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From The MetroWest Daily News, by Frank Mazzaglia Feb. 27, 2011
Statue of Saint Guido Conforti welcoming pilgrims at Our Lady of Fatima Shrine, Holliston
There is sheer joy among the Xaverian Missionaries of Our Lady of Fatima Shrine
in Holliston these days. Pope Benedict XVI has declared their founder, Bishop
Guido Maria Conforti, a saint.
The Xaverian Missionaries were originally established in Italy in 1895 to
proclaim the Gospel among non-Christian people in China when the future saint
Conforti was only a 30-year-old priest. At the time of his death on Nov. 5,
1931, there were already 125 Xaverian Missionaries which included 56 priests, 17
brothers, and 52 seminarians along with another 31 novices preparing for
profession into the Xaverian Institute. However, when missionaries were expelled
from China in 1954, the Xaverians expanded their focus. Today there are nearly
800 Xaverian Missionaries working in Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South
America.
When the Catholic Church declares a person a saint, it simply includes his or
her name in a canon, or list, of recognized saints. Canonization does not make a
person a saint. It is only a declaration that the person is a saint and was a
saint even before canonization. As a priest and bishop of Parma in Italy's Po
valley, people who met Guido Conforti at various stages in his life, even those
with a hostile view of the Catholic Church, came away deeply impressed with his
personal sanctity.
In addition, Guido Conforti was also recognized as a man with the kind of
special administrative talent that the Church needed. He had a way with people.
So it was that he was named Bishop of Parma. It was not the first time Conforti
had been raised to the episcopate. He was first ordained as the Archbishop of
Ravenna, Italy in 1902. However, he resigned that post due to his health and
took some time to rest and to recuperate. Still, the longing to become a
missionary remained. Even as a young seminarian he harbored a deep desire to
become a missionary to China. However, he realized that his frail physical
condition would not adapt to the pressing rigors of missionary life.
The road to canonization by the Vatican involves six defined steps. The process
begins when a local Bishop investigates the candidate's life and writings for
evidence of heroic virtue. Once the local Bishop becomes convinced of the
worthiness of the candidate all of the information is sent to the Vatican.
At that point, the candidate's entire life is evaluated by a panel of
theologians and the Cardinals of the Congregation for Cause of Saints. If the
panel approves, the pope proclaims that the candidate is "venerable" which means
that the person is a role model of Catholic virtues. The next step toward
sainthood is "beatification." Beatification normally requires evidence that the
person is responsible for a posthumous miracle. An exception is made for martyrs
who can be beatified without a miracle.
The first miracle attributed to Guido Conforti took place in 1965 in Berundi,
Central Africa. After prayers for his intercession from Xaverian sisters
stationed in Burundi, 12-year old Sabina Kamariza was cured of pancreatic
cancer. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1996.
In order for a person to be considered a saint, however, there must be proof of
a second posthumous miracle. If there is, the person is canonized.
The second miracle attributed to St. Guido Conforti was reported in 2003. It
happened in a poor neighborhood of Londrina, Brazil in the parish of St. Raymond
Nonato which was then staffed by the Xaverian Missionaries. At that time, a
young mother prematurely delivered her baby 10 weeks prematurely. The baby was
born with complications including non-developed lungs. However, the infant was
quickly placed in an incubator in the hospital's natal intensive units and
survived. Unfortunately, just two weeks after his birth, the infant suffered a
cardiac arrest for over 30 minutes. It was then that the parish prayed to
Blessed Conforti for a miracle. After many starts, and to the amazement of the
physicians who could not explain how it was possible, the infant recovered. Soon
after, the infant was baptized Thiago, which is translated in English as James,
Thiago is now a healthy 7-year-old boy.
The Xaverian Missionaries have an interesting history with the Boston
Archdiocese that stretches back to the time when Cardinal Richard Cushing, as a
young priest served as the Director of the Society for the Propagation of Faith.
At that time, the people of Cheng-chow in China found themselves victimized by
flooding, competing warlords, and crippling poverty. Bishop Luigi Calza, a
Xaverian Missionary, desperately sought financial assistance. Help arrived just
in time from faraway Boston through Richard Cardinal Cushing. Fr. Cushing had a
way of raising money from Protestants and Jews as well as Catholics. The very
grateful Bishop Calza then made a promise. Every day for the rest of his life,
he would say a prayer for that Boston priest as well as for all the supporters
in the Archdiocese who had come to the aid of his Chinese people.
Some 20 years later, aware of the vocational missionary spirit in Boston, the
Italian-based Xaverian Missionaries appealed to Archbishop Richard Cushing for
permission to found a house within the Archdiocese. Such requests take time.
That's when Father Pietro Maschi, a popular Scalabrini priest and the founding
pastor of St. Tarcisius parish in Framingham, went directly to Archbishop
Cushing to plead the case for the Xaverians. Prior to joining the Scalabrinis,
Fr. Maschi had studied at the Xaverian Missionaries minor seminary in Parma,
Italy and held fond members of the congregation. Two of his former classmates
included Bishop Calza and Boston born Giovanni Bonardi, who was baptized at St.
Leonard's parish in the North End. Fr, Maschi apparently hit a tender spot when
he reminded Archbishop Cushing of Bishop Luigi Calza's daily rosary on his
behalf. That may well have done it as Archbishop Cushing welcomed Father Henry
Frassinetti and the Xaverian Missionaries to Boston in 1947. Just three years
later, the
Xaverian Missionaries founded Our Lady of Fatima Shrine in Holliston.
On Feb. 21, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI, during the consistory, publicly announced
that the celebration for the canonization of "Saint Guido M. Conforti" will take
place on World Mission Sunday, Oct. 23.
An appropriate tribute to a saint who began as bishop of Parma, Italy, and
became a bishop for the world.
