MANGALORE, India (UCAN) -- Catholics in Mangalore, southern India, rejoiced as a member of their community took the first formal step toward sainthood, for the first time.
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| Bishop Aloysius Paul D'Souza of Mangalore with Bethany Sisters on June 16 at St. Sebastian Church in Bendur. |
Hundreds of people attended a special Mass on June 16 at St. Sebastian Church in Bendur, where Bishop Aloysius Paul D'Souza of Mangalore announced the Vatican decision to declare Monsignor Raymond Francis Camillus Mascarenhas a servant of God.
The declaration is the formal prelude to the three-stage process by which a candidate may be declared venerable, then proclaimed blessed and, lastly, canonized a saint.
Bishop D'Souza noted that Monsignor Mascarenhas is the first Catholic from Mangalore diocese on the road to sainthood.
He hailed the "humble, simple and generous" priest, who he said worked for the poor throughout his life and has become a model for other pastors.
Bishop D'Souza claimed several miracles have occurred through the priest's intercession.
Monsignor Mascarenhas, who died in 1960, served for years as vicar general of the diocese based in the port city of Mangalore, 2,290 kilometers south of New Delhi.
Born in 1875, he studied at Mangalore's Jesuit-managed St. Aloysius College and was ordained a priest for Mangalore diocese in 1900. After serving in five remote parishes, he was assigned to Bendur parish.
There, in 1921, he started the Congregation of the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany, popularly known as the Bethany Sisters, with four schoolteachers who wanted to dedicate their life to the Church.
By the time he died, the congregation had 452 nuns in 28 convents spread over six dioceses in southern India, Sister Miriam Miranda, vice postulator for the canonization cause, told UCA News June 19.
Today it has 1,300 nuns in 162 convents serving mostly rural missions in Africa, Australia and Europe, besides India. More than half the nuns are natives of Mangalore. The rest come from other Indian states.
In 2007, the congregation's superior general, Sister M. Jyothi, petitioned Bishop D'Souza to initiate the cause for Monsignor Mascarenhas' sainthood.
Sister Lillis Kattakkayam, responsible for moving the cause along as its postulator, said Monsignor Mascarenhas started the congregation mainly for poor women without much formal education.
One such girl was Sister Raymond Punnackal, who joined many other Bethany nuns at the June 16 ceremony. "I always wanted to become a nun, but no one welcomed me as I was a fourth-grade dropout," she told UCA News.
Father Mascarenhas "gave me education and made me a nun," the 77-year-old Religious said. "I want to see him become a saint before I die."
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| A decorated picture of Monsignor Raymond Francis Camillus Mascarenhas. |
Two authenticated miracles will be needed for the cause to proceed through canonization, and Sister Miranda cited a reported miracle involving the mother of a Bethany nun.
Doctors wanted to amputate the diabetic woman's legs, the vice postulator narrated, but she was "completely cured through the intercession of our founder, which was also reported in the media."
People who had met the priest expressed happiness at his being declared a servant of God. Lucy D'Souza, who is in her 70s, recalled him as "a man of prayer and a friend of the poor."
She told UCA News Monsignor Mascarenhas taught her to help the poor. She joined Bendur parish's charity work.
Margaret Lobo, another elderly woman, said the priest taught her catechism and instilled in her "a great devotion" to the Blessed Mother. "I have never skipped reciting the rosary since then," she added.
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August 17, 2008 at 5:05 am
Clifford,
You are a person of honesty and courage. Thank you for taking the trouble to add these comments. I too am sick of the behavior of the catholic hierarchy where pomp and ceremony means more than 'loving thy neighbor'.
July 18, 2008 at 8:38 pm
A poor man was about to die on the street. He addressed a prayer "Lord Jesus, as a judge, will u say, I was hungry where where you etc.
Jesus pulled the man to the side of the street rested the man's head in His lap and said "No son. I saw you when I was hungry but you were also hungry. I saw you when I was thirsty but you were also thirsty. I saw you when I was naked but you were also naked. Now enter into my kingdom".
July 18, 2008 at 8:21 pm
When a poor obscure person goes to heaven the church hierarchy doesn't get unduly excited over his salvation. But angels in heaven rejoice. Take this case for example. The prodigal sons makes a journey away from his Father and this leads him to his ruin. He sits among the swine and shares their food and the smell and the squalor. But the mercy leads him to an interior journey, a journey that took him to his own heart. And there in the deep recess he finds the Father halfway waiting for him with arms outstretched with orders to his servants to get new robes and the ring and so on.
Why does it become so expedient to declare that Fr Mascarhenas is in heaven? Jesus said "it's not my Father's wish that one man should be lost. And when I'm raised up I'll draw all men to myself". Are we all not expected to go to heaven? Jesus told the good thief "tonight you'll be in paradise with me".
Take the case of "St Philomena". In Rome somebody found to mosaic pieces : one had "philo" and the other "mena". Thus St Philomena. Pope John XXIV explained it is not a case of being desainted, this person didnt exist at all! And what about St Veronica, St Christopher?
Just like the media the hierarchy finds a need to sensationalize.
the hierarchy betrayed Joan of Arc. The nuns illtreated St Theresa the Little Flower, Sr. Alphonsa and the church authorities harassed Padre Pio to the extent of not allowing him to hear confessions and even say mass because lay people would see his stigmata and get distracted.
And Take this case for consideration. It was a precondition for Pope Benedict V to visit USA that he on arrival first apologizes to all those who were abused by clergy when they were children. One diocese in USA declared itself bankrupt in payment of damages to the abused children. So much fuss is made out of what Jesus said "many are called but few are chosen". See the definition of being CHOSEN!
The same clergy is qualified to declare that someone has entered paradise!
July 17, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Fr Raymond Mascarenhas challenged the bishop of mangalore on many issues so that christ might be freed from a religion and worshipped in Spirit and Truth. The christian religion esp the catholic workships Jesus like the golden calf. You can see a very material church visible everywhere empty without the real Jesus because catholics have no faith. They believe that an inanimate bread and wine will turn into the body of christ whilst they themselves who are living temples of the holy spirit having lost the holy spirit will never change and become alter christus. The real meaning of eucharist is to become another christ. Just the bread becoming the body of christ will help little unless we first become the living body of christ. The Father can be worshipped only if we become another christ.