VATICAN - Pope John Paul II beatifies five Servants of God who “let themselves be guided by the Word of God like a bright and secure beacon which never ceased to illuminate their path”; a call to recite the “sweet prayer ” of the Rosary following the example of the newly beatified

Vatican City (Fides Service) - On Sunday 3 October, during a concelebrated Mass in St Peter’s Square Pope John Paul II beatified 5 Servants of God: Pierre Vigne (1670-1740), priest, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament; Joseph-Marie Cassant (1878-1903), priest, a member of the Reformed Cistercian Order; Anna Katharina Emmerick (1774-1824), of the Order of Canonesses Regular of St Augustine; Maria Ludovica De Angelis (1880-1962), of the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy of Savona; Charles of Austria (1887-1922), Emperor and King.
“In the face of the passing of time and continual upheavals in history, God’s revelation offered to us in Christ remains ever stable and opens our earthly journey to a horizon of eternity - the Pope said in his homily -. The newly beatified experienced this in a singular manner... they let themselves be guided by the Word of God like a bright and secure beacon which never ceased to illuminate their path.”
The Pope dwelt on the spiritual traits of the five holy people. Father Pierre Vigne was “authentic disciple and faithful missionary of the Church. His examples gives the faithful a desire to draw audacity for mission from love for the Eucharist and adoration for the Blessed Sacrament!”. Brother Joseph-Marie Cassant, in the silence of the Trappist monastery offered his sufferings to the Lord for the Church: may his example help us discover the “mystery of prayer... which gives strength in times of trial”. Maria Ludovica De Angelis, with the heart of a mother and the audacity of a saint, cared for sick children with concrete and generous love. She built a family atmosphere for them and faced considerable sacrifices to educate them, always sustained by prayer, “making her life constant communication with the Lord”.
Mystic Anna Katharina Emmerick, who lived in her body the wounds of Our Lord, although poor in material goods possessed great richness of interior life which she drew from the Eucharist: “her example opened the hearts of the poor and the rich, simple and educated people, to total and loving dedication to Jesus Christ”. Charles of Austria was “a friend of peace”: called to govern during the First World War, he tried to promote initiatives of peace and saw his responsibility as a sovereign as a sacred service to his peoples. “His first intention also in his political activity was to follow the Christian’s call to holiness.”
At the end of his homily the Pope invited those present to praise and thank the Lord for the wonders he has worked “in these good and faithful servants of the Gospel” and he invoked the intercession of “the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom especially in this month of October we invoke with the Rosary prayer”, to help us be generous and courageous apostles of the Gospel. Before reciting the Angelus prayer the Pope recalled again the importance of the Rosary: “On this first Sunday of October, a month dedicated to Our Lady Queen of the Rosary, I encourage you to recite this prayer imitating the newly beatified”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 4/10/2004; Righe 37; Parole 511)