00 12/01/2011 13:37


Wednesday, January 12

ST. MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS (b France 1620, d Canada 1700)
Missionary and Foundress, Congregation of Notre Dame sisters
Canada's first woman saint migrated in 1653 from France, where she had been turned down by
two nuns' congregations, to start a school in the then new colony of Ville Marie (present
Montreal). She would go back three times to France to recruit more missionary helpers
dedicated to the needs of children and women, French as well as Indian. She established
the order in 1676 but its Rules were not approved till 1698. At 69, she walked from Montreal
to Quebec when the bishop asked her to establish a school there. By the time she died, she
was known as 'mother of the colony'. She was canonized in 1982.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/nab/readings/011211.shtml


No papal photos or stories in today's OR.


PAPAL EVENTS TODAY

General Audience today - The Pope's catechesis was devoted to St. Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510), wife, mystic and Franciscan tertiary.

The Vatican said that yesterday, the Holy Father met with Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne.
(Probably the cardinal living outside Rome whom Benedict XVI has met with most often at the Vatican, and evidently one of his closest friends)




- Andrea Tornielli has confirmed in Il Giornale that the cardinals and bishops who constitute the Congregation for the Causes of Saints unanimously approved this week the cause for the beatification of John Paul II and will now pass it on to Benedict XVI
for his formal approval.

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 14/01/2011 00:50]