, two of them may be familiar to Canadians and to young, tech-savvy Catholics: a foundress of a flourishing religious community, and a young man who pioneered the digital spread of the Catholic faith and whose life was cut short by leukemia.

Blessed Marie-Léonie Paradis was born in L’Acadie, Lower Canada in 1840. She entered religious life as a young teenager and served as a teacher in Canada East, New Brunswick and the United States. In 1880, she founded the Little Sisters of the Holy Family in St. John, NB and was appointed superior. However, the community couldn’t find a permanent home until Bishop Paul Larocque of Sherbrooke invited them to establish a Mother House and a novitiate there. She died on May 3, 1912, by which time the Petites Seours had grown to 635 nuns working in Canada and the United States. The Order now has 260 sisters working in Canada, Honduras, and Guatemala.

Mother Marie-Léonie was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1984. The second required miracle attributed to her intercession, the healing in 1986 of a newborn suffering from asphyxia, organ failure, and encephalopathy, was confirmed by Pope Francis on January 24, 2024. Her feast day is currently May 4.

Blessed Carlo Acutis was born in London, UK in 1991; his family shortly returned to Milan, Italy where he would be raised. At a young age, he showed a deep compassion for friends who were ill or whose parents were experiencing marital difficulties. He may be best known for a website documenting centuries of Eucharistic miracles, a “digital exhibition” that he developed on his own long before the use of digital tools to transmit the Catholic faith was universally accepted.

He died at the age of 15 in 2006, and was beatified by Pope Francis in 2020. The second required miracle attributed to his intercession, the 2022 healing of a university student who suffered severe head trauma after a cycling accident, was recognized on May 23, 2024. He serves as a profound example of youthful innovation at the service of tradition and spirituality for the whole Church, and is already the patron of young people and computer programmers. His feast day is currently October 12.

You can watch the Ordinary Consistory for the Causes of Canonization on Salt + Light TV or view a live stream of the event on Salt + Light Plus on Canada Day, Monday, July 1, 2024. See our broadcast schedule for more information.

Blesseds Marie-Léonie Paradis and Carlo Acutis, pray for us!