After a long pandemic pause, Pope Francis is scheduled to celebrate a Mass May 15 for the canonization of Blessed Devasahayam Pillai and 9 men and women: Five from Italy, three from France, one from India and one from the Nether-lands. Blessed Devasahayam Pillai an Indian layman and father who was born to an upper-caste Hindu family in 1712 and converted to Christianity in 1745. The Vatican said his refusal to participate in Hindu ceremonies and his preaching about “the equality of all people,” denying the Hindu caste system, led to his arrest, torture and his death in 1752
The last canonization ceremony was celebrated Oct. 13, 2019, and included St. John Henry Newman.
The “big names” – globally – in the newly recognized heavenly host are soon-to-be St. Charles de Foucauld, who lived as a hermit in North Africa, and soon-to-be St. Titus Brandsma, a Dutch Carmelite martyred at the Dachau concentration camp.
Those canonized will bring to 909 the saints Pope Francis has recognized officially during his pontificate; the figure includes the 813 “Martyrs of Otranto,” who were killed in the southern Italian city in 1480 and declared saints in 2013.
In view of the canonization ceremony, the Congregation for Saints’ Causes has published a brief biography of each of the 10 new saints and information about the miracle attributed to their intercession needed for their canonizations. While the church does not require the recognition of a miracle for the beatification of a martyr, it generally requires one for all blesseds to be declared saints. The 10, listed in the order the congregation lists them, are: Blessed César de Bus, Blessed Luigi Maria Palazzolo, Blessed Giustino Maria Russolillo, Blessed Charles de Foucauld, Bless-ed Anna Maria Rubatto, Blessed Maria Domenica Mantovani, Blessed Titus Brandsma, Blessed Marie Rivier, Blessed Carolina Santocanale.