See earlier entries for today, 5/4/10, on the preceding page.
Though Benedict XVI still has to fulfill his visit to two cities of Spain in November, plans are going ahead for his participation in the 2011 World Youth Day in Madrid...
Vatican approves 2 sites
for papal events in 2011
and WYD patron saints
Translated from the
WYD-2011 official site
MADRID, May 3 - Plaza de Cibeles, perhaps Madrid's most emblematic public square, will be the site where the youth of the world will welcome Pope Benedict XVI for World Youth Day on August 18, 2011.
Cibeles was recommended by the Archdiocese of Madrid, with the agreement of City Hall. The square is named after the Greek goddess Cybele depicted on a carriage drawn by two lions in the monumental 18th-century sculpture that dominates the fountain in the square.
The plaza is surrounded by the buildings of the Ayuntamiento (City Hall), Banco de Espana, and Linares and Buena Vista palaces.
Recoletos street, between Plaza de Cibeles and Plaza de Colon, will be the site of the Via Crucis to be staged on August 19.
And the Pope's prayer vigil with the youth on August 20 and the Mass on the following day will take place at the Cuatro Vientos airfield, eight kilometers southwest of the the center of Madrid. This had been the site of John Paul II's meeting with Spanish youth on his last visit to Spain in 2003. With a perimeter of 10 kilometers, it can accommodate up to two million.
Also approved by the Vatican were the patron saints of the 2011 World Youth Day, all of them Spanish saints, except Santa Rosa of Lima:
San Isidro Labrador, patron of Madrid, and his wife Santa Maria de la Cabeza, San Juan de la Cruz (John of the Cross), San Juan de Avila, Santa Teresa de Jesus (Teresa of Avila), Santa Rosa de Lima, San Ignacio de Loyola, San Francisco Javier (Francis Xavier), and San Rafael Arnaiz.
All the Spanish saints except San Rafael Arnaiz were among the great saints of the Counter Reformation.
San Isidro and Santa Maria de la Cabeza are Madrid's primary saints. Santa Teresa and San Ignacio founded the Descalced Carmelites and Jesuit orders, respectively. San Juan de la Cruz produced what is considered to be the peak of mystical literature. Francis Xavier was the first great missionary to the Far East. San Juan de Avila was an early champion of spirituality among diocesan priests. Santa Rosa was the first female saint of Latin America.
San Rafael Arnaiz, a Cistercian monk who died during the Spanish Civil War, was canonized last October by Benedict XVI. When John Paul II beatified him in 1992, he named him patron of young people.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 05/05/2010 01:14]