The Roman Catholic archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro are launching a
process aimed at putting a Brazilian girl on the path to sainthood.
Archbishop
Orani Tempesta and Vatican representatives on Friday began the process
to beatify Odette Vidal de Oliveira, who was 9 when she died of
meningitis in 1939.
The Rev. Joao Claudio Loureriro
do Nascimento is a historian and member of the archdiocese commission
that studies potential candidates for sainthood.
He says the next step
is to obtain proof of miracles attributed to Oliveira.
One miracle is
needed for beatification and a second for canonization — the process of
declaring a person a saint.
Nascimento says one
miracle attributed to Oliveira was the recovery of a woman who suffered a
serious hemorrhage after giving birth.