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From Xaverian NewsMarch 3, 2011
Pope Benedict XVI will proclaim Bishop Conforti a Saint on Oct. 23rd 2011
Blessed Guido Maria Conforti, Founder of the Xaverian Missionaries and "Missionary to the World," will be canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 23, 2011 in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.
The Xaverian Missionaries are happy to announce their founder,
Blessed Guido Maria Conforti will be made a new saint for the Catholic Church by
His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI on October 23, 2011, in St. Peter’s Basilica,
Vatican City.
Born in the diocese of Parma, Italy in 1865, Guido Maria Conforti was ordained a
priest in 1888. Health problems prevented him from pursuing the missionary
vocation he had felt since his youth, but he was able to found a new Religious
missionary congregation in 1895. Blessed Guido Maria Conforti defined the
characteristics of his missionary family as: “a spirit of living faith which
enables us to see God, to seek God, to love God in all.”
Because he wanted to continue the work of St. Francis Xavier, the patron Saint
of the Xaverian Missionaries, China was chosen as the first mission and the
first missionaries were sent there in 1899.
Blessed Guido Maria Conforti was consecrated Archbishop of Ravenna, Italy in
1902 and Bishop of Parma, Italy in 1906. Bishop Conforti, himself, visited his
missions in China in 1928. However poor health prevented him from an extended
stay and he returned to Italy. He died in Parma on Nov. 5, 1931.
After their expulsion from China by the communist government in 1954, the
Xaverian Missionaries spread to eighteen other countries around the world in
which they continue to serve today.
The process for canonization (official recognition of the person as a “Saint” in
the Catholic Church) requires the request by candidate’s local bishop, a
biography and writings of the candidate, witness testimonials and verification
of two miracles attributed to the candidate. Bishop Evasto Colli, Conforti’s
successor in Parma, saw the first signs of sanctity and began the process, which
led to Conforti’s beatification on March 17, 1996 in St. Peter’s Basilica in the
presence of Pope John Paul II.
The first miracle attributed to Blessed Conforti came in 1965 with the cure of
12-year-old Sabina Kamariza from pancreatic cancer after prayers for his
intercession from the Xaverian Sisters in Burundi, Africa.
The second miracle needed for canonization occurred in August 2003 in Brazil
when the family and parish community of a premature newborn prayed a novena to
Blessed Conforti to save the baby from complications caused by prolonged
cardio-respiratory arrest due to his premature birth. A medical council
concluded that little Thiago Joào’s sudden recovery was scientifically
unexplainable. On April 23, 2010, the College of Theologians identified the cure
as “the miraculous intervention of God through the intercession of Blessed
Conforti.”
“Go and preach the universal brotherhood proclaimed by Christ, which is destined
to demolish all barriers and make a single family of all peoples without
destroying our nationalities and respective rights…” (Bishop Guido Maria
Conforti, Address to departing missionaries, 1924)
Eight hundred Xaverian missionaries currently serve in: Bangladesh, Burundi,
Brazil, Cameroon, Chad, Columbia, Dem. Republic of Congo, Great Britain,
Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Mozambique, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Spain,
Taiwan, and the USA .
