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Pope’s Regina Caeli Message

From Asia News Italy:

Addressing a visibly enthusiastic crowd in the courtyard of Castel Gandolfo’s Apostolic Palace where he arrived for a brief period of rest, the Pope said that “like the women who stayed with Jesus during the Passion, the Risen One says to us not to be afraid, making us messengers who announce His Resurrection.”

“Whoever encounters and gives himself over to the Risen Jesus has nothing to fear,” he said. “Such is the message Christians are asked to bring to the farthest corners of the world. The Christian faith is born not in a doctrine’s acceptance but in an encounter with a Person, the dead and risen Christ. In our day-to-day existence, dear friends, there are so many opportunities to pass on our faith to others in a simple and convincing manner. It is something urgent for the men and women of our times to know and encounter Jesus so that, thanks to His example, they can let themselves be won over by Him.”

Together with the mission to the farthest corners of the earth, Benedict XVI underlined another characteristic of this liturgical period, namely joy or “spiritual elation.” In joking with the festive and noisy crowd of pilgrims, the Pope said “that one day” for Easter “was not enough for so much joy.” Hence, “the liturgy does not set aside just one day for this mystery . . . but instead dedicates 50 days, i.e. the whole Easter period up to Pentecost.” The Pope further explained that “with Easter Monday, today’s feast day, Easter Sunday is an absolutely special day, lasting this whole week till next Sunday, which is the Octave of Easter.”
The Pontiff brought his short reflection to a conclusion by highlighting the Easter joy of Mary, Mother of Jesus, who is a pillar for Christians and their mission.

“The Gospel,” Benedict XVI noted, “says nothing about Mary, but according to the Christian tradition She was happier than anyone else when she was able to embrace her divine Son again, the same one She held when he was taken down from the Cross. Now, after the resurrection, the Redeemer’s Mother rejoices with Jesus’ ‘friends’ who are the nascent Church. As I renew my heartfelt Easter greetings to all of you, I call upon Her, the Regina Caeli, to keep alive our faith in the Resurrection and make us messengers of hope and of the love of the Risen Christ.”

Man Seeks sainthood for South Georgia Martyrs

For more on the Georgia Martyrs, visit the Friends of the Georgia Martyrs site.

From Star News Online:

Friar Pedro de Corpa had spent a decade before his death in the late 16th century as a missionary converting Indians to Christianity in Spanish Florida, which then included the 100-mile Georgia coast.

De Corpa was assigned to a mission near present-day Darien, Ga., when he infuriated the nephew of a Guale chieftain who planned to take a second wife. The friar admonished the nephew, a baptized Christian named Juanillo, and told him polygamy violated God’s law.

On Sept. 14, 1597, Juanillo led warriors smeared in war paint to de Corpa’s hut, where he was preparing for morning Mass. They killed the friar with stone clubs, severed his head and displayed it on a pike by a nearby river landing.The warriors killed four more friars – Blas Rodriguez, Miguel de Anon, Antonio de Badajoz and Francisco de Verascola – at St. Catherines Island and other nearby missions over the next several days.

Friar Pedro Fernandez de Chozas wrote to the Spanish governor at St. Augustine, Fla., on Oct. 4, 1597: “How they must have been lonely, Senor General, these little lambs, at the moment of martyrdom.”

Beatification by the church, a lengthy process likely to take many years, would entitle the five friars to be called “blessed.” But it requires proof of a miracle or martyrdom, meaning they died willingly at the hands of religious persecutors.

Harkins said it should be “an open and shut case.”If he’s right, the friars would join a very short list of only three Christians the church recognizes as having been martyred within U.S. borders – fewer than half the number of U.S. saints.

The U.S. can claim just eight Catholic saints. Among them are the only beatified martyrs slain on American soil: three Jesuit priests killed in the 1640s by Iroquois Indians near present-day Auriesville, N.Y.

“In North America, we haven’t had periods of persecution,” said Lawrence Cunningham, a University of Notre Dame theology professor and author of the book A Brief History of Saints. “You’re not going to find any martyrs in the U.S. after the period of early exploration.”

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