Gaetano Catanoso
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Gaetano Catanoso (14 February 1879–4 April 1963) was an Italian
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
and the founder of the Suore Veroniche del Santo Volto (1934). Catanoso served as a parish priest in two different parishes for his entire ecclesial life and was an ardent devotee of the Face of Jesus which he promoted to the faithful. He also founded the Poor Clerics to encourage vocations to the priesthood while forming the Confraternita del Santo Volto (1920) to spread devotion to the Face of Jesus. He dedicated his pastoral career to bringing the
Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
message to all people and hiked or rode on a mule to reach distant and surrounding mountain villages in order to evangelize to people. His fame for holiness was widespread during his life for people hailed his remarkable qualities and the conduct in which he led his life. The cause for his canonization was introduced on 15 October 1981 and he became titled as a Servant of God while he was later named as
Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cat ...
on 3 March 1990 upon the confirmation of his model life of
heroic virtue Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...
.
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
beatified Catanoso on 4 May 1997 while
Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...
later canonized the late priest in Saint Peter's Square on 23 October 2005.


Life

Gaetano Catanoso was born in 1879 to prosperous landowners in Reggio Calabria as the third of eight children of Antonio Catanoso and Antonia Tripodi. In October 1889 he began his studies for the priesthood and he arrived with his father in the evening for him to be admitted into it though he had to return home several times due to bouts of ill health. In 1895 he donned the cassock for the first time and gave his first-ever sermon. He received his
ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform v ...
to the priesthood on 20 September 1902 from Cardinal Gennaro Portanova and served as a parish priest for his entire ecclesial life; from 1902 until March 1904 he served as the prefect of
seminarians A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
. His first parish was in the remote hill village of
Pentedattilo Pentedattilo ( Calabrian Greek: Πενταδάκτυλο - Pentadàktilo) is a small village in Calabria, southern Italy, administratively a ''frazione'' of Melito di Porto Salvo. Until 1811, before the unification of Italy, it was a separate co ...
where he served from March 1904 until 1921. He was passionate about emulating the life of
Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
in his service to the poor and would hike or ride on a mule to the distant and surrounding mountain villages to bring the message of the
Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
and hope to isolated people in desperate circumstances. To help him in this cause he founded an order of nuns known as the Suore Veroniche del Santo Volto in December 1934."Apostle of the Holy Face of Jesus: St Gaetano Catanoso", ''Vultus Christi'', Silverstream Priory
/ref> From 1922 until 1949 he was the
spiritual director Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divinity, divine, or to learn and grow in their personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of their encounters ...
to seminarians and from 1922 to 1933 was a chaplain at hospitals in the region. From 1921 to 1950 he served as a confessor to religious institutes and to the prison while from 1940 to 1963 he was the
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of the archdiocesan cathedral. The order established schools and also homes for the old in small places like San Lorenzo and Roccaforte as well as Chorio to educate children and care for the old and sick. The goal was to combat ignorance and
the Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
through education and the word of
God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
. Catanoso also founded the Poor Clerics to encourage vocations to the priesthood. He was transferred to the larger parish of Santa Maria de la Candelaria in Reggio Calabria on 2 February 1921. Catanoso was a close friend of Annibale Maria di Francia and Luigi Orione whom he had met in 1918. It was Orione who encouraged Catanoso when the latter decided to establish a religious congregation of his own; his order received diocesan approval on 25 March 1958. Catanoso had a deep devotion to the Face of Christ and to that end formed the "Confraternita del Santo Volto" in 1919. He also revived
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and
Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
ic devotions and improved catechesis while also working for the observance of liturgical feasts. Catanoso also worked for cooperation among local priests to provide missions via preaching and hearing confessions in each other's parishes. He often spent long ours in silent reflection before the
Tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...
and he promoted Eucharistic Adoration among the faithful. In 1943 he opened a makeshift
orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or ab ...
for those children who were orphaned due to
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Catanoso died on 4 April 1963 and his final words were recorded as: "In te, Domine, speravi, Gesù, Maria, Giuseppe"; he had become ill and blind before his death though he still welcomed those who came to visit him and seek his counsel. His order in 2008 had 95 nuns in a total of seventeen houses and it would later receive full pontifical approval from
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
on 8 December 1980. One American relative - the journalist Justin Catanoso from -
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in
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- wrote
memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...
about Catanoso and the book is titled: "''My Cousin the Saint - A Search for Faith, Family and Miracles''".


Sainthood

The beatification process opened on 15 October 1981 after the
Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...
issued the official "
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" (nothing against) and titled Catanoso as a Servant of God. Documentation was sent to the C.C.S. in
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who validated the process on 3 March 1989 and received the
Positio In the Catholic Church, a ''positio'' (''Positio super Virtutibus'') is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a person is declared Venerable, the second of the four steps on the path to canonization as a saint. Des ...
from cause officials in 1989. Theologians met not long after this and approved the cause on 26 September 1989 as did the cardinal and bishop members of the C.C.S. who approved the dossier's contents on 19 December 1989. On 3 March 1990 he was proclaimed to be
Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cat ...
after Pope John Paul II confirmed that Catanoso lived a model life of
heroic virtue Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...
.Catanoso, Justin. "Seems like a miracle: a saint in the family", ''Triad Business Journal'', November 7, 2005
/ref> For him to be beatified one miracle needed to be investigated and approved; this miracle needed to be a healing that science and medicine were unable to explain. One such case was discovered and investigated in a diocesan process that lasted from 1993 until 1994 when all medical records and witness interrogatories were sent to the C.C.S. who validated the investigation on 10 February 1995. The medical panel of experts approved this miracle on 5 October 1995 as did their consulting theologians on 25 November 1995 and the C.C.S. themselves on 20 February 1996. John Paul II confirmed the healing to be a legitimate miracle on 25 June 1996 and presided over the beatification later on 4 May 1997. The second and final miracle needed for him to be raised to sainthood was discovered and investigated in 2003 before the documents were sent to
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and before the C.C.S. validated the process on 14 November 2003. The medical experts approved this healing to be a miracle on 1 April 2004 with the theologians also granting assent on 25 June 2004 as did the C.C.S. on 19 October 2004. John Paul II confirmed this miracle and Catanoso's inevitable sainthood on 20 December 2004. The date for the canonization was formalized at a
consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church * Consistor ...
in the afternoon on 24 February 2005 in which Cardinal Angelo Sodano announced it on the behalf of the ill pope. John Paul II died two months later but his successor
Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...
canonized Catanoso on 23 October 2005 in Saint Peter's Square.


Miracles

The miracle that led to his beatification occurred in Reggio-Calabria but was not investigated until a few decades later. It involved the healing of Sister Pauline who on 3 April 1963 wanted to see Catanoso before he died. But the priest died on 4 April she - who suffered from severe
asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, co ...
- knelt beside his remains and felt healed a few hours later with no breathing difficulties whatsoever. The miracle that led to his canonization occurred in Reggio-Calabria on 9 January 2003 which was the healing of Anna Pangallo from a rare form of meningitis.


See also

*
Leo Dupont Venerable Leo Dupont (24 January 1797 – 18 March 1876), also known as ''"The Holy Man of Tours,"'' or the "Apostle of the Holy Face", was a Catholic who helped spread various Catholic devotions such as that of the Holy Face of Jesus and night ...
, Apostle of the Holy Face *
Holy Face of Jesus The Holy Face of Jesus is a title for specific images which some Catholics believe to be miraculously formed representations of the face of Jesus Christ. The image obtained from the Shroud of Turin is associated with a specific medal worn by s ...
* Maria Pia Mastena


References


External links


Hagiography Circle

Saints SQPN

Santi e Beati
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Find a Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catanoso, Gaetano 1879 births 1963 deaths 19th-century Christian saints 19th-century venerated Christians 19th-century Italian people 20th-century Christian saints 20th-century venerated Christians 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Canonizations by Pope Benedict XVI Founders of Catholic religious communities Italian Roman Catholic saints People from Reggio Calabria People from the Province of Reggio Calabria Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II