Last December, the Vatican News Service reported that Pope Benedict
XVI had signed decrees acknowledging miracles attributed to the
intervention of seven blesseds (four women and three men) who will be
canonized this month.One of the new Blesseds is Kateri Tekakwitha, the first native North American to be raised to the glory of the altars.
The other American woman to be canonized is Maria Anna Cope, the foundress of the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, N.Y.
The rite of canonization will take place on Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 9:30 am (Vatican time) in St. Peter’s Square.
Together with these two remarkable American women, Pope Benedict will also raise to the altar the following men and women: Blessed Giovanni Battista Piamarta, an Italian priest and founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth and of the Congregation of the Humble Sister Servants of the Lord (1841-1913); Blessed Jacques Berthieu, a French martyr and priest of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) (1838-1896); Blessed Maria del Carmen (born Maria Salles y Barangueras), the Spanish foundress of the Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of Teaching (1848-1911); Blessed Pedro Calungsod, Filipino, a lay catechist and martyr (1654-1672); and Blessed Anna Schaffer, a German laywoman (1882-1925).