2 Soldiers, medical doctor, former satanist closer to canonization

Despite his hospitalization at the Gemelli Hospital, Pope Francis has declared his approval of the canonization of Blessed José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros (Venezuela) and Bartolo Longo (Italy). The Holy See Press Office made the announcement on February 25, 2025.

The decrees authorized by the pontiff will allow, after a consistory, the celebration of the canonization of these two lay people.

They also authorize the celebration of the beatification of two soldiers and recognize three other people as venerable.

Usually, this kind of announcement comes after an official meeting between the pope and the prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, currently Cardinal Marcello Semeraro. However, this time it was on the occasion of a visit to the Pope by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and the substitute Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, on February 24.

The Holy Father authorized the dicastery in charge of the saints and blesseds to promulgate the decrees that formalize the evolution of the status of persons officially recognized as models and intercessors by the Church.

The first of these concerns Blessed José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros (1869-1919), a layman from Venezuela known as the “doctor of the poor.” After graduating from the University of Caracas, he trained in bacteriology and microbiology in Paris from 1889 onwards.

His health problems prevented him from pursuing his spiritual quest for a contemplative or priestly religious vocation. In 1908 he entered the Cistercians in Italy, but had to leave after nine months for health reasons. In 1913 he entered the seminary and began his studies in Rome, but was then stricken with tuberculosis. He ended his studies and returned home for good to work as a doctor. He died in an accident in 1919.

His reputation for holiness spread rapidly in his native country and throughout Latin America, with many physical and spiritual healings attributed to his intercession. His beatification was celebrated in Caracas on April 30, 2021, in the difficult context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Substitute of the Secretariat of State, Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra — himself of Venezuelan nationality — is very attached to this figure. During a lecture he gave at the Lateran in October 2022, he highlighted the blessed as a precursor of the “civilization of love.”

The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints has also published a decree concerning the layman Blessed Bartolo Longo (1841-1926). He is famous in Italy for being the founder, in 1875, of the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii, which is located near the ancient city of the same name. 

Originally from Puglia, this Italian had been close to socialist and occultist ideas in his youth, a period during which he had even celebrated satanic masses. But after a long period of depression, a meeting with a Dominican priest led him to faith.

He then joined the Third Order of Preaching Friars under the name of “Brother Rosario” — ”Brother Rosary” in Italian. A prophetic choice! While visiting the city of Pompeii one day, he heard a voice encouraging him to spread the devotion of the rosary there. He then had the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii built in that location.

Very involved in social and humanitarian issues, this close friend of Leo XIII was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, without success. Shortly before his death, he bequeathed all his possessions to the Vatican, living his last days in extreme poverty. He is buried in the basilica of Pompeii.

John Paul II visited the tomb of the layman during visits to the shrine in 1979 and 2003, and beatified him in 1980. In 2008, Benedict XVI presented the basilica with a golden rose, a high distinction given to a Marian shrine by the Catholic Church. Francis visited the shrine in 2015.

Pope Francis has also authorized the publication of two decrees recognizing the “offering of life” of two venerable soldiers, which will enable their beatification in the near future. Since 2017 and the publication of the Motu Proprio Maiorem hac dilectionem by the Pontiff, it is possible to become blessed not only after recognition of a miracle or martyrdom, but also of the “offering of life.”

This recognition concerns people who were not killed in hatred of the faith, as in the case of martyrdom. Instead, they heroically offered their lives for their neighbor in an outpouring of charity by freely and voluntarily accepting certain and premature death in order to follow Jesus.

This is the case, in this instance, of the American military chaplain Emil Joseph Kapaun (1916-1951), who died of illness in a North Korean camp during the Korean War. Originally from Kansas, this Catholic priest, ordained in 1940, enlisted as a military chaplain in 1944 and took part in the conflict between the United States and Japan in Burma in 1945-1946.

Sent to Japan and then to Korea, he found himself involved in the defense of the country against the communist armies. He distinguished himself through his spiritual service to his fellow soldiers, who considered him a hero. Captured, he died of illness, exhausted by his devoted service to the other prisoners. John Paul II proclaimed him a Servant of God in 1993.

The other future blessed is the Neapolitan vice-brigadier Salvo D'Acquisto (1920-1943). He died at the age of 23 after voluntarily taking the place of 22 people sentenced to death during the Second World War. A very pious man, he joined the Carabinieri and fought in Libya in 1939 before being wounded.

When the German army attempted to execute 22 innocent people in retaliation for the assassination of two German soldiers near Rome, D'Acquisto claimed to be the instigator of the murder and obtained permission to take the place of his fellow citizens. He was shot and died shouting “Viva l'Italia!” (“Long live Italy!”)

Finally, Pope Francis authorized the recognition of the heroic virtues of Father Miguel Maura Montaner (1843-1915), a Spanish priest particularly committed to the training of priests and support for missions; of Father Didaco Bessi (1856-1919), Italian priest and founder of an order of nuns; and Kunegunda Siwiec (1876-1955), a Polish laywoman and member of the Third Order of Carmelites who allowed herself to be guided throughout her life by the “little way” of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus.