In honor of our new Holy Father from
Argentina, Pope Francis, the following is a list of 10 South American saints
every Catholic should know. South America seems to
be a continent that is never talked about much, and the same seems to have gone
for many of its saints.
I especially am pleased with the last saint mentioned, St. Paulina, since she is the unofficial patron saint of diabetics. There are so many people who suffer with this disease today! St. Paulina, prepare a huge banquet of sweets and carbs for those entering heaven!
1. St. Narcisa de
Jesus (Ecuador)
Now here is a fascinating figure. Much like St.
Catherine of Siena who seems to have inspired a great part of the spiritual life
of many women saints, St. Narcisa was a laywoman whose life was marked by much
of the same devotional and penitential aspects as that of St. Catherine.
Indeed, a line can be drawn fro St. Catherine down to St. Rose of Lima, then to
St. Maryane de Jesus de Paredes to St. Narcisa - all of these saints lived as
tertiaries of religious orders (Dominican and Franciscan), and lived lives of
extreme penance and charity to others.
St. Narcisa lived the same form of
life, albeit she remained a laywoman throughout it. Her life was marked by
sanctity at a very young age, and her time was often spent in prayer under a
guava tree that is a pilgrimage site to this day. Later on, she spent much time
in caring for abandoned children and the impoverished, before finally entering a
Dominican convent as a consecrated virgin laywoman, and spending the rest of her
life there. Her acts of mortification were much along the same lines as St.
Rose of Lima and St. Maryanne de Paredes, and she spent eight hours a day in
prayer. Upon her death, her body was found to be incorrupt.
2. St. Alberto
Hurtado (Chile)
It seems that St. Alberto is a perfect living
corrective to the misinterpretation of "social justice" that has come into the
Church as of late, something which Pope Francis is more than likely going to
correct.
St. Alberto Hurtado was a father to the poor, and
actively was involved in bringing the Gospel of Christ into the realm of hard
labor, trade unions, and everyday work that would barely garner enough wages to
scrape together a living. He brought Christian values into the world of labor
unions, fought to restore the Church from within by calling for better
catechesis, and founded shelters lumped under the name of
Hogar de Christo
(Home of Christ) for taking care of poor and abandoned children.
3. St. Marianne de
Jesus de Paredes (Ecuador)
In much the same way as St. Rose of Lima, St.
Marianne lived a reclusive life as a Franciscan tertiary (rather than a
Dominican tertiary like St. Rose). Her life is a hard one to approach, let
alone even begin to understand due to the mortifications she inflicted on
herself.
The "Lily of Quito" and first canonized saint of Ecuador, St.
Marianne was known as a saint before her death by the locals. Only leaving her
home to attend Mass, St. Marianne's life was filled with some of the most
extreme penances ever known, much along the same lines of Bl. Henry Suso. She
was blessed with many spiritual gifts, including the ability to read
consciences, ecstacies, and the ability to heal others through merely making the
sign of the cross over them.
4. Bl. Mercedes de
Jesus Molina (Ecuador)
Known as the "Rose of Baba and Guayaquil" in
her home country, Bl. Mercedes was a contemporary of St. Narcisa de Jesus.
After having suffered the shock of a bad fall from a horse, her life quickly
became one of penance and pious devotion to Christ. She spent most of her life
taking care of abandoned children, although she also helped the Jesuits in
missionary work amongst the Native populations. She also founded the order
known as the Sisters of Mariana de Jesus (named after the saint above).
5. St. Rose of Lima
(Peru)
“If only mortals
would learn how great it is to possess divine grace, how beautiful, how noble,
how precious. How many riches it hides within itself, how many joys and
delights! No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that may
happen to him, if he would come to know the scales on which they are weighed
when they are distributed to men.”1
St. Rose of Lima's
ardent love of the Crucified is something that I can barely even begin to
comprehend. Much like many saints in the Christian West, her life was lived in
complete devotion to the Passion of Jesus.
Living life as a Dominican
tertiary, St. Rose of Lima spent her days living in a shack in a garden. Her
entire life was marked visions and mystical experiences, as well as extreme
mortifications, and yet, as with so many who engaged in such penances, was known
for her charity and love of the poor, whom she supported through her embroidery
work and gardening.
6. St. Frei Galvao
(Brazil)
Formally known as St. Anthony of Saint Ann, St. Frei Galvao
was an educated Franciscan, devoted son of the Blessed Virgin, and confessor and
spiritual director to a collective of lay recluses known as the "Recollection of
St. Teresa".
He was known for all kinds of mystical elements in his life,
and was one of those saints known for bilocation, as well as levitation and the
reading of consciences. Strangely enough, he is also associated with paper
rolled into little pills that allegedly have been associated with several
miraculous cures of terminal and/or incurable diseases, with the words
"After
childbirth thou didst remain a Virgin: O Mother of God, intercede for us"
written on the paper.
7. Bl. Laura of St.
Catherine of Siena (Colombia)
Bl. Laura's life seems to have been an
extremely full and busy one - originally an elementary school teacher, she began
to serve as a missionary to the Native populations in her country. With a
handful of companions, she ministered to the Natives, fought racial
discrimanation against them, and is known today as a defender of Native rights
there. She also founded a religious order known as the
Congregation of
Missionary Sisters of Immaculate Mary and of Saint Catherine of Siena (quite
the mouthful!).
Interestingly enough, she is due to be officially
canonized by Pope Francis on the 12th of May this year! How cool is this??
8. St. Teresa of the
Andes (Chile)
A true spiritual daughter of St. Therese of
Lisieux, St. Teresa of the Andes was of the same order, the Discalced
Carmelites, and was even inspired to enter the religious life by reading St.
Therese's autobiography,
Story of a Soul. Like the Little Flower, she
wrote many letters of correspondence with others concerning the Christian life
which are beyond rapturous in their mystical content.
As with St.
Therese, she died at the very young age of nineteen, just a few months after
having entered the Carmelite order.
9. Bl. Ceferino Namuncura
(Argentina)
Bl. Ceferino is one popular blessed amongst the
peoples of Argentina. Born of the indigenous Mapuche people of the region, Bl.
Ceferino was almost a kind of South American version of a St. Dominic Savio,
though he outlived that young saint by a few years.
Educated under the
care of the Salesians of St. John Bosco, the famous priest and visionary, Bl.
Ceferino grew in virtue and holiness, eventually visiting Pope St. Pius X and
studying for the priesthood. Unfortunately, the "Lily of Patagonia" succumbed
to tuberculosis and died at the tender age of nineteen.
He is the first
beatified indigenous South American, and his reputation as a beloved member of
his people and of God's Holy Church continues to this day.
10. St. Paulina
(Brazil)
Brazil's first canonized saint, St.
Paulina's life of virtue began at a young age, and was lived in spite of the
heavy cross of suffering diabetes for most of her life. Living in a time before
it was really treatable, she ended up having to go through two amputations and
succumbed to blindness near the end of her life. And yet, through all of this,
she soldiered on in service to the poor and sick, founding the
Little Sisters
of the Immaculate Conception, and also taking on the care of elderly slaves
and their children who were unable to work.
To this day, she is known
as the unofficial patron saint of those suffering with diabetes.
