Monday, April 26
Extreme right, John Paul II at San Pedro's Canonization Mass.
ST. PEDRO DE SAN JOSE BETANCUR (b Canary Islands 1626, d Guatemala 1667)
Lay Franciscan, founder of the Bethlehemite Fathers and Sisters
He is both the first saint from the Canary Islands (Spain) and of Guatemala. Hermano Pedro (Brother Pedro), as he is
familiarly called, lived as a poor shepherd on Tenerife, the main Canary island, until he was 27, when he left to join
a relative in Guatemala. He first landed in Cuba where he worked until he could earn enough to go on to Guatemala. He
enrolled in a Jesuit school but could not keep up academically. He joined the secular Franciscan order at age 29, and
managed somehow to open a hospital for the convalescent poor, a shelter for the homeless, and a school for poor children,
not hesitant to knock at the door of rich Guatemalans for their aid. It led him to set up the Order of the Bethlehemite
Fathers, whose rule was approved after his early death (he was only 41), along with an Order of Bethlehemite Sisters.
He is credited with originating the tradition of the Christmas Eve 'posadas' procession now observed in many Latin
American countries, during which the faithful commemorate Mary and Joseph's efforts to find lodgings in Bethlehem.
Hermano Pedro was beatified in 1980, and John Paul II canonized him during his visit to Guatemala in 2002.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/nab/readings/042610.shtml
No OR today.
THE POPE'S DAY
The Holy Father met individually today with 5 bishops from Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone
who are on ad limina visit.
Sorry for the very late start today.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/04/2010 18:00]